In my Calendly profile, I have about 5-8 schedules depending on the business period. There are two reasons this is critical to my workflow. First, it allows me to push the vast majority of meetings into certain blocks during the day, leaving me without random gaps. Second, it's useful for a global workforce and customer base. Minimally, I have links for a US, Europe, and Asia schedule. In addition, I have different schedules depending on priority, urgency, internal, and external meetings. Almost no one receives a link to "My Calendly" base page. They will always receive a link that is tuned to their timezone and the priority and urgency of the meeting.
I like the ability to create tasks from emails within Microsoft Outlook. So many of my to-do items originate from an email. With MS Outlook, I am able to quickly drag the email to my task icon and create an item on my to-do list. This prevents me from missing important tasks that would get lost in my email. I am able to click on my task icon and see all the to-do items. I can set priorities and deadlines, which will generate reminders to ensure I don’t miss important deadlines.
With one quick addition to scheduling calls, I’ve made my meetings significantly more productive. When you book a meeting, you see the option to add a custom message - a feature most of us scroll by, especially if the recipient already knows the invitation is coming. I now always ask, “What can I prepare for this meeting?” in the custom message box so we can start the call with everything we need. It’s led to more seamless meetings that accomplish what we set out to do faster!
I use an app called TextExpander to create keystroke shortcuts to automatically generate the Calendly URL. With just 4 keystrokes I have a full Calendly link that I can quickly summon in emails and messaging apps without having to hunt for the URL and use copy+paste. It saves so much time!
We use Calendly's questions to screen prospects before a call to see if they're the right fit. The key is to ask qualifying questions about previous strategies, goals, and even budget. If a prospect isn't a great fit, let them know and provide a few actionable tips they can use to better position their business for a more successful engagement later on. You can waste a lot of time on calls with unqualified leads. Finding out halfway through a call that a prospect isn't a good fit for your company can derail productivity on several levels. Asking the right (challenging) questions upfront ensures each call is meaningful.
When it comes to scheduling, you don't want to constantly remind people that your meeting is about to take place. At the same time, you don't want the person on the other end not to show up. Whenever someone books a meeting with Rockstar Marketing, I have text and email reminders set up, 24 hours and 2 hours before the meeting is about to occur. I don't make the phone number field mandatory, but it seems like most people are happy to put their numbers in any way. I love this app hack because it means I don't need to log into my emails or phone and remind people, and can get on with my work day. But I'm still confident that the person has had enough reminders. I rarely get people not showing up to meetings now because of this.
Data Scientist, Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant for Startups at Consorte Marketing
Answered 3 years ago
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, and retrospection keeps this from happening. Instead of staying on the same path, look back on the results you've had in the past, and make some changes. Retrospection is about understanding that there is always room for improvement, and this is the case with productivity, too. Reflect on how you spent time poorly in the past, either through distractions or inefficient methods. Then look to curtail your distractions and improve your methods. Eventually, you will become more productive if you keep an open mind about where you could have done better in the past. Set a schedule for retrospection, where you review past results on a weekly or monthly basis. Program retrospection into your calendar, and spend time sharpening your saw on a regular basis.
One of the best hacks I've discovered is the power of muscle memory and conditioning your brain to go into focus mode. By blocking time on my calendar in advance it allows me to keep that free for deep work and I can also schedule it at the time when my energy is most high. I also use an app called Focus at Will that features scientifically proven tracks to improve focus. With these two triggers, I've conditioned myself to higher levels of productivity regardless of the work being done in those sessions. In addition, I set a timer during those blocks to get a specific task done which helps me resist the urge to make everything perfect, and challenges me to focus on execution.
If you've ever been in a situation where your lead doesn't show up on time, you know how frustrating it can be. Whether you’re working with a client who didn’t show up for their appointment, or you’re trying to schedule an appointment for your own business, it can feel like a waste of time and energy. And if you’re not careful, you could end up spending more time dealing with no-shows than actually getting your work done! Hence sending an automated message when a lead doesn't show up is a simple, but effective method! It sends them an automated message asking them to reschedule their appointment so that they can focus on other people scheduled for their session. Next, you can even put a filter that -- If they don't reply in 24 hours, their session gets canceled automatically! So if you still have a no-show, don't waste your time—automate the process for handling no-shows and save yourself some stress in the process!
My best scheduling app "hack" to improve productivity is using the color-coding feature in my calendar. I use different colors for different types of tasks, such as work meetings, personal errands, and deadlines. This allows me to easily tell what type of task I'm looking at when I glance over my schedule. Having a visual representation of my tasks helps me stay organized and prioritize what needs to be done. I also use this hack for recurring tasks, so that I can easily identify the tasks that come up on a regular basis and make sure those get taken care of first. Color-coding my calendar is an effective way for me to keep track of all my commitments in a productive manner.
As a Project Manager, meetings pop up randomly every day. To combat this I’ve been using Calm Calendar. It merges my work and personal calendar so that I can block certain times (and keep them private). The main benefit is that I can integrate it with Calednly as well. Anyone who books a new meeting can only do so in availability across both calendars.
My #1 scheduling app hack is combining Zapier with Calendly. After someone books a meeting, Zapier automates a lot of tiny actions that I would be responsible for. For example, a prospect is added to an email sequence with pre-call information they need to consume before we meet. Next, Zapier creates a record in our CRM, or an existing record is changed to 'Call Scheduled'. I also push all of the information I've collected from the booking form into a Slack notification channel as part of our 'make data public by default' approach to remote work.
I use events in Google Calendar to block times for important tasks. For example, every morning I block out between 9-10am to focus on the most important task of the day. This is a better way to start the day than looking through emails, as you can sometimes spend all morning going through emails, spending time on lots of small tasks instead of the important ones. I'll then block out between 10am-10:30 to read and reply to emails/messages and schedule other work as a result of them. All other tasks I need to work on are also time blocked onto my calendar. Using time blocks in your Calendar helps you manage time, keep focus, and manage when meetings can be scheduled so they don't interrupt your work.
Capitalizing on one’s own metacognition is a foolproof productivity hack. For every assignment, always take some time to focus on one’s own thought and behavioral patterns regarding the work being done. Over time, this sheds a great deal of clarity on how an individual does work most effectively, and they can plan accordingly from there to maximize their output. With new apps like Meta Learn and BrainHQ designed to do exactly that, it has never been easier to learn how to capitalize on one’s own work habits.
Here's the hack: using the Google task feature for reminders. While the feature is intended for scheduling tasks, using it for ongoing/upcoming reminders is useful. For instance, say you have an ongoing task that occurs weekly/monthly. Simply enter the task as you wish and don't schedule a date. That way, the task never gets outdated or buried by other to-do's. It's a simple hack, but one I find personally effective. The task manager can be activated while on Gmail--head over to the right side of your page and click on the small check mark.
Using integrations to connect Calendly to apps I regularly use is a great time-saving hack. With integrations, I can avoid having to toggle back and forth between windows or sync different programs. For example, I can connect my Calendly calendar to my Google Calendar, so that any changes I make to my Calendly calendar are automatically reflected in my Google Calendar. This way, I don't have to manually enter my appointments into both calendars. Integrations also allow me to connect my Calendly calendar to other apps like Slack, so that I can easily share my availability with my team. This saves me time and energy, and helps me stay organized.
One of the biggest things for me has been to allow people to schedule meetings on set days (such as Tuesdays and Wednesdays). This applies to both client and team calls. Context switching eats up a lot of brain power so I want to keep my days focused on a few tasks. Using a tool like Calendly, you can easily standardize this so that you only open up a few days every week for calls.
I schedule breaks into my work day. This productivity hack runs counterintuitive to crunch culture in business but ultimately creates more sustainable, focused routines. I set regular timers around my peak performance times during the workday. For example, if a timer goes off at 11 am, I have likely already been working three to four hours without a break. Instead of pushing myself through part of the busiest times of the day, I take time to ground myself, exercise, eat, or step away for a moment to refocus. The real issue to avoid isn’t suboptimal performance, it’s burnout.
One feature I've found particularly useful when using a scheduling app like Calendly is the ability to set up recurring appointments. This has allowed me to streamline my weekly meetings, such as one-on-one check-ins with team members or regular client calls, by setting them up in advance and having them automatically appear on my calendar. Not only does this save me the time and effort of manually scheduling these recurring events, but it also ensures that I don't accidentally double-book myself or forget to make time for important meetings. Additionally, the ability to customize the availability and duration of these recurring appointments has given me greater control over my schedule and allowed me to better balance my workload. Overall, this feature has greatly improved the efficiency and organization of my workday.
For me, one of the best tips while using Asana as a scheduling app is to break down big tasks into smaller chunks and schedule them as subtasks. This helps to make the daunting task seem more manageable, as well as makes it easier to review my progress as I work through it. I also like to assign deadlines for each subtask so that I know when I need to have it completed. Doing this allows me to stay on track and stay productive as I work my way through the master task. This has been a great "hack" for me as I've learned how to better manage my time and be more effective with projects.