Regardless of how successful you already are, like most entrepreneurs and business leaders you probably would like to become more productive. However, the work involved with managing a company can create a ton of stress, which inevitably leads to a decrease in your productivity levels. Here are five proven practices that you can use to increase your productivity dramatically.

Use Your Calendar

Most people only use their calendar to remember special events and birthdays, but this dramatically undermines the power that your calendar can serve in increasing your productivity. A simple strategy that can increase your productivity is to schedule the major tasks you have to accomplish during the day. Don’t just create a to-do list with the functions you need to accomplish, but time block your most important tasks and projects that you need to get done.

Plan Your Day in Advance

Planning your day in advance can help you get a good night’s sleep because you won’t end up staying up all night trying to remember everything you have to get done the next day. It also helps you to wake up excited about attacking your day because you already know what you need to do instead of wasting time trying to make a plan.

Perfect Your Morning Routine

If you want to take your productivity to the next level, then you have to perfect your morning routine. How you start your day is an excellent indicator of how the rest of your day is going to go. You need to find something that works for you and start putting it on your calendar. If you want to increase your productivity, then you have to get serious about your morning routine.

Develop a Sense of Urgency

Not having a sense of urgency will not only keep you from increasing your productivity levels, but it will also keep you from reaching your full potential and achieving your goals. Create a trigger that will remind you to move forward with a sense of urgency. Whether you write a reminder down on a notecard or put it in your smartphone, you need to have something that will continuously remind you to get moving.

Limit Distractions

If you don’t make an intentional effort to limit the distractions around you when it’s time to work, your productivity will take a hit. Keep breaks to a minimum, limit chatter with others, and stop surfing the Internet when it’s time to get some meaningful work done.

For entrepreneurs, every minute counts. To help you increase your productivity, put these five practices in place and notice how quickly you start to accomplish more throughout your day.