Increasing your efficiency at work is very simple once you believe time is money.

Even though everyone has 24 hours in a day, some seem to have plenty of time, while others struggle to keep up. For a business to survive in a tough economy, it must become efficient and productive. As a productivity coach and professional organizer serving the Utah Valley area, I have found that before I can help a business improve proficiency, I must first help my client better manage his or her time. Here are four useful time-management tips:

• Schedule a time to plan. If you don't know what you should be doing, how can you get it done? Establish a routine of planning your week and your day. This will allow you to have your "most productive week all the time (http://lifelearningtoday.com/2007/07/22/your-most-productive-week-ever/).

Schedule 10 minutes to plan your upcoming week on Friday afternoons. The weekly plan doesn't have to be extremely detailed, just include the tasks of greatest importance. Use the first 10 minutes of each day to detail that plan further. Devote one whole morning early in the week to your most important project that week. If you don't take the time now, when will you?

• Prioritize your to-do list by keeping three lists of three. The first list has three things you will do today that are most important to the success of your business. Be sure to differentiate between urgent and important. The second is three tasks you'd like to get done, but which aren't of greatest importance. The third is three responsibilities that need to be completed at some point.

Make sure to schedule a beginning and ending time for each of the tasks on your list. Stick to that time limit strictly. Accept the fact that you will rarely finish your to-do list.

For clients who are perfectionists and overachievers, this is frustrating. They eventually learn to delegate or delete the non-essential items from their list. Sometimes, outsourcing really is the best and most economical option we have.

• Don't check your e-mail first thing in the morning. Julie Morgenstern, one of my favorite nationally known professional organizers, has written a book with a similar title. She and I both understand how easy it is to get lost in e-mail messages and other less-important activities. Decide to check and follow up on e-mail messages three times a day for 20 minutes each time. Allow your secretary or your phone message system to collect your phone messages until your scheduled time to return phone calls rolls around each day.

• Get your office desk, papers, supplies and computer files organized. A major cause of ineffective time management is disorganization. Although many people claim not to have enough time in their day to get organized, the truth is that usually the more organized you are, the less time you waste. When my clients know where everything is, they don't spend their valuable time searching for things or redoing things that have already been done.

Begin today to schedule a time to plan and to begin prioritizing with your three lists of three. Do that for two weeks; then move into the other productivity tips suggested. When your task list is planned and prioritized and your "office stuff" is in its place, you will be a much more productive person and your business will thrive.

January is National Get Organized month. Now is the time to make 2009 your most productive business year yet!

• Vicki Winterton is the owner of Organizing Mind Over Matter, www.organize-utah.com or (801) 623-8411.

If you go

• What: Utah Valley University community education business course by professional organizer Vicki Winterton

• When: Jan. 29, 7-9 p.m.

• Where: Mountain View High School, 665 W. Center St., Orem

• Registration: www.uvsc.edu/conted/commed/

• Cost: $30

• Info: (801) 863-8012