FACT: Data from Cornerstone Research shows productivity falls by 68% in employees who feel they don’t have enough hours in the day to complete their work.

1. Begin your day early and write down the five most important tasks you need to accomplish.

2. Before heading to the office, schedule time to exercise. Considerable data shows people who exercise are more energized and productive in their days.

3. At work, focus first on the tasks that you’re not looking forward to. If you put off these tasks, experts say you’ll likely procrastinate.

4. Spend the bulk of your day concentrating on making money for yourself and your company. Sales will always be the lifeblood of your business.

5. It’s also good to build in time every day for networking and re-filling your pipeline. This might include meeting with prospects in person or mining for leads on LinkedIn.

6. When you check emails, only answer the ones that take a minute or less to respond to right away. Mark those that need longer responses and save them for later.

7. Limit meetings. When you hold them, keep them short. The longer the meeting, the less productive it often becomes.

8. At the end of the work day, maybe on your drive home, think for a minute about how your schedule went and how you can improve tomorrow.