The modern world we live in runs largely on a 9-to-5 schedule. Waking up early gives you an advantage over people who sleep in. Numerous studies have actually correlated waking up early with success.[1] Analyze the lives of the most successful men and women, and you will find that almost every one of them starts their day early.

People who don’t rise early are the ones most likely to complain that there is not enough time in the day to accomplish all that they want to do.

You might think that you are getting more done and saving time by multitasking, but studies show we’re not the brilliant multitaskers we think we are. Research conducted at Stanford University, for example, found that people who multitask are less productive and waste more time when switching between tasks than if they had stuck with one task until they finish.

Moreover, multitasking damages the brain. The human brain is simply not capable of focusing on multiple tasks at once.

A litany of productivity experts agree that tracking and budgeting your time is vital to taking control of your day.

Record ALL your appointments, deadlines, and everything in-between. Analyze the actual time you spend on each activity with what you think is the best amount for each. You will discover just how much time you’re frittering away and get a chance to reevaluate, budget, and monitor your time.

People who don’t budget and track their time are the ones who wonder where time has gone and can’t understand why they accomplish so little at the end of each workday.

People who are disorganized not only waste time looking for misplaced items, but also lower their productivity and hinder their chances for success. However, if you are organized, you give your productivity a real boost and are able to create time for the things and people that matter in your life.

Spend a little time up front planning your day and keeping things neat and tidy. This way, you will know exactly what items you have and where they are located, which can save you a lot of time, money, and stress.

Most people have a prioritization problem. They don’t rank tasks in order of importance or make decisions on what’s most important in their lives, which explains why they always feel like there are not enough hours in a day. Think about your core objectives and all the different things you want to do and then figure out what is important to you.

Do not start and plug through every task until you’ve asked this question: “Do I really need to do this now?” If you don’t need to do it now, don’t do it. Tackle high priority tasks first and then turn to the other things. Prioritizing ensures that you make the most efficient use of your time.

Ed Hallowell, former professor at Harvard Medical School and author of Driven to Distraction, noted that many people today have “culturally generated ADD.” What he means is that we have way more tantalizing, easily accessible, shiny things available to us 24/7 than ever before. It is not surprising, then, that many people are easily distracted from their core goals and end up lamenting that they never have enough time.

Lock yourself somewhere quiet when working. “Unplug” and concentrate on the task at hand. That way you will avoid being distracted and sidetracked by the cacophony of voices, text messages, e-mail and social media notifications. If the people around you are the source of distraction, ask them politely to let you finish what you are doing first before you attend to them. Don’t be afraid to say “No” to anyone who constantly interrupts you when you are working.

Woody Allen, who has written and directed fifty films in almost as many years, once said that 80% of success is showing up. In other words, when, how, and where you show up are the most important factors for accomplishing more and achieving success. And the key to ensuring you always show up is to establish a daily routine that you follow no matter what, including a healthy sleep routine.

People who don’t have a routine that they follow every day are susceptible to distractions and likely to miss deadlines and tasks that need to be done. Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and HuffPost’s Arianna Huffington, for example, all have a daily ritual and every night before bed they “unplug” and read a book. Sandberg says her bedtime ritual helps her unwind and allows her sleep better and wake up re-energized the next day.

Oliver Burkeman, in his enlightening book, The Antidote, tells of a Formula One pit crew – a group that depends on fast, efficient teamwork – that realized they were not at top speed when they concentrated on speed. Rather, they achieved their best times when they emphasized functioning smoothly as a group. The same case applies to time management and productivity. People who are too concerned with working fast or those who act rashly instead of “smoothly” end up not as productive or even as fast as they can be.

Focus more on functioning “smoothly” rather than quickly. You will improve your productivity and get more done in good time. Besides, life is a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is to finish the race (and help others do the same), not merely to cross the finish line first.

People who don’t review their schedules, plans, and habits regularly often end up wasting their time and energy on things that are no longer helpful to their cause. This is especially true when their priorities have changed – as they inevitably will with time – but they keep doing the same things they’ve always done, expecting different results.

Check with yourself weekly, monthly or even yearly to ensure your schedules and efforts align with your overall goals and objectives. Change or alter your course as necessary so that unnecessary tasks don’t eat up your time and clog your day.

People who are always saying that they don’t have time or are too busy to read, workout, travel, etc., won’t have time to do those things. However, people who speak positively, stay organized, and prioritize are able to do much more. Instead of saying, “I don’t have time to spend with my family because I have a hectic schedule,” it would be better to honestly say, “I could spend more time with my family, but work is a greater priority.” That is essentially what you mean when you give excuses for a lack of time.

Everyone has exactly 24 hours in a day. If others can get work done and still find time for family and friends, so can you!

In Western cultures, we tend to be obsessed with time. We have to get to meetings on time. We're strict about our deadlines. We clock in at nine every morning and leave by five every day. This fixation on time can be a distraction--if you're checking the clock every few minutes to see how far you've come on a specific project (compared to where you "should" be), you'll almost always fall short of expectations. Projects take as long as they take, regardless of what your bosses or coworkers demand of you. Worrying yourself with the time is only going to slow you down.

Even though we all measure time using the same devices, time itself can be a subjective experience. And as science has proven time and again, the positivity or negativity of your thoughts can have a significant impact on all your subjective experiences. In this context, if you are constantly pessimistic about the amount of time available to you, thinking thoughts like "there's no way I can get this done in time," or "I have too much to do today," you'll contribute to a feedback loop that makes you feel these things more often. In a sense, you contribute to your own feelings about time. Instead, try to focus on more positive elements of your day and appreciate the time you do have.

This one comes with a caveat; as opposed to most of the items in this list, it's actually a good thing. In psychology, there's a phenomenon called flow, where a task you're particularly interested in fits a perfect balance of being approachable and challenging. While in flow, sometimes colloquially referred to as being "in your element" or "in the zone," you tend to be more productive and more focused, but you also tend to lose track of time. Do you ever look up at the clock and realized several hours have passed without your awareness or acknowledgment? That's a result of flow, and while it certainly isn't a bad thing, it can lead you to feel like you don't have enough time.

Scientific studies have consistently shown that insufficient or unhealthy sleep patterns can have a major impact on your long-term health and productivity. To put it succinctly, if you aren't sleeping adequately, you'll always perform worse than you ordinarily would, even with the aid of caffeine or other products. If you're performing slower than you otherwise would be, it's natural to feel like time is the problem--that there simply isn't enough time, rather than the fact that you aren't using your time well.

Why does passion seem to free up our time? The researchers who observed this phenomenon wanted to discover what was really going on.

They found a clue when they asked employees about how conflicted or aligned their goals were. Employees lacking in passion said that their goals were competing with each other, fighting for time and attention; for example, the drive to do well at work might make it hard to get home for dinner with the family. But passionate employees were different: They saw their goals as supporting each other. After all, healthy home cooking and family bonding might give them more energy and motivation tomorrow.