How One HubSpotter Created a Framework to Reduce Meeting Fatigue This post is a part of Made @ HubSpot, an internal thought leadership series through which we extract lessons from experiments conducted by our very own HubSpotters. A few months ago, I came to a startling realization: My job is meetings. Maybe you can relate. From morning to night, I spend my time jumping from Zoom call to Zoom call. I race to grab a snack in the two minutes I'm afforded in-between calls, and I'm mentally exhausted by the end of the day. It's a struggle to decompress before spending time with friends and family. And, equally challenging, the amount of meetings I have takes away from my ability to get my work done. I'm Chris Saly — an Engineering Lead at HubSpot. As an engineer, my day job was code. Sure, we needed meetings to discuss things and stay updated as a team, but the main mechanism and value of my job was the quality and reliability of the code I produced. Now, the primary value of my job is talking to others. Whether it's as a mentor, being involved in tactical decisions, or helping set a strategic vision, most of these goals are communicated through meetings. However, there are some very real consequences to my role as an EL. Among other things, my meeting-heavy life was taking its toll on my mental health, relationships, and workplace productivity. I knew something had to change. Here, I'll show you...

The 7 Best Music Playlists for Productivity, According to Science Not long after I first started at HubSpot, I was welcomed with a fresh pair of orange, noise-canceling headphones. At the time, I had no clue that these headphones would carry me through many long work days and some of the deepest, darkest levels of writer's block. Over three years later, they are truly the gift that keeps on giving. You see, for me, listening to music while working is the secret to my productivity. All it takes is the right Beyoncé track, and I go from idle to uber productive. (Seriously, it works like a charm.) The trouble is, finding the perfect playlist isn't always easy. With endless streaming music possibilities at my fingertips, it can be hard to nail down just the right tunes to get the wheels turning. So, I did what we do best around here — a little research. As it turns out, there are a ton of studies that explore the influence of specific types of music as they relate to your productivity levels. To help you find just the right mix, we've sourced and curated seven Spotify playlists designed with specific studies in mind. Whether you're into Mozart or Chance The Rapper, we're confident that there's something on this list that will do the trick. Note: Some of the playlists contain tracks with explicit language that might not be suitable for the office. 7 Science-Backed Office Music Playlists for Productivity 1. Classical...

The 9 Best Free Email Accounts and Service Providers of 2020 You need it for networking, job recruitment, downloading resources, transferring files, setting reminders, meeting with colleagues, and so much more. Even with the rise of office chat platforms, you still depend on email for a surprising number of things. But unfortunately, not every email service is completely free. And even the free ones might not be the easiest to use or have all the features you need. It can be a challenge to find an email service provider at no cost that balances the right features with usability. To help make your search easier, we put together a list of the different types of email accounts you can set up, followed by the nine best email service providers you can host your account on right now for free. Types of Email Accounts There are two main types of email service providers to choose from: email clients and webmail. When you use your provider to access your email from a different device or location online, you can use one of three major email protocols to do so: POP3, IMAP, and Exchange. Let's briefly go over these different types of providers and protocols. Email Clients Email clients are software applications that you install onto the computer itself to manage the email you send and receive. To access this email, the client interacts with a remote email server. Email clients you've likely heard of include Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and...

7 Best Link Shorteners to Shorten that URL Trying to convince people to click on a long, jumbled link is almost as bad as a door-to-door salesman trying to sell people financial services. If your audience sees a link they perceive to be spammy in one of your social media posts, they’ll do the digital equivalent of slamming the door in your face -- scroll past it. To avoid being perceived as spammy or sloppy when you have a legitimate link to share, check out our list of the seven best link shorteners that’ll clip your links into clean, consistent, and clickable URLs. What are the benefits of using link shorteners? Using link shorteners can benefit your brand in three main ways: When you post long links on social media, it can look like spam or deter users from clicking on something they don't recognize. In particular, adding tracking parameters to your links can result in URLs that look long and confusing to someone who's unfamiliar with typical link tracking practices. Link shorteners can prune spammy-looking links into clear and concise links. Many link shorteners also let you track each of your link’s performance and analytics, which can help you understand which pieces of content perform best on specific platforms. Every social media network limits the amount of characters you can include in your posts. Twitter and LinkedIn have the shortest character limits at 280 and 700 characters, respectively, so if you need to squeeze a link...

From Coffee Shops to Cat Videos: 13 Unexpected Productivity Hacks That Actually Work Recently, a friend of mine asked me how my day was. "Busy, but productive," I replied. But what did that even mean? I suppose what I'd really meant was that all I did was work: I got to work early, worked through lunch, broke for dinner, and then proceeded to sign back online to wrap a few things up after that. And now that I think about it, I barely even moved.  Many of us have this distorted idea of productivity where the more hours you put in, the more work you put out. The less you socialize during the day, the more work you put out. The less you move during the day, the more work you put out.  Trouble is, that's not entirely true. In fact, countless studies have proven that some of the things we might think of as "a waste of time" -- preparing and eating a healthy breakfast, watching a kitten video, taking a midday run -- actually boost our productivity by leaps and bounds.  To help put this idea in perspective, check out the following counterintuitive productivity hacks. Sure, they may sound a little strange, but don't let that deter you from trying them for yourself.  13 Unexpected Productivity Hacks That Actually Work 1. Build your schedule around your energy levels. Each person has their own unique biological schedule called a circadian rhythm. This rhythm makes you tired at night and keeps you awake during the...

A Brief History of Productivity: How Getting Stuff Done Became an Industry Anyone who’s ever been a teenager is likely familiar with the question, "Why aren’t you doing something productive?” If only I knew, as an angsty 15-year-old, what I know after conducting the research for this article. If only I could respond to my parents with the brilliant retort, "You know, the idea of productivity actually dates back to before the 1800s." If only I could ask, "Do you mean 'productive' in an economic or modern context?" Back then, I would have been sent to my room for "acting smart." But today, I'm a nerdy adult who is curious to know where today's widespread fascination with productivity comes from. There are endless tools and apps that help us get more done -- but where did they begin?  If you ask me, productivity has become a booming business. And it's not just my not-so-humble opinion -- numbers and history support it. Let's step back in time, and find out how we got here, and how getting stuff done became an industry. What Is Productivity? The Economic Context Dictionary.com defines productivity as “the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services.” In an economic context, the meaning is similar -- it’s essentially a measure of the output of goods and services available for monetary exchange. How we tend to view productivity today is a bit different. While it remains a measure of getting stuff done,...

14 of the Best Meeting Scheduler Tools to Organize Your Day We complain about spending countless hours in unproductive and mismanaged meetings. But the greater crime is all the wasted time we spend scheduling the meeting. The endless back-and-forth communication and steps -- reviewing calendars, finding out the best place to meet, setting up a call-in number, adding the meeting to the calendar, and inviting all the necessary attendees. The process makes your meeting a hassle before it even starts. Effortlessly scheduling meetings without the annoying back-and-forth emails. Get free access to HubSpot Meetings here. Whether you're trying to find the perfect window of time to catch up with your busy team, or looking for the best way to coordinate with your clients, these meeting scheduler tools have you covered. Meeting Scheduler Tools HubSpot Arrangr Demodesk Rallly Assistant.to Calendar NeedToMeet YouCanBook.me Pick Doodle Calendly Clara Google Calendar Zoom 1. HubSpot A lot of meeting scheduler tools connect to your inbox, but what if you need your meeting schedule available in your CRM as well? HubSpot's meeting scheduling tool integrates with both your calendar and your HubSpot CRM, so setting up meetings with customers, prospects, or leads is a painless process. The Meetings tool provides users with a personalized booking link they can share via email to invite people to...

How Digital Minimalism Helps Focus, Attention, and Productivity How much time do you spend online each day? If we're honest with ourselves, we know it's probably too much. In fact, one recent study found that we spend 6 hours and 42 minutes online every day. Imagine if you could put that time toward accomplishing your goals. That's why we love the digital minimalism movement. Below, let's learn more about digital minimalism, from how to become a digital minimalist to the tools you need to improve focus and productivity. In his 2019 book, "Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World", Cal Newport theorizes that to live a more purposeful life, we need to be intentional with how we spend our time. For example, we all know that the internet can get in the way of other activities. We may spend hours on social media without talking to family members or meeting up with friends. In general, minimalism seeks to simplify your life in some way. Digital minimalism can help you simplify the tech in your life. This may simply mean spending less time on social media or deleting it from your phone altogether. Or you could choose to set specific hours each day for your online activities to free up time for more purpose-driven tasks. Improving Focus and Productivity with Digital Minimalism It's no secret that interruptions impact your concentration. But today, we aren't just dealing with an occasional ringing phone or a cubicle neighbor dropping...

45 Slack Tricks to Boost Productivity & Improve Collaboration Slack is an undeniably popular messaging channel for businesses — it's used by over 12 million people worldwide, and 87% of its users say Slack improves communication and collaboration. As a daily Slack user myself, I can attest that it's an incredibly helpful tool for sending quick questions to your manager, organizing meet-up times with colleagues, or even sharing the occasional dog photo in the company's #dog-channel. However, despite using Slack daily for the past two years, I had no idea that I could star important messages (which essentially "bookmarks" them), set up reminders within Slack to respond to messages whenever I'm ready, or create a custom emoji. There are plenty more tricks to using Slack more efficiently, as well — here, NetCredit collected 45 of them. Take a look at this infographic to learn how you can streamline your own processes to become more productive while using Slack, or how you might create a better experience for your...