What if you could get more done in less time? It would be great, right? Professionals who know how to manage their time well also enjoy benefits like more room in their schedule for creative work and less stress.

Scott Eblin, the founder and president of Eblin Group, has had many a conversation about time management over the past two decades of his executive coaching. It seems everyone wants to know how to manage their time more effectively, but many people aren’t sure how to go about it.

In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share some strategies from Eblin that will give you some quick wins when it comes to time management.

Don’t try to do it all. You may want to tackle every item on your to-do list, but even if you worked around the clock, seven days a week, you wouldn’t be able to get to every single thing you want to accomplish. Make choices about what’s important to you, Eblin says, and use your time to work on those things.

Honor your big rocks. Eblin says these may be your health, family, friends and fun. Put these big rocks into your time jar first and make time for them before everything else.

Dedicate time to doing what only you can do. What roles do you play at work, at home and in the community? Try to spend the bulk of your time doing what only you can do in these roles.

Prioritize planning time. Eblin likes to start his week in planning mode. It doesn’t take much time — just 30-60 minutes to review the week ahead. Then, at the end of the week, schedule look-back time. Take another 30-60 minutes to tie up loose ends and follow through on any commitments you made. He recommends making mental connections between what happened this week and what’s coming up the following week.

Take 15 minutes to start your day. Use this time to look at your calendar and to-do list. Flag the must-do items, Eblin says, and visualize what you need to accomplish in your most important meetings and how you need to show up to make those outcomes likely.

Do something productive first thing. Once you have your to-do list for the day, Eblin recommends picking one item to accomplish before you move on to anything else. He says knowing you’ve already accomplished something will help set a positive tone for the rest of the day.

Schedule “you” time. You can use this time to simply take a break, think creatively or engage in deep work. Eblin suggests scheduling time blocks of 60 to 90 minutes a couple times each week.

Even if you try just a few of the time-management tactics above, you can begin to be more intentional in your workday. Instead of working from a place of perpetual stress or wondering where all the hours in your day went, you can work purposefully and improve your productivity.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Scott Eblin is the founder and president of the Eblin Group, a leadership development firm. He has more than 20 years of experience as a business leader, executive coach and author.