If you find yourself daydreaming on your job, you probably simply want to come home and enjoy life’s pleasures without having to work for them. Unfortunately, that’s not realistic for most of us, and we have to work. And when we have to work, we have to do a good job and be thorough, so we have to remain focused on what were doing. That’s not so easy, however.

In case you didn’t know, there are 168 hours in a week. That’s not a very long time to get everything done that you need to get done. Most of us don’t get done what we want to get done and end up putting it off until tomorrow. However, effective time management can change this.

Here are five tips that can help you use your time better.

1. Schedule a time for the things that you need to have done during each day. For example, make a time for work, and a time for play. Follow that schedule each day and stick to it. Look at your schedule as a list of priorities. If you are aiming to spend some time at the gym, then pave out a time just for that, and make it a routine.

2. Before you go to bed every night, list what you are going to do the next day, starting with first thing in the morning. You can also do this right after you get up and before you start your day, but regardless, have a to do list that you follow every day and then stick with it. When you’ve got one task completed, mark it off and move down to the next thing. Keep going until you get to the very last task you need to complete. If you follow this method, you’ll only rarely get behind.

3. Keep television, cell phone, social websites, etc., at a minimum. There’s a time for work and a time for play, so don’t engage in distractions like television or your cell phone until you have completed everything on your to-do list.

4. Put “must do” before “can do.” Organize your list so that the things that have to be done get done, and those that can wait until another day can be moved inside. It’s likely that you’re not always going to get everything done on your list, especially if you’re particularly busy. Stay realistic about what you can and can’t handle for a particular day, and just keep checking things off. You will get through it.

5. Mix harder and easier tasks on your list. It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re continually putting hard tasks before easy tasks, but it’s just as easy to get distracted if you try to do all the easy ones first before the hard ones. By “changing out” what you’re doing and switching back and forth from easy to hard, you keep your energy up so that you get more things done. You can also spread more difficult tasks out over the course of a week, and pick certain days to do particular projects if you need to break them up specifically.

In short, time management is all about planning ahead. Of course, complications are going to occur in your schedule sometimes, so you’ll need to go to “plan B” when necessary. Still, simply having a plan and schedule to begin with is going to help keep you more efficient, effective and productive so that you use your time wisely.

Alison K. Mitchelson introduces motivational techniques and professional facilitation online at Inspired Reality for business owners such as business training and Executive Coaching. Inspire your staff!

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