Is it 5 o’clock already? You worked all day, you ate at your desk, and you had your hands in a bit of everything. You are ex-hau-sted. And then you realize you didn’t do any tasks you had planned that day. It’s easy to get caught up in the email, meetings, calls, and spontaneous fire-fighting that pull you away from your daily goals. And while you can’t add hours to the day, you can improve your efficiency during work hours. Here’s how.

Develop a routine

In the morning, first thing when you get to work, review the to-do list of the tasks you want to accomplish by day’s end. Identify what must be done today versus what can wait if it needs to. (You’ll write your very first list in the morning. Thereafter, you’ll prep the list at the end of the day.)

Throughout the day, manage your time by setting the alarm on your phone or computer to alert you once an hour. When the alarm goes off, check in with yourself. Were you as productive in the last hour as you wanted to be? If not, take a look at your to-do list and refocus your time for the next hour.

In the evening, five minutes before quitting time, shut it all down. Review your to-do list, reflecting on how successful your day was and what you might do differently. Prepare a new to-do list for tomorrow.

Conserve time

Insta here, text message there—where is your workday really going? To find out, keep an activity log for one week. Log all your activities, no matter how small, and how long you spend doing each. By the end of the week, you’ll have a good idea where your time is actually going. Once you know that, you can use time limits to maximize your productivity. Assign a time limit to each task on your to-do list and don’t exceed it. (Think 80-20 Rule: 80 percent of your results come from the first 20 percent of your effort.) Do the best job you can within that time limit, and then move on to the next task. Also set daily times to triage and respond to work email.

Push past procrastination

We’ve all done it: put off a project until the last minute. Why? Because we were afraid of it or didn’t want to do it to begin with. Try breaking up the project into smaller pieces so you have a checklist of doable steps. You may find the act of creating a checklist is enough to start building momentum on your project. Continue that momentum by checking off each step as you complete it. Progress is the best motivator!

In conclusion

You can’t add hours to the day, but you can work more efficiently within those hours. And while improving your efficiency can help you stay focused, even the most efficient workers don’t always accomplish everything they mean to. Just keep your chin up and stick with the routine, and you’ll be closer to your goals in no time!