Executives, business owners, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, office workers and homemakers alike are all feeling the pressure that the high speed pace of today’s culture brings. Given that scenario, staying on top of your game can be challenging, but being productive is necessary. How do you do that? Start with these five tips.

• Plan your work days-Over the course of the years that I’ve been helping people increase their productivity, I’ve heard so many people say that planning is a waste of time. I’m here to tell you that it just isn’t true. Every minute that you spend planning saves you ten in execution. Plan for each week based upon your annual or quarterly plan. When you plan this way, weekly planning doesn’t take that long, and it contributes to increased productivity.

• Add Tasks to Your Calendar-If you’re smart you use a to-do list daily. It’s a great habit to have even though only 5% of business and professional people use them. The tasks from your to-do list should be added to your calendar if the task is going to take longer than 15 minutes. This way you don’t end up having to stop working on something or eliminating it altogether because of other items on your calendar. This keeps you from crowding your day and keeps you on track.

• Don’t Check email First Thing in the Morning-Considering what we get via email, it’s important. That doesn’t mean that it should be what we jump to as soon as we start our work day. Email can take up a lot of your time. Things in your email will sidetrack you and greatly contribute to your lack of productivity. Instead, work on one of your priority tasks for the day and check your email an hour and a half to two hours into the day.

• First Things First-To elaborate on what I mentioned in the last tip, prioritize your tasks and work on your top priority first. Start working on what you’ve determined to be the most important thing and work until its’ done or until the time that you’ve allotted for it is up before you move on to the next task. It’s a good rule to only have one or two top priorities each day.

• Consider Your Prime Time– Everyone has what I call their own Prime Time; a particular time of day when your physical energy is high, mentally you’re sharp and can get most of your work done during that particular time. Learn what works for you by paying attention to when your energy–both physical and mental, is the greatest and when it’s at lower levels.

Stop struggling and juggling with your business and relieve yourself of the pressure that today’s culture brings. Employ these 5 tips to give yourself some structure and to gain some footing so that you can stay on top of your game and stay productive.