You work and work all day long   but you still can't seem to get everything done! So what's the solution?


Julie Morgenstern is a time management consultant in New York City. And she says by tweaking a few simple things in your day, you can be much more productive. Here's her advice, courtesy of the Bottom Line Personal.

• Shorten your workday by 30 minutes. If you're at the office 9 hours a day, limit yourself to 8-and-a-half hours. It sounds counterproductive, but having 30 minutes LESS each day helps you organize your time better. You'll no longer tolerate unnecessary interruptions, make personal phone calls or spend too much time chatting around the water cooler. Your pace will pick up, your focus will sharpen and you'll soon find that you're getting more done despite the shorter workday.
  
  
• Avoid the urge to multitask It's a sure way to be inefficient! Research shows that it takes the brain 4 times longer to recognize and process each item it's working on when you multitask, than when it's focused on a single job. Also, our work quality suffers when we try to multitask. So just do one thing at a time. If another obligation crops up, or an unrelated idea pops into your head, pause just long enough to write it down in your day planner, so you can get to it when you're finished.
  
  
• And one last tip for time-management: Don't look at your email first thing. Instead, use the morning to focus on your most important tasks. Most people's minds are sharpest in the morning, and taking care of important responsibilities before lunch creates a sense of relief and accomplishment that can carry you through the rest of the day.
  
  
• Wanna go further? Check out the book "Never Check Your Email in the Morning, and Other Unexpected Strategies for Making Your Work Life Work". It's by Julie Morgenstern.