Here is how many of us make our daily to-do lists: In the AM, fuelled by coffee and morning delusion, we jot down all the tasks we hope to accomplish in the next eight (or, let's be real, 11 or 12) hours. But these lists, while well-intentioned, are often written haphazardly.

When you realise you need to get something done, you probably think to yourself, "I have to do that soon." But that type of thinking disrupts your motivation in two ways: by messing with your sense of time and robbing you of urgency.

As we have argued in the past, email is not the problem - we are. And it's not just the productivity drain or the antisocial effects of constantly checking our phones and computers for new messages.

There are psychological ramifications too. By constantly looking for new information and tasks from other people, we are degrading the importance of the things we want and need to do. This flowchart explains what you're doing wrong - and how to fix it.

Email can be a distracting time sink for any office worker. But sometimes, it's best to get it out of the way. Over at Harvard Business Review, contributor Dorie Clark makes the case for checking email first thing in the morning.

Taking care of your most important task at the beginning of your work day is one of the best pieces of productivity advice floating around. But it only helps if you actually follow through with your work the rest of the day.

Chrome/iOS: Handle is the productivity add-on that Google should have made. It seamlessly combines emails, to-do lists and calendars to make Gmail your central productivity hub.

When you get emails that require action, you want to make sure to add it to your task list as soon as you can, and the best way to do this is to connect that list to your email. This way, you can add to your to-do list without leaving your inbox.

Your to-do list is supposed to help keep you organised, but you still have to do a lot of the grunt work to manage your schedule. Todoist wants to make it easier by suggesting the best times to get your tasks done based on your habits.

A day may be 24 hours long, but you have to sleep. That leaves you with less time you can actually use each day - about 100 10-minute blocks. This simple exercise can help you determine if you're spending them wisely.

A straightforward to-do list might make you more productive, but it can also make your job feel tedious and boring. It's time to start reincorporating your big goals within your to-do lists.

Taking on a big task is like playing an arcade game: it requires all of your focus. As soon as you pause the game and walk away, your chances of earning a high score all but disappear.

Android/iPhone: TickTick is a powerful syncing to-do manager that's seen a lot of improvement since its launch. Today, it's getting a handful of new features.

When you live in a tiny studio apartment, the smallest lapse in cleaning can make the place look like a huge mess. Having a quick cleaning routine every morning can help.

Sometimes checking email first thing in the morning helps you get it over with and focus on more important tasks. However, there's an equally compelling case against checking email first thing. If you work better ignoring your inbox in the morning, you'll want to make sure you steer clear on Friday mornings in particular.

If your motivation has plummeted because it feels like you're the only one stuck in the office -- and maybe you are -- use the time to tackle all the little things that have been piling up.

When it comes to productivity apps, simplicity of design and familiarity are usually king, because nobody wants to learn a whole new system every time they check out a new to-do app. But sometimes, apps break the pre-written productivity rules and make something completely different.

Everything at work has gone nuts. Your boss is barking orders, your coworkers are panicked and you're pretty sure the front desk is on fire. When everything around you is falling apart, focus on the small tasks you can achieve.

Sometimes it's hard to stay focused, and you may not even realise why you can't seem to keep your mind on the task at hand. It might be because you have unfinished business with a previous task. To remedy this, take some simple advice from a Zen master: Leave no trace.

When you're working remotely, it's easy to get distracted by all the nagging tasks you have to do around the house. If you want to keep those chores from pulling your focus, it can help to indulge in them in short bursts so you put your mind at ease.