As women, we generally have a lot to do these days. Kids, exercising, cooking, running errands, beauty dates, catching up with friends and family, and of course, working. Sometimes I wonder how it’s done and most of the time I want 30 hours a day. How do you manage everything without feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and defeated?

Prioritize.

One word can change everything and each of us has a different set of daily responsibilities to manage, but we only have 24 hours a day and we must use our waking hours to our advantage.

Tomorrow morning a new pattern of prioritizing your work day begins Workday Training. Follow these simple steps and apply them to your life. The only way to know if something will work for you is to give it a fair chance to take effect. You can’t do something once and expect miracles, so stick with these strategies for at least a week or two and see what the difference is in your concentration, productivity, stress levels, and free time.

1 Plan your day

Before starting your day, spend 5-10 minutes thinking about your workday and divide your tasks into 3 categories:

• For today
• Expires this week
• Expiration in more than 7 days
• This is a simple separation of duties and you will very quickly create a list of things that require urgent attention and focus, those that can wait a day or two, and those that can be put off until the following week. Once you know the order in which your tasks need to be done, create clarity and a plan.

2 Delegate

If you’re a control freak, like me, delegation is something you avoid like the plague. Nobody can do your job better than you, right? I hear you! However, if we are to prioritize our workday, we need to be able to delegate tasks. Focus on work that will allow your expertise to shine through and allow a colleague or assistant to help you with other tasks that do not necessarily need your direct input. Delegating means freeing up your time. It is liberating and should be welcomed. The only condition for delegating tasks is the need for you to review the work that others have done before someone in authority sees it. This is essential as your experience and your name are still tied to the work of others, so you should double and triple check your work to make sure it meets your standards.

3 Eliminate distractions

One of the main reasons our days go by without completing our to-do lists is distraction. We are distracted by emails, text messages, checking our Facebook accounts, or tweets, and we tend to drift away and get caught wasting time on nonessential components of our workday.

Distractions are your worst enemy and they are everywhere. The first thing to do to prioritize your workday and feel a sense of accomplishment and minimize your stress is to eliminate as many distractions from your workday as possible.