Productivity is a word we hear being tossed around constantly. How often do you find yourself in the middle of the workday spending precious time on tedious, mundane and time-consuming tasks? If you’re anything like me, it happens quite a bit. Someone has a question out of left field, emails pop up with issues and requests you weren’t expecting, you need to schedule a meeting in the middle of the day and have to find out availability, etc. I’ve found a tool that eliminates the need to write emails back and forth concerning scheduling. 

Generally, these types of emails are a waste of time during the day. Finding a way to do it electronically has been a goal. I started using a program called FreeBusy to integrate my calendars, share my availability with others and eliminate the back and forth that comes with scheduling meetings. 

So, how does it work?

First, you’ll sign up to create an account. You’ll link all of your existing calendars (you can link as many as you have). These calendars can include those coming from Google, iCloud, Office and more.  Once your calendars are linked, you can customize your availability further. You decide when you are available for meetings. Another level of customization includes deciding the way you accept meeting proposals, presetting meeting locations and more. Once someone checks your availability and sends a meeting proposal, every participant will receive an email invite. You’ll then decide whether to accept or ask for a different time. If you accept, the meeting will be added to your calendars automatically.

It’s a truly simple process that takes out a majority of the back and forth logistics and details that come with scheduling meetings on a regular basis. There are four different tiers of membership for you to choose from. There is a free “Personal” option for individual use that offers the availability page and calendar integrations like we talked about above. The professional version is $4 per user per month for organizations with multiple employees to use with added features. They also have automated scheduling options and memberships as well. 

Which tools are you using lately to boost your productivity and save time in your day? Share your favorites below! Find out more about FreeBusy here.