Delegate!
It seems like that would be hard to do if you work outside a traditional office. Unless you have an intern or assistant stashed away, you’re kind of on your own. But no matter where you are, there are tasks you can (and should) assign to others.

Let’s say you make $60 an hour as a graphic designer. If you go out one workday and spend two hours mowing your own lawn, you lose about $120. If you pay someone $10 and hour to mow it for you and spend that time working instead, you make $100. Apply this to all those distracting daily tasks. Would it be less costly to have your groceries delivered or hire a laundry service? Assess what daily tasks distract from, rather than enhance, your life and see what you can delegate to someone else.

Schedule your email time.
Just like with phone calls, you should schedule certain blocks of time to check and answer email. Some people can get away with checking it once a day, some people need to deal with emails more often. Experiment to see which works best for you. Try checking and replying to email once a day. Did you miss anything important? Try mornings and evenings. This will keep you focused on other tasks and you can get all your email correspondence done at one time. It’s a proven fact that it’s more productive to do similar things in a block of time than to stop and start projects over and over again.

Keep emails short.
Many people write like they talk. Unfortunately few of us absorb what we read as well as we absorb what we hear. This means that a majority of what we read in a long email isn’t fully comprehended. So if you want to communicate something, keep it short and to the point. Not only will your message be better understood, you’ll spend less time writing.

Another tip: If you’re struggling to compose an email, maybe more communication is needed—close your email and pick up the phone.

Don’t over schedule yourself.
Some people think a huge to-do list is a sign that they’re being productive, when in fact it’s really a sign of poor time management or being overworked. People who manage their time and speak up when overloaded are rarely rushed.

Be reasonable about what you can accomplish in a given day. If you find the work piling up, it’s time to consider hiring an assistant, or re-assessing your goals. If you work for someone else, ask for the support you need. Go in prepared, with a list of projects you’re working on, estimated time for completion, and a list of projects you feel can be either delegated or postponed.

Keep the discussion focused on the work, not your emotions, and you’ll most likely be viewed as managing projects appropriately rather than complaining about being overworked. Once you have a more realistic schedule, you’ll find your stress will drop, focus increase, and you’ll experience increased enthusiasm for your work.

Prioritize
Each day you should be aware of the two or three “must do” projects on your agenda. Make sure they are things that are critically important to your project or goal. Phone calls, work-related errands, emails—they may need to be done, but most of the time are not critical to the success or failure of your venture.

Once you have identified these critical projects, be sure to schedule a specific, uninterrupted time for them. I must write that proposal today, I will do it from 9:00 to 10:30. I must organize my finances before they get out of control, I will do that from 2:00-3:00. These are exactly the types of projects that are pushed aside in favor of running to the copy place and answering calls. The great thing is that once you commit to your long-term important projects, you’ll still find time to do all the little things!

Think of it like this: The projects that are critical to your success are tennis balls. The other things that support those projects are marbles. If you fill big jar half-full of marbles, you won’t have room for many tennis balls. If you fill the jar with tennis balls instead, the same amount of marbles will fall into the cracks.