Checking your email first thing in the morning means spending the best part of the day on other people's priorities.Start your days focused on you and you will be in a much better state of mind to help others and get more accomplished all day.

Don't check emails first

One great way to be fully prepared for the day ahead is to make a to-do list.Keep your daily to-do list small, so that it's manageable and not overwhelming. To make sure you keep it this way, use a Post-It Note. Its dimensions will force you to only write down the most important things that you have to do each day.

Make a daily to-do list

Taking regular breaks keeps you from getting bored and losing focus, increasing your brain's function at the same time. It also forces you to reevaluate what you're working on, ensuring that you're going in the right direction.

Take regular breaks

Set aside different tasks for different days of the week.This can give you the time you need to make headway in those particular areas...without putting your brain on overload.

Theme your workdays

<ul><li>It gives you structure, builds forward-moving habits, and creates momentum that will carry you on the days when you feel like you don't have the strength to carry yourself.</li><li>Following a daily routine can help you establish priorities, limit procrastination, keep track of goals, and even make you healthier. </li><li>It lowers your reliance on willpower and motivation.</li></ul>

Why You Need a Routine

Having no routine or structure is so much more draining mentally, physically, and emotionally than any routine could ever be.

Having No Routine

Simply close your eyes and imagine yourself excelling and being the best you. Put yourself in situations where you shine, visualizing the best possible outcome. Include as much detail in your visualizations as possible, using all of your senses.

Visualize your success

Find a partner or mentor you trust who can be your accountability partner, someone to hold you to your word.Making a commitment to your accountability partner about your goal will make the milestone realistically attainable.

Make yourself accountable

Too much time spent doing one thing can cause you to lose focus, and interest. And if you're working on something you don't really want to do, it makes it easier because you only have to do it for a short while.

Break your day into chunks

... even if just one page at a time. It can boost your intelligence, increase your brainpower and even strengthen your ability to empathize with other people.Make your reading habit more manageable by breaking big goals (like reading a whole book) into something more manageable (a few chapters/pages per day).

Read a book

Spending time writing every day helps you become a better communicator, improves your ability to recall important information, and enhances your creativity. Write in a diary format and you also have the added benefit of greater self-understanding.

Prime yourself for creativity

... to get you into a positive mood for the day ahead. Put your mind in a good state right away, because left unchecked it will try to tell you the things that are wrong. Pick a phrase or question that resonates with you. It could be as simple as smiling and saying "thank you" out loud, acknowledging that you have been gifted with another day.

Start the day with a mantra

We all have the same amount of time. That's why people who are more productive -- and successful -- use their time more effectively. And that's why my colleague Chris Winfield is such a great resource for entrepreneurs. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."