Productivity is about managing your priorities and time. The skills and habits needed to be productive can be learned with dedication and effort.

Here are some tips to start you on a road to being more productive:

Know what’s important – Learn to tell the difference between important tasks and ones that just keep you busy. Spend the most time on the ones that are important.

Plan your day – Take some time at the end of the previous day or at the beginning of the day to plan what you want to get accomplished that day. A handy tool might be creating a to-do list each day, and refer to it often. This will help to keep you on track and focused.

Know your priorities – It’s not about just getting things done, you want to get the right things done. Learn to delegate tasks that others can do for you. This will free you up to work on higher priority items. Also learn to say no. Protect your time, energy and focus.

Solve problems – Take the responsibility for solving problems both at work and home. Once things are resolved it will relieve you of some undue stress and free-up your mind for more productive activities.

Focus – Concentrate on the task that you are engaged in at the moment and tune out distractions.

Get organized – Keep your work and home space in order. This will cut down on wasted time looking for things, plus it will help reduce stress.

Be disciplined – Be accountable for your goals. If you aren’t focused and disciplined on what you want to accomplish, you’ll wander aimlessly.

Keep learning – You’ll never know everything. Keep you mind open and actively seek opportunities to learn new things in life