Do you find yourself daydreaming on the job? If you are like most people, you just want to be able to come home and enjoy the pleasures of life. Unfortunately, we all have a job to do, and in order to do it thoroughly, we must learn how to remain focused on what we should be doing. But that is not always so easy to do.

Did you know that there are only 168 hours in the week? That is not a very long time at all if you think about it. A large majority of us do not get done want we would like and end up putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. That is where effective time management comes in.

Given below are 5 tips that will help you to utilize your time much better:

1. Put it on your schedule. For everything you need to get done during the day, literally put it on your schedule. In addition, make time for both work and play. Schedule everything and then follow the schedule to the letter. If you want to spend some time at the gym, for example, make sure you put on the schedule, and make it part of your routine.

2. Write out a list of things to do either each night before heading to bed, or first thing in the morning. Stick to your to-do list each day. Once you have completed one task, mark it off until you have moved down the list. Write out your list starting with the first thing that needs to get done, all the way down to the very last task of the day. If you follow this method, you will never be behind.

3. Keep television, cell phone, social websites, etc., at a minimum. There’s a time for work and a time for play, so don’t engage in distractions like television or your cell phone until you have completed everything on your to-do list.

4. Take care of your required tasks first, and leave the ones that can wait until another day. We are not superhuman, and no one says that you can take on a mountain of projects in one day. Try to remain realistic of what you can handle and cannot for that particular day.

5. Alternate harder and easier tasks if you feel too overwhelmed. Remember that it is about effective time management, not about how many difficult tasks that you can complete in one day. Also see if your list of more difficult projects can be spread out over the course of a week. You might also want to try making a list of things to do for the week so you can pick what days will be best for different projects.

Remember that it’s all about planning ahead. Of course, complications can occur, too, so be prepared to sometimes skip absolute completion of your schedule on any given day. Still, you’re going to get a lot more done if you plan ahead, and your time will be more productive, too, if you have a schedule — and you keep that schedule largely intact.