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You wake up an hour before work and rush to get ready. You shower at lightning speed and grab an energy bar and coffee before running out the door. Still, work leaves you feeling discombobulated and overwhelmed. Long before the week is over, you’re burned out and know you won't hit this week's goals. How do you get out of this miserable rut? One word: Routines. Morning and evening routines prime you for success. They help you achieve more, think clearly, and do work that actually matters. They keep you from stumbling through your day and make sure you get the most important things done. All it takes is a bit of discipline, along with routines that will set you up for success. Here are the what and why of routines, along with 12 morning and evening routines you can implement to create more perfect days. The Science of Habits and Creating Routines Morning Routines To Help You Start the Day Off Right Evening Routines That Set the Tone for the Next Day The Science of H...

"With Zapier, I have a better work-life balance." Dina Yankelewitz, Manager, Data and Analytics at Pearson Sometimes, the smallest changes can yield the biggest results. Think about the butterfly that flaps its wings in Peking and in Central Park, you get rain instead of sunshine. For your work life, that can take the form of a simple reminder about upcoming meetings—one that cuts through even if you're not glued to a computer. Tasks add up throughout the day and projects pop up that need input, so it's not a surprise that a meeting could fall through the cracks. But Dina Yankelewitz, a manager of data and analytics at Pearson , found a way to always get a meeting reminder, whether she's at her desk, on the road, or anywhere in between. Her secret is Zapier, the app automation tool that makes connecting different applications a breeze. Dina created a Zap, Zapier's word for an automated workflow, that texts her phone one hour before each meeting. That means...

Survey software helps you create surveys to collect data and gather feedback from a broad audience. You can ask questions in a variety of formats, solicit responses through multiple channels, and chart your data to get a big-picture view of all responses. Survey apps are often used for collecting customer or employee feedback, conducting data-based research studies, and even building quick polls. Two of the most popular survey apps are Google Forms and SurveyMonkey . If you're in the market for a survey maker and are having trouble choosing between the two, this deep-dive comparison of each tool's features should make it easier to determine which one is right for your needs. If neither tool fulfills your needs, you can find more options in our guides to the best form builder apps , best survey builder tools , and best online poll apps . Common Features and What We Looked For SurveyMonkey and Google Forms are both powerhouses in the survey field. And while both allow you to...

Finding the perfect productivity system is like finding the perfect recipe. Sometimes, a recipe with a really high rating tastes terrible. Sometimes, you find a comment that suggests adjustments, and those adjustments take it from mediocre to outstanding. And sometimes, you only use the recipe as a guide, modifying it to cater to your unique preferences and tastes. The best productivity technique, like the best food, is personalized. Productivity techniques can be adjusted, mined for their best parts, and mixed with parts of others until you've found a perfect blend. And that's exactly what Zoë Read-Bivens did to create the Flowtime Technique —an alternative to the Pomodoro Technique for people who dislike Pomodoro's consistent alarms. The Flowtime Technique Is a Twist on Pomodoro Flowtime is modified Pomodoro, so to understand the Flowtime Technique, it's helpful to first revisit the framework of the Pomodoro Technique . While in college, Francesco Cirillo—the cr...

For the last few years, attendance at INBOUND , a week-long marketing, sales, and customer service event held in Boston, MA by HubSpot , has soared: 2017 had over 21,000 attendees and 2018 saw over 24,000. They expect bigger numbers for this year's event, being held the first week of September 2019. Years past have seen speakers like Michelle Obama, Lena Waithe, Deepak Chopra, Shonda Rhimes, and plenty of other recognizable names. It's a can't-miss event for those passionate about growing their business—and growing as people— which means the registration experience must be seamless. A clunky sign-up process leads to less customer confidence and lower attendance numbers, making it harder to get big names like this year's Katie Couric and Jada Pinkett-Smith. But Elijah Clark-Ginsberg, senior event manager in charge of technology and attendee experience, says registration wasn't always as easy as their current experience: "Event technology is a tough space w...

When do you have your first dose of caffeine? For most people, the answer is obvious: first thing in the morning. But is that really the best time to drink coffee, tea, or any other caffeinated beverage? Scientific research suggests not. Cortisol, a neurochemical related to alertness, is produced at high levels first thing in the morning, making caffeine consumption then redundant at best. Neuroscientist Steven L. Miller explains on his blog : …cortisol production is strongly related to your level of alertness, and it just so happens that cortisol peaks for your 24-hour rhythm between 8 and 9 a.m., on average. Therefore, you are drinking caffeine at a time when you are already approaching your maximal level of alertness naturally. So when are we supposed to drink caffeine? Miller continues: Although your cortisol levels peak between 8 and 9 a.m. there are a few other times where—on average—blood levels peak again: between noon to 1 p.m., and between 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. In the morn...

It's easy for a small business to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of apps and tools available for every aspect of a business. You have customer relationship management (CRM) systems where leads and notes live; sales automation tools to move leads from one stage to another; email marketing tools for newsletters and campaigns—and on and on. But the savviest small business owners know you can use all-in-one marketing and sales automation tool Infusionsoft by Keap with app automator Zapier to cut costs and reduce the time it takes to manage the whole process. Here's how a few of Zapier's users combine Infusionsoft's features with our library of over 1,400 apps to make their work more efficient and their days more productive. Create Infusionsoft Contacts from Form Entries "Zapier unlocked functionality that would have otherwise been cost-prohibitive: merging Typeform responses with the appropriate Infusionsoft user records so we can keep track of client feedba...

Work-life balance—or work-life integration —is a hot topic right now. There are dozens of articles published every week about it, and everyone has their own opinions on how to achieve it. Even employers are getting in on the trend, presenting work-life balance as a perk in job descriptions. There are certainly ways that the company you work for can destroy your work-life balance, hustle culture being a prime example. But there's also research that suggests that achieving work-life balance has little to do with your job—it's mostly driven by your personality. First, Let's Agree That Work-Life Balance Is Difficult to Define In a 2014 study on work-life balance policies in the workplace, researchers Diana Benito-Osorio, Laura Muñoz-Aguado, and Cristina Villar reviewed all of the ways work-life balance has been defined in various research studies. They found 37 different definitions in studies conducted over 20 years. Some of the definitions focus on the amount of time s...