Carry your smart phone or even a pad to jot down a to-do list, clearing your mind so you can come up with work solutions and new ideas more quickly. Be clear what you want to achieve that day and stick to it.

Pinpoint the time of day when you are at your freshest, and remove all distractions, for me that is the morning, when I feel fresher and more alert. Route all calls to voicemail and avoid your email inbox. Set times to deal with emails, otherwise it will continually interrupt your day. Unsubscribe from newsletters you don’t read. You’ll be much more productive.

When you are ready to deal with your email, voicemail, or paperwork, take instant action – read, answer, delete, file.

Limit social media. Is social media worthwhile for your business? If not, cut it out during the day. If yes, limit time on social media sites to 30 minutes or less daily. Use tools such as Hootsuite to schedule posts.

Structure your meetings. Be clear about what you need to accomplish, start and end on time, and cut off people who like to talk.

Get help. Just because it’s your business, you don’t have to do it all. Hire others to do your bookkeeping, administrative tasks, errand running, customer support. A Virtual Assistant is very useful in freeing up your time, allowing you to grow your business successfully.

A great way to save time during your working day is to start a “handle things once” policy. This means you don’t open things such as emails, letters or voicemails without resolving them – either replying, filing or binning. Don’t let clutter build up in your inbox which you’ll just have to return to and spend more time sorting out later.

I have borrowed some time saving tips from Jonathan Weinstock – Entrepreneurial Growth Mentor, they may seem obvious, but useful all the same:

Park great ideas which are ‘non-core’ in an ‘ideas’ email folder. Write it down get it off your chest, file it and park it.

Park emails which can be addressed later in a ‘to do’ email folder.

If you don’t get back to key people within 24 hours, you are overcommitted and need to delegate more.

Use your alarm during the day to remind you when to leave for meetings and for end times for meetings.

Save files to desktop so you can access them quickly. File them later.

Five more to follow…

Where does the time go? Whether you need to know for billing purposes or just want a better idea of how your work day is split up, you can always answer that question with a good time-tracking application. Has anyone got experience of using a time-tracking app, if so which one do you recommend?

Set goals, provide rewards

If your workday begins with a cup of coffee and a few minutes browsing your favorite sites, you’ve rewarded yourself before you’ve accomplished anything. Instead, set small goals and hold off on treating yourself until those tasks are done. Setting goals and deadlines will boost your productivity and prevent you from wasting time first thing in the morning.

Manage your email inbox and divert nonessential correspondence using mail filters, smart mailboxes and folders. Establish email rules to stop spam, automatically reroute incoming items to specific folders, and flag important senders.