Mastering Time Management: Practical Tips for Creatives and Podcasters, with special guest Frank Buck

Episode Transcript
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Carl Richards (00:04):
Welcome to Communication Connection
Community the podcaster'spodcast.
This podcast takes a deep diveinto modern day communication
strategies in the podcastingspace.
We chat with interesting peoplewho make the podcasting and
speaking spaces exciting andvibrant.
We also dive into thepodcasting community with news

(00:24):
updates, latest trends andtopics from this ever-evolving
space.
So strap in, it's going to beone amazing ride.
Let's dive into today's episode,and today it's all about time.
One of the reasons why peopledon't start podcasts is because
they say they don't have thetime, and in some of our earlier
episodes we talk about the timemyth, and we're not going to

(00:46):
dive into that myth specificallytoday, but we're going to help
you manage your time a littlebit better, not just for
podcasting, but for business ingeneral, or even life in general
, for that matter.
And for that we need the expertwho knows all about this, and
that's why we're so glad to bespeaking to Frank Buck today.
Most people are overwhelmed bythe amount of paper and digital

(01:08):
information in their lives.
Well, Frank makes organizationeasy so you can increase
productivity, decrease stressand enjoy life.
Who doesn't want to enjoy life?
Global Gurus ranked Franknumber one in the world in the
time management category for2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

(01:30):
His career path took him fromband director to principal, to
central office administrator andnow to productivity coach and
speaker, and we're so glad he'shere today, Frank.

Frank Buck (01:41):
Welcome to the podcast, Carl thank you so much
for having me.
I'm really looking forward tothis one.

I'm so glad you took the time.
Managing the time to be on thisshow apparently was not the
issue, but I'll tell yousomething Time is this thing
that we made up.
Well, actually, maybe somespiritual being made it up, but
the semantics of time we made itup, and I like the fact that
we're going to dive into thisspecifically, because one of the

(02:06):
reasons why I mentioned peopledon't start podcasts is the time
factor.
So what is it about timemanagement that people wrestle
with?
Why is this a constant in somany people's lives that we just
don't know how to manage thiswhat seems like a simple thing?

Frank Buck (02:20):
Right, we've all got that same 24 hours.
We all have it, and the thingthat is making it increasingly
more difficult is all theoptions that we have in front of
us.
It used to be that you showedup at a job and here was the
first thing.
You're at the grocery store andyou're checking people out and
here's the next person in lineand you just handled the next

(02:43):
thing.
Now we've got.
Do I check my email?
Do I handle this paperwork onmy desk, do I?
You know the person standing infront of my office?
You know there's so manyoptions and we haven't even
gotten to social media yet.
So there's so many things thatwe could be doing.
And if we let other peoplemanage our time for us, and boy

(03:03):
they will with the hey, you gota minute.
Hey, could you handle this forme?
If we don't look out for ourtime, nobody else is going to do
it for us, and it's our fault.

Wow, that certainly identifies a huge
problem, and it's so easy to godown a rabbit hole with some of
this stuff, especially as youmentioned, or didn't get there
yet.
But social media, it can be atime sucker.
It could just absorb so much ofour time, consume so much of
our time, that it takes a verydisciplined person to not allow

(03:36):
it to do that and it's by design.

Frank Buck (03:39):
They are very good.
The YouTube folks are very goodat you.
Just keep scrolling andscrolling and just one more
video, just one more video.
So you know.
So what's the way out of that,you know?
And for me it's havingsomething that is more
attractive than that YouTubevideo.
So what is that going to dowith my day?

(04:01):
How can I break that down soit's easy to do?
The next thing that's going tolead me to something that's very
productive.
If they're watching theirfavorite sports team and it's
like 15 seconds left to go inthe game and they're about they
could score and win the game,the phone rings, you're not

(04:24):
answering it, you're not lookingat Facebook or YouTube.
You're totally focused on that.
We've got to figure out whatour that is.
Make it attractive, put itfront and center so that we
don't even think about.
Let me go over here and snackon social media.

In your expertise , your experience, what was the
catalyst that changed things?
Because there was a time wherewe would for example, I come
from the radio world, so I loveold radio shows but there's a
time where we would sit aroundthe radio and we would listen,
and we would listen attentivelyto that entire program.
Families would sit around theradio, we would go to movie

(05:04):
theaters and we would watch thewhole movie.
And heaven forbid if we had toget up and go to the bathroom or
refill our popcorn because we'dmissed something.
But now it seems like we'restretching beyond that attention
span that we used to have.
So where in your expertisewould you say that the catalyst
lies?

Frank Buck (05:24):
Yeah, I totally agree.
Our attention span has justshrunk.
We get up, we can oh, I canrewind the TV program.
I can record it and watch itlater.
The YouTube video I can watchit at double speed later, maybe
I can even watch it at triplespeed later.
Everything used to be in realtime and now we're able to shift

(05:45):
time so easily that it becomesa oh, I'll do that later and
then pretty much later hascaught up with us and we've got
more to do than we can possiblydo, and it's getting worse.
I think so many of us, we justdon't have that compass as far
as.
What is it I really want to dowith this day?

(06:05):
Where do I start?
Let me jump in right now.

It's going to take a disciplined person to do
this, because there are so manysquirrel that were easily pulled
away, especially with you knowwe mentioned cell phones, social
media, text messages.
Have you got a minute?
All of those little things thatpull us away, and I don't know
if you know the number.
I don't.
That's why I'm hoping you dothat for every minute we get

(06:30):
pulled away.
It takes us X amount of minutes.
I think it's maybe 15 or 20 ormaybe 30 minutes to get back
into.
Right, yeah?

Frank Buck (06:37):
The number that I've heard tossed around is like 23.
I think Michigan StateUniversity they were.
Like when you're interrupted,it takes you about 23 minutes to
get back on track.
Now the other statistic to lookat is how often are you
interrupted.
So, depending on who you listento, it's like the executive is
interrupted every three to eightminutes.

(06:58):
So if you're interrupted everythree to eight minutes and then
it takes you 23 to get back ontrack, where you do the math and
you realize, well, no wonderwhen we get to the end of the
day we're farther behind than wewere when we started the day.

Math is hard, but those numbers for as hard as it
is to me, the non-math guy,those numbers don't add up
Exactly yeah.
Or they do add up.
They just keep compiling andcompiling and compiling and then
, as you said, by the end of theday we don't know up from down
and we don't know how to evenget caught up.
How do we even get caught up?
So we've identified that let'schat about then, especially

(07:32):
because we're both podcasters,we're both fantastic content
creators.
You've got to be a guru when itcomes to managing your time,
because you're managing not onlyyour time but your guests.
You, because you're managingnot only your time but your
guests, you've got a deadline atthe end of the.
You know when's the episodegoing to go live.

Frank Buck (07:50):
So how do we go about systemizing or putting
things in place?
For me, the biggest thing isbatching similar items.
So if you were here watching mework, you would not see me
taking an episode from A to Z.
What you would see was I'mplanning the upcoming month, so
what are the four topics I wantto write on?

(08:11):
Because I produce a new pieceof content every week.
So what are those four piecesof content?
Create an Evernote note foreach one of them, put a few
little thoughts in it and thenjust start writing.
But then, when it comes torecording, I'm recording all
four episodes back to back inone sitting.

(08:33):
I've got the text and then, ifyou don't mind me reading this
out and I think this is wherepeople are going to rewind and
listen to this again and again,and again.
Now I do not use ChatGPT towrite my content for me.
No, I do that, but there's someother things where it can help

(08:56):
me.
So, after I have written mytext and this is going to be the
script that I use that's goingto go on YouTube, it's going to
be a podcast, it's going to be ablog post, and I haven't gotten
a title for it yet, even thoughthe title is very important, I
take this text, go to chat GPTand type the following I'm

(09:18):
writing a blog post period.
Could you create for me each ofthe following colon one five
titles that would hook readersand rank high on SEO.
Two a focus key phrase nolonger than three words.
Three, a meta description forthe blog between 140 and 155
characters period.

(09:38):
Be sure the focus key phrase isincluded in the meta
description period.
Four seven tags to use onYouTube that will rank high for
SEO.
Five, five tweets that willhook readers and rank high on
SEO.
Include relevant emojis andhashtags.
Six, five quotes related to thetopic of the post, with the
name of the author.

(10:00):
Here is the text of the blogpost colon paste and I paste
that text and watch chat GPT.
Go to work and I copy and pasteall of chat GPT.
Go to work and I copy and pasteall of that in that Evernote
note.
And then I also go over toGemini and do the same thing,
and Copilot and do the samething, and Cloud and do the same

(10:21):
thing, and so now I want tocraft a title Instead of having
to think that up.
I've got like 20 suggestions.
Pick one, the meta description,pick the best one that's been
given to me the text.
So all of that grunt work isdone there for me and I'm able

(10:41):
to just keep up with it in eachof those four Evernote notes.
So just having that simplesystem to leverage technology to
do some of that for me, and soI sit down, I record all the
episodes back to back, edit themback to back, pull it into
Audacity to get my audio for thepodcast, and so I'm sitting

(11:05):
down and I'm doing a step withall four or five episodes at one
time, and then everything'sscheduled ahead of time.
The featured images are in theblog post.
There's so many little steps,it's easy to miss something, but
if I batch them and handle thatstep for all four or five for

(11:25):
that upcoming month, then itmakes it easy and it's really
fun.
It really makes it fun, and Ithink it's got to be fun or
we're not going to do this stuff.

Oh, 100%, and thank you so much for sharing
that detailed list and, withyour permission, we'll make sure
we put either a link to that orsomething along that lines in
the show notes so people canrefer to that.
That way they're not having toscribble it out fast forward

(11:55):
rewind, but so they've heard it.
Now they can grab that fromthere.
But you're right, if we canfind ways to make the tasks
easier and I like how you'reusing ChatGPT, because so many
individuals, especially thenewbies, getting into podcasting
they'll use that for theirscripting or they'll use that
for their idea generating, whichis fine but, then when they go
and cover it, it's not them,it's not in their voice, it's
not and in some cases it'slacking emotion.

(12:16):
You're using it effectively toshoot out those that detail that
can take hours to try to figureout.

Frank Buck (12:25):
In some cases, yeah, it's all of that mundane stuff.
Because I like to write.
You know I like to take ideasand craft those ideas.
I think you know for the personthat does use it to help them
compose, it gets them away fromthe blank page.
You know that's the hardestpart of writing is getting

(12:45):
started, staring at thatblinking cursor and trying to
get those first words out.
Once you get started you don'twant to stop.
So I think it's fine to helpget the juices flowing.
In fact, there was one time Ilet ChatGPT do my content.
I wanted to do an episode.
This was back when ChatGPTfirst, when people were first

(13:08):
finding out about it.
So I wanted to do an episode onwhat ChatGPT was, and so it was
a blog post, it was a YouTube,it was a newspaper column, and
so people read down, they gotdown to a certain point and then
it said what you have read tothis point was composed by
ChatGPT.
So I said write me a newspaperarticle you know so many words

(13:32):
long on what ChatGPT is and howto use it.
And it did.
And then I said what do youthink about it?
How does this stack upregarding other things that I've
read?
You know it's a little boring,it's a little dry, but it is a
start and that's how we can useit.
Let it be a start, don't justlet it be everything.

We actually haven't talked about ChatGPT on
this show yet.
We're probably long overdue todo it, but I'm glad that you've
just clearly emphasized that.
Some very effective ways to usethose tools without having it
take over, shall we say, thewhole creativity process,
Because I think that's part ofthe fear and anxiety is yes,
it's going to be a huge timesaver, but wait a minute, it's

(14:13):
going to, it's going toeliminate jobs, it's going to
make the podcast, you know,creation, editing, everything
way easier.
Not realizing that we stillneed to be part of the creative
process because we're creativebeings and that will be, I'm not
saying it's not.
I'm not going to be that gazeinto the crystal ball and say
it's never going to happen, butit'll be.
I think it'll be a while beforeit does happen, before

(14:34):
creativity is now eliminated,shall we say, where we're
relying on the technology piece.
As I said, I don't want to godown that rabbit hole, but I'm
glad how you're effectivelydoing that.
The other piece that and maybeyou can speak about this is you
hit on it in a very subtle way,but I think we can expand on it
a little bit more.
It's how you're veryintentional with when you sit

(14:56):
down and batch record.
And if there's one thing I'velearned in business is if you
want to get something done, youneed to put it in your scheduler
.
You need to do it withintention.
You need to have it in yourcalendar and put a timeline in
there so you know what yourtimeframe is.

Frank Buck (15:14):
Yeah, I agree too.
I don't calendar block.
To be honest, carl, the onlything on it today is this
interview, because this had tohappen at 1030, my time.
I needed to be right here doingthis and that's the only thing
on the calendar that had tohappen a specific time.

(15:35):
Now if you look at my task list,you'll see at the top here are
my Fab Five.
These are the things that Iwant to shape my day and at the
end of the day, if I've gottenthose done, it's a pretty good
day.
The other things could wait,followed by here's the things I
would like to accomplish thismorning, or at least see as

(15:56):
options for the morning.
And then here's my afternoonand then here's my evening, so
that when interruptions happensometimes you never know how
your day is going to break outthat I can see the options that
I have that are appropriate fortoday and you know, and that
part of the day.

(16:16):
So all these little steps we'retalking about, you know, if you
looked at my task list, youwould see record four episodes,
edit the four episodes, createfeatured images for the four
episodes, and they're doable.
It's like I can't wait to jumpin and do that and check it off
and move on.

God, I love that.
That's fantastic.
I'm going to play devil'sadvocate, though, a little bit
and say that you're veryexperienced in this space, so
you're very good at being ableto look at that not so much
calendar, but that task list andbe able to prioritize.
I find that sometimes withbrand new podcasters that it's
so much overwhelm they don'tknow where to begin, and that's

(16:56):
why suggesting a calendar orsome type of a system so that
they stay on task.
So, for example, I know that Iblock Thursday afternoons and
Friday mornings for recordingepisodes and then I hand it off
to my team so they take care ofit from there.
But I used to also then block Ithink it might've been Monday
mornings or Monday afternoonsfrom between a specific time

(17:16):
where I would edit.
That way there's.
It's eliminating, like we saidearlier, it's eliminating the
distractions and it's managing.
For me personally, at thatmoment it was managing my time
more effectively.
And I also block off lunch,which I never did time more
effectively, and I also blockoff lunch, which I never did,
because I'm notorious for I onlyneed 20 minutes to eat.

(17:37):
But what are the other thingsthat I should be doing?
It's not just about the eatingand giving my body sustenance,
it's I should be going for awalk, I should be reading, I
should maybe listen to my.
You know there's a.
There's a local program thatruns at noon Eastern where I am,
on our local radio station andsometimes I like to listen to it

(17:57):
.
So it allows me to clear mymind or clear my time to focus
on that.
Yeah.

Frank Buck (18:03):
And really the key word I think in that was systems
, that we have to have a system,and there are a lot of good
ones.
There's not just one way to doit, not.
You know, one size does not fitall, and I think the best
system is the system that we use.
You know what's comfortable foreach of us and that will

(18:23):
actually do it, not just for oneday.
You know, it's like a diet.
Anybody can go on a diet.
You know I'm only going to eatcabbage for the rest of my life.
Well, and that will work forexactly one meal.
And then we're back to icecream.
It's got to be something thatis comfortable and it's easy

(18:43):
enough that we'll do it dayafter day, week after week, year
after year, and we reap thebenefits of it.

And you can build on that and I like cabbage diet
.
Never worked for me.
Just letting you know I'vetried, it didn't work.
What's not to give away yourbest stuff?
If you're listening to this andyou like what Frank is saying,
that you check out his stuff.
But what are some quick and Ithink you've probably touched on
them already, but just as astarting point for anyone that's
looking at this and they'rebrand new what are some key

(19:10):
things that people can do justto get themselves started to
manage their time a little bitmore effectively?

Frank Buck (19:16):
Two tools because I tell people I only do two things
during the day.
I only do two things.
Number one I have theold-fashioned tickler file.
We're a digital society but youwalk into people's office
there's paper everywhere.
Here's this stack over herebecause I got to remember to
take that to the meeting with meon Thursday and there's just

(19:40):
stuff everywhere.
I have my tickler file.
So there's folder number 1, 2,3, 4, up to 31.
Each one's a day of the monthand then 12 more folders for
things that are happeningsometime after the next 31 days.
So all the paper that I need.
Sometime in the future.
Ask myself the question when doI want to see this again?
Put it in the folder for theappropriate day and I've earned

(20:02):
the right to forget about it.
Bills hop up when they need tobe paid.
Tickets hop up on the day ofthe concert.
Birthday cards hop up on theday of the concert.
Birthday cards hop up on the daythey need to go in the mail,
because in early January I satdown and addressed them all.
I just run little mailinglabels and where the postage
stamp is going to go, I put thedate it needs to go in the mail.

(20:23):
Throw them in my tickler file.
So I check the tickler file andthen I have my digital task
list.
Every task has a date of whendo I want to see this task again
?
So it's like a digital versionof the tickler file and so, like
all of the things that areinvolved in producing my content
, I've got those nailed out.

(20:44):
With what date do I want to seethis?
And make it a repeating task,so that next month, at the same
time that I'm sitting and doing,that, step for those four
videos, podcasts, newspapercolumns, blog posts, et cetera,
and then I'm not having toreinvent the wheel.

That's gold right there.
I love paper, but I know we'rein a digital world, so a lot of
people are using digital filesand folders and calendars and
things like that, but I stilllike having old fashioned paper
in front of me as well.
I think the organization of thepaper, like you just indicated
with your tickler file, is aphenomenal tool to keep you on
track and be able to make sureall of those things get taken

(21:26):
care of.
So thank you so much forsharing that.
Before I, frank, before I letyou go, we could carry on this
conversation forever and a day.
Oh, this is fun I mean we'rehaving a blast here.
I do want to give you theopportunity, though, to share
with our listeners what it isthat you have for them as a
takeaway today.

Frank Buck (21:44):
We do have a couple of free gifts for people.
If you'll come over to mywebsite, which is just my name,
frankbuckorg and the first thingI'd like you to do is just get
on my email list.
That way, you never miss athing and you automatically get
two free gifts right off the bat.
One's going to get your deskclean.

(22:04):
It's going to be an e-book thattalks about the particular file
and more, and then, second, howI use Remember the Milk, which
is my digital task list, how toget it, how to set it up, just A
to Z, and that's all free, justfor joining the email list.
Life doesn't have to be as hardas we sometimes make it.
And I guess kind of my newfavorite quote I ran across in a

(22:29):
book called A Tribe of Mentors,written by Tim Ferriss, author
of the 4-Hour Workweek.
There's one line in there wherehe says what would this look
like if it was easy?
And boy, if we could askourselves that question about
the things that confront us,because we're really good at

(22:51):
taking things that could be veryeasy and making them very
difficult.
And it doesn't have to be thatway, frank.

I love that and I think we'll leave it right
there, but I think this isworthy of another conversation
down the line.
So much great wisdom thatyou've shared with us today.
We'll make sure all of Frank'sinformation is in the show notes
.
Frank, it's been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for being myguest today.

Frank Buck (23:12):
Carl, thanks so much for having me.
I had a blast.

And thank you for joining us today.
Special thanks to our producerand production lead, Dom
Carrillo, our music guru, NathanSimon, and the person who works
the arms all of our arms,actually my trusty assistant,
stephanie Gaffor.
If you like what you heardtoday, leave us a comment and a
review, and be sure to share itwith your friends.
If you don't like what youheard, please share it with your

(23:36):
enemies.
Oh, and if you have asuggestion of someone who you
think would make an amazingguest on the show, let us know
about it.
Drop us an email, askcarl atcarlspeaks DOT ca.
Don't forget to follow us onLinkedIn and Twitter as well.
You'll find all those links inthe show notes, and if you're
ready to take the plunge andjoin the over 3 million people
who have said yes to podcasting,let's have a conversation.

(23:59):
We'll show you the simplest wayto get into the podcasting
space because, after all, we'repodcast, solutions made simple.
We'll catch you next time.

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