Separate your work and personal to-do lists. You'll be more productive if you focus on work when you're at work and on life stuff when you're at home.

Keep multiple lists separated on the same tools or apps, or if you find it hard to stay focused on one or the other when they ...

Write out your to-do list the day before:

• You'll free your time to dive right into your to-do list in the morning - one of the most productive times of day.
• It can help you spot obstacles ahead of time and prepare accordingly.
• Knowing what you have going o...

The best one for you depends entirely on your working style and personal preferences.

You can use a physical notebook around everywhere you go, but it's easier to use a to-do list app or tool that syncs across all your devices. That way, you can access your to-do items wheneve...

Notifications, phone calls, and noise in the office can make it much harder to get through your to-do list quickly.

Remove those temptations by physically removing stuff like notifications, turning your phone on airplane mode, or even putting your phone in your bag. And if you...

Try using a rewards system: Once you knock three items off your list, or once you finish a particularly grueling task, you can allow yourself to check Twitter, eat a snack, or go to the gym.

Remove any items from your to-do list that you're not realistically going to do and put them on a "to-don't" list. 

That way, you aren't wasting any time on the things that don't really matter. This will help you prioritize the more urgent list items and get through everything faster...

Bring your laptop with you to a remote location without your computer charger, and aim to get your to-do list done by the time you leave. 

This is a way of gamifying your productivity, and it works: The pressure of a looming deadline can do wonders to keep you focused and working sma...

... and put them in the same time frame.

Perpetually shifting your focus between different tasks can add up to a whole lot of wasted time. Shifting between tasks causes temporary mental barriers, depleting our productivity by as much as 40%.