Knowing how to be productive is essential if you want to get the most from your day

There are 24 hours in a day with only 16 of those spent awake so you want to ensure you make each and every moment count. The reality is that many people don't actually know exactly how to be productive and therefore efficient during their day.

The secrets to being productive aren't taught at school so how are you supposed to know?

A question faced by many people especially those who are not born with a natural leaning toward being productive. Some of us are born organized, focused and make each minute in every hour count but what about those of us who are less well adjusted? There are many simple but vital steps you can take to make sure you're making the most of your time and being productive, whether it's at home at work or in your personal relationships.

1: Read This Book!

Although a little out of the ordinary we decided to kick off today's best tips with these great reading suggestions. We felt that for those who are serious about making this big change in their life, to be productive, more than a few simple tips are needed. The following book is essential reading for those serious about making the change. "The 7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen Covey. A great book and must read discusses various habits a person should adopt to ensure they are more effective and productive in their life. You can read more about the book and purchase it if you wish at the authors website.

2: The Outcome Is In The First Thought - Plan Your Goals

This means essentially that the productivity of your day will ultimately depend on the way you start and plan it. If you don't know what you want clearly to achieve on any given day how can you achieve it? What you need to do yearly, monthly, daily and even hourly is to have a goal in mind like a target of what you want to achieve that day. Once you get used to doing this it becomes like second nature and you can find yourself making a simple trip to the grocery store 100 times more productive when you plan in advance exactly what you want to achieve.

3: Prioritize Smart

Once you've gotten used to planning your goals daily you will see the effect on your productivity immediately. Now you need to be smart and to get used to prioritizing the most important tasks productively. It is good to use the "MoSCoW" acronym whereby each letter corresponds to a different priority level according to the task. M=Must-do, S=Should-do, C=Could-do, W=Would-do. In this way you prioritize the most important tasks of your day properly.

4: No multitasking

It is said that woman are way better at multitasking than men. This may well be the case but this doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. The myth that multitasking makes you more productive is just that, a myth. You are far better off focusing on one task at a time and making sure you complete it properly before moving onto the next. You can read about the "3 myths of multitasking" written brilliantly by Ali Davies.

5: Break Tasks Down

So you have set your milestones and goals and prioritized them appropriately making sure you focus properly on each of your tasks according to your priority list. With larger tasks or daily chores for example you may need to break them down into bite size chunks. By doing this you can make more daunting tasks simpler. You can then go ahead and set mini time deadlines for these now smaller tasks. You need to be flexible to a degree and not to drive yourself crazy but introducing these steps gradually will be very effective in increasing your productivity.

6: Go Easy On Your Facebook

In the current climate where social media is at the forefront of both our personal and working lives most people "need" to check their Facebook, Twitter, Linked in etc. at least 50 times a day! For some this is a serious thing and even borders on addiction, while for others it's just habitual. Either way needing to check emails and social media many times daily severely inhibits your productivity as you keep interrupting the current task at hand. It's better to check in the morning before work, perhaps once during lunch break and then when you get home. You' de be surprised at how much more productive this will make you.