I don't know about you, but I definitely get exhausted after a day filled with reactive vs proactive work.  There is no doubt that self-management is a challenge and I am always looking for new mental tricks to be as productive as possible.  If any of you are having similar issues, try some of these simple steps: 1. Write down requests (so they out of your head) Many people get caught up trying to use their email communications as a task tracking tool.  However, sooner than later, you will "loose" an email and spend the better part of an afternoon searching for it only to discover that the subject was unrelated to the request and/or expected keywords are missing.  I think everyone has run across one of these cryptic emails once or twice. Instead, try to pivot from reactive to proactive work style by logging requests into a PM tool.  Some awesome existing web tools are Trello , Teamwork , Asana and for the more daring, Podio . 2. Itemize major steps (as needed) W