Your Inner CEO: "How was your day?"

Everyone has daily rituals, and most people have specific rituals in their work. What’s the first work-related action you take every day? How many breaks do you take as the day goes on? Do you have idle time to contend with, or do you barely have enough time to finish your assignments?

Both of these options are bad news. The first one places you in a lethargic holding pattern. The second is a ticket to emotional and physical burnout, probably sooner rather than later. So in the spirit of good career health and work-life balance, here are a couple of ideas for enhanced productivity.

First, learn not just to organize, but to accurately prioritize. Despite how it may seem in the moment, many “emergencies” don't matter in the long run. Technology has increased our sense of urgency. A FedEx letter cries out for more immediate attention than something sent bulk rate, but the delivery system can be out of proportion to the value of the content. You may be worried because you’re four minutes late for a meeting. But the meeting itself could be a waste of everybody's time.

Unless you take conscious control of the process, you'll tend to react to apparent urgency, even if it's relatively unimportant. What's even worse, you may miss what's genuinely important unless it also carries an obvious banner of urgency.

To avoid this, make a commitment to interrupt yourself several times a day. Stop what you're doing and ask yourself the following question: "Is this how I want or need to spend my time right now?" If the answer is "yes," go back to what you were doing. You will have affirmed your decision very consciously.

But there are also other possibilities. Maybe you’re doing something you need to do, but it doesn’t need to be done at this moment. So put it aside in favor of something that's more time sensitive. That way you'll avoid getting caught in deadline pressure later.

And if you neither want nor need to be doing something, now or ever -- just stop! It may surprise you, but if you stick with the "want/need" question for a few days, you really will catch yourself doing things you can't justify doing on any grounds, and you'll find yourself making changes to better serve your needs.