HBR Guide to Being More Productive (HBR Guide Series)

Every day begins with the same challenge: too many tasks on your to-do list and not enough time to accomplish them. Perhaps you tell yourself to just buckle down and get it all done—skip lunch, work a longer day. Maybe you throw your hands up, recognize you can't do it all, and just begin fighting the biggest fire or greasing the squeakiest wheel.

And yet you know how good it feels on those days when you're working at peak productivity, taking care of difficult a...