Many clients and friends struggle daily with checking off everything on their to-do lists. Whether they are not sure where to start, or they are just having trouble getting started, people are often scrambling to meet deadlines at home and work. If this sounds like you, don’t worry: you are not alone with this productivity dilemma. It affects almost everyone at some point in their life. Here is a list of suggestions I advocate to improve time management and to make you more successful at meeting your goals and deadlines:

1) Prioritize.  Each day or week or month or longer, you should constantly be ranking every task from highest priority to lowest priority and decide how much time you need to allocate to each one. You should be keeping a list (at least mental if not physical) of all the things you intend to work on over the course of the day, the week, month, and year. In order to achieve peak productivity, focus more time and energy on the high-ranked tasks. These task also give you the strongest chance for “high impact and high return.”

2) Fall into a routine.  Some of the most successful and productive people in history (Thomas Edison, Stephen King, etc.) had very strict routines; they knew exactly when they were going to wake up, when they would begin to work, when to take a break, and so forth. Getting into a routine, although seemingly mundane, will make your work seem like second nature to you when you stick with it.

3) Have an exercise or workout routine.  It is not only important for living a healthy lifestyle, but it is also a surprisingly effective productivity tool. “Work out” in some way for at least twenty minutes as soon as you wake up, and then another twenty minutes later on in the day. Exercise has been shown to reduce stress and make a large impact on a person’s mental well being.

4) Don’t multitask.  While having many “balls in the air” is typical for most people, it is ideal to focus on getting one thing done at a time. Multitasking is distracting and will inevitably reduce your performance and the quality of your work. It is far better to have one project completed with stellar results than to have three projects done that you have to go back and redo.

5) Allocate your time.  Try to complete your to-do list in batches instead of trying to spread things out over the course of the day or week. As an example, don’t schedule an important phone call for the early morning, then a second one for the afternoon, and a third near the end of the day: schedule a block of time to knock them all out at once to keep your focus.

6) Look for fun activities outside of the workplace.  If you schedule rest and relaxation time, this can help keep you motivated to reach the end of the workweek or even just the next couple of important tasks. Schedule a few rounds of golf with friends or coworkers, catch a movie on the weekends, and make sure you use your allotted vacation time. “Down time” makes “on time” a whole lot more productive.

7) Avoid distractions.  This includes televisions, cell phones, Facebook, and so forth. Even taking a ten-minute break can turn into an hour or more of wasted time, so buckle down and focus on the tasks at hand.

8) Don’t procrastinate under any circumstances.  Procrastination is the biggest thief of time and will chip away at your life as long as you’ll let it. The task that you had scheduled for today– It cannot wait until tomorrow. If you think to yourself “I should be doing X” chances are that you are procrastinating unnecessarily.

9) Tackle the tasks you are avoiding.  Work will sometimes unfortunately still be work, and there will be things that you’re not going to want to do. That doesn’t mean that you don’t still have to do those things. Becoming a successful worker means that you will eventually need to come to terms with the fact that there is never going to be a “right” time to do the least enjoyable tasks in the workplace, so get them done quickly so you can continue to move forward. The “knock it out” strategy will help you get on the other side of these tasks.

10) Rescheduling.  Don’t reschedule tasks that you aren’t getting done, either buckle down and do it or delete it from your list. Don’t be afraid to clear up your time by scratching off tasks that aren’t relevant to your workday. Be decisive. You know best what does and does not need to get done. Be honest and authentic with yourself.