Ever come out of a 12-hour workday feeling exhausted, yet not productive enough? We spend our days trying to tick things off our to-do list, and still, it feels like we haven’t done enough, or worse, haven’t been efficient. How we can be more productive in ways that feel manageable and good?

• Align your most important work with your chronotype. Schedule work that requires your most intense brain power with your energy peaks.
• Plan your day the night before. Do it at the end of your workday so that whatever needs to be tackled tomorrow is still fresh in your head.
• Develop different rituals (like where and when you work) for different types of tasks. Over time, your brain will associate those physical and temporal cues with those tasks.
• Avoid blocking your calendar 100%. A fully blocked day can give you a false sense of productivity and leaves no time for moments of creativity and inspiration.