Organize Students with Google Keep

Hey students, what’s up? It’s me, Seth. In this video, I’m going to teach you how to use something called Google Keep to help organize your life — your school life, your personal life, your hobbies, and the things that are important to you: your hopes, your dreams, and your goals.

This will help you have more fun, more freedom in life, and less stress. There are so many ways to use this. I use it with a lot of my students, and when I help them get set up with it, it really makes life easier for everybody.

It will also help you become more independent and responsible so that you can feel more like an adult, be treated more like an adult, and really take responsibility for your own life. It can help set you up for success in the future.

My name is Seth Perler. I’m an executive function coach based in Colorado. I specifically help struggling students navigate this thing called education so they can have an awesome life. I don’t want you to have a mediocre life — I want you to have an awesome life.

In this video, I’m going to show you how to use Google Keep, so let’s get right to it.

The first thing you’re going to do is open up your regular Gmail calendar. Go into your Gmail account, open up the calendar, and you’re going to see this little thing called “Keep” in the upper right-hand corner. It’s yellow and has a little lightbulb icon.

Now, when you click that, you can also get to it from your Gmail account, but I also like to take the link I’m about to show you and put it in your bookmarks bar if you’re using Chrome, because it makes it really easy to find.

So anyhow, we’re going to open this up. You can see that I’ve already gotten started here, but what I want you to do is open it up in its own tab. Once you do that, you’ll see that I’ve started creating some things for you.

I’m going to show you nine different things that I do with a lot of students to get set up here.

Here are six of the categories right here. The first one I think people should create is called “Urgent.” Urgent means things that you absolutely have to get done — they’re really important.

So in this case, let’s say we need to get a job application in. Maybe you have to pay your mom back. Maybe you have to turn in a language arts paper by noon.

What’s cool about this is that you can drag the items into order. For example, it’s probably pretty clear that turning in your language arts paper by noon is more important than the other two because it’s very time-sensitive.

Now let’s say you turned it in. Another cool feature with Google Keep is that you can check it off, and it crosses it off down below.

So let’s say you turned in your paper. Let’s say you paid your mom back. And let’s say you don’t even want to keep that on your to-do list anymore because you don’t need to remember it. You can simply remove it.

However, you’ll still have the record that you turned in your language arts paper. That way, you can keep it as a reference. If you’re a forgetful person, this helps you remember that you already completed it.

So we have “Urgent” here. I recommend making that red because red means alert. Then there’s the “To-Do” section. I recommend making that green because green means action — go.

This is how you change the colors, by the way: you click here and choose the color you want.

Your to-do list can include general things like:

* Get a birthday gift for someone
* Do your science homework
* Write your draft

Whatever the task is, don’t keep it in your brain.

I always tell my students who struggle with school that the worst thing you can do is rely on your brain to remember everything. A lot of my students are resistant to using planners and methods like this, but this is so easy and useful that it can really help you.

Now I want you to hit pause in just a moment. When you do, I want you to pull this up on your phone and check out the interface there, because the phone version is amazing.

You can have it listed one way, or you can organize it so you can see everything more clearly.

So go ahead and check it out on your phone. Download it right now. Literally click pause now.

Did you do it? Probably not. That’s cool. Do it later — but actually get it done. Watch this video again and follow along.

The next thing you’re going to want is an “Errands” section. Maybe you don’t do a lot of errands now, but trust me, someday you will.

Maybe you need a new toothbrush. Maybe you need to go to the hardware store or the office supply store. Whatever you need, make a section called “Errands.”

Now, on these top sections, I want you to pin them because pinning keeps them at the top.

A lot of my students are also trying to build routines. I work with students who have missing assignments, late work, zeros, incomplete work, failing classes, test corrections, and trouble with organization.

So I like helping them create routines.

Maybe it’s a fitness routine where you do push-ups and sit-ups. Maybe it’s a musical instrument practice routine. Maybe it’s a morning routine because you always forget things in the morning. Maybe it’s an evening routine or a meditation routine.

Whatever it is, create it here.

The next category I think most students benefit from is “Hobbies.” My hobby is guitar.

Let’s say I want to practice scales every day. Personally, I do about five different guitar exercises every day, so I could write out my whole routine here.

But check this out — this is really cool.

Let’s say I want to add something here. This is my favorite guitarist on YouTube. His name is Tim Pierce. Someone built him this amazing custom guitar, and he talks all about it in the video.

I want to watch the video, but I don’t have 11 minutes right now. So what I can do is take the link from the video and put it into Google Keep.

What’s amazing is that Google Keep automatically embeds the link right into the note.

The next category is called “Research.” This is where you can save links you want to research later.

A lot of times, we have tons of browser tabs open, and they get distracting. So instead, you can save all the links you want to revisit someday right there.

I told you I was going to give you nine ideas, so now I’m going to show you another one.

Click “Take a note,” but click “Title” first. Then make one called “Random.”

Why? Because Seth gets a lot of random ideas.

Anytime you have a random idea and want to save it somewhere for later, just put it there.

The next category I think you should create is “Money.”

As you get older and life gets more complicated, you’re going to need to think about money more seriously. You might be paying bills, saving for a car, trying to buy something, or keeping track of what you owe people.

This section helps you track money-related things.

I make the money category green like the to-do section, and I pin it because money is important. You want to make sure you’re keeping track of it.

Another category I recommend is “Someday.”

This is for goals and dreams:

* Someday I want to buy a motorcycle
* Someday I want to learn horseback riding
* Someday I want to try paragliding

A real one for me is kite surfing. Someday I want to master kite surfing.

You can store all those future ideas there.

The last category I want to show you is probably your least favorite: “School Work.”

Let’s say you’re writing a paper for social studies. You can create a note called “Social Studies Paper” and keep all your notes there.

Whether you’re on your laptop, Chromebook, or phone, you can always access your notes. If you get an idea while you’re on the bus, jot it down right there. The next time you open your computer, it’ll still be there.

This is amazing.

There are other features too. You can add people, collaborate, and do lots of other things. You can create categories for different subjects, homework, random ideas — whatever you want.

What I wanted to do today was show you nine ideas to get started.

Now I want you to go back to the beginning of the video and actually set up your Google Keep.

Don’t wait until later, because if you’re like me and like many of the students I work with, “later” never comes.

So do it right now:

1. Open Gmail
2. Open Google Keep in a new tab
3. Create these categories

Don’t overthink it. I already did the thinking for you.

You can always add more later. My own Google Keep probably has 50 categories because that’s where I track all my ideas.

In fact, this video started as a note in Google Keep. I had the idea written down there, and now I’m making a video from it.

So basically:

* Urgent
* To-Do
* Errands
* Money

“Urgent” is probably the most important category for people like you and me because we’re forgetful.

Then add the other categories for different areas of your life.

I really believe this can help make your life more fun and give you more freedom.

Again, my name is Seth Perler.

Parents, if you’re watching this, I have an executive function quiz on my website. It’s a great quiz to help you understand where your child is struggling with executive function skills and gives you helpful tips.

If you like what I’m doing, please give this video a thumbs-up on YouTube, like it, and subscribe. It helps my channel grow and helps my message reach more people.

Please subscribe to my website as well and support the work I do.

I hope you have a fantastic day, students. I’m really glad you’re here and that you took the time and effort to do something positive for your life.

I have a lot of respect for that.

Be well, and I’ll see you soon.