1. Don’t begin your day by looking at emails. Don’t even turn on your computer, in fact, until you have taken the time to schedule your day.

2. Make a to-do list. It’s important to take the time to list down the tasks you need to complete for the day. There’s nothing more gratifying than striking items off the list after completing them. If you manage to complete all the items by early afternoon, you’ll be delighted to leave your workplace sooner than you expected.

3. Prioritize the to-do list. The items at the top of the list should be the ones you are loathe to doing. The easy or enjoyable ones can come later. Follow this rule and you will boost your productivity and eliminate procrastination. Once you crack the tough nuts, going through the rest of your day will be a smooth experience.

4. Make your phone calls. Prioritize these in the same order as above. Handle the tricky calls first so that you gain a feeling of accomplishment early in the day. Most often this results in sailing through the easy calls.

5. Turn on your computer and act on your emails. Do this only after you’ve gone through the first four steps AND completed high priority tasks that don’t need a computer. Examine your unread emails and take appropriate action on each one of them. Reply, delete, or archive them, and add newly created tasks in your to-do list.

6. Block off time-wasting, unconstructive websites from your computer. As suggested by The 4-Hour Workweek, I employ leach block software to prevent me from stealing a look at such sites. There’s many such software to help keep you in check.

7. Alter your email settings. Configure it so that you don’t receive emails more often than every four hours. It’s easy if you use Microsoft Outlook. You can always hit the send/receive button if you really need to check your emails urgently.

8. Shut the door. Sometimes you really need to focus on the job at hand and you don’t want colleagues at the workplace to walk up to you and have a conversation. Of course it is necessary to have occasional water cooler conversations to foster good relationships at the workplace, but don’t get sucked into long one-on-one conversations. I often cite a pressing issue and leave such conversations after a couple of minutes. Don’t start discussions on your own unless you really need to, but be friendly when walking past people and ask them how they’re doing. Carry on walking while you greet them. The important thing is to focus on your intended action. When people see that you are focused on some task, they will not mistake the greetings for the beginning of a conversation.  

9. Don’t gossip. Gossiping at the workplace is one big time drain. Excusing yourself from a gossiping group does a lot of good to your productivity. If it is not possible to simply avoid the conversation, just nod your head from time to time and say a good word or two about the people involved.

10. Leave office on time! When you have followed the above steps and boosted your productivity, ensure that you head home to your family or business on time or before time. Isn’t that what you want? Oftentimes we let ourselves be lethargic throughout the day, and getting productive only when the boss is around. This gamesmanship must be done away with, because it yields nothing. All the boss wants from you is correct and timely work. Successful employers want results; they don’t want your showmanship.
Many of the above tips are taken from The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.