Happy First Day of Spring! It’s a fresh, new season, and that means it’s time to de-clutter both your space and your mind so you can be more efficient throughout the workday. We took some time to compile our collective business “best practices” to work—and from our desks to yours—here’s our Top 5 Ways to Be More Productive at Work.

1. Clean Up Your Work Space: You can’t be productive when you’re surrounded by chaos. If your desk is  buried in papers, books, power cords, and unread mail, you’re going to feel distracted and boxed in. Bonus: if you don’t feel like cleaning, just come work at Cohere, where the desks are always clutter free!

2. Set Manageable Goals: This probably sounds obvious, but how many of us actually begin the day with a clear strategy for productivity? Make a list of small, easy to accomplish goals that can be tackled as soon as you sit down. Don’t overwhelm yourself with large bulk tasks that you know you can’t do in a single sitting. Crossing things off the list will motivate you to do more.

3. Start A Social Media Diet: How many of you start your day by sleepily opening email and dicking around on social media until you remember something that needed to be done 10 minutes ago? Social media is fun and for many, a necessary part of marketing our businesses. But it can also be a huge time sink and distraction. Find tools that will allow you to schedule business-related social media posts throughout the day, so you can keep the tab closed for most of it. Set boundaries as to when and how much time you will spend monitoring your profiles, so productivity continues uninterrupted.

4. Track Your Time: The level of productivity you achieve is not directly proportionate with the amount of time you spend staring at your screen. The key is to be more mindful of your time and understanding your own internal work flow. Using a time tracking tool can help you understand how and when you work, so that you can make the most of your time. Check out Last5 (created by a San Francisco coworker!) a time tracking tool that improves mindfulness by managing and recording where your attention goes when you’re working on the computer. Tracking your time also makes invoicing way easier.

5. Delegate and Collaborate: News Flash – You can’t do everything. As your business grows, you’ll find yourself turning down work because there just aren’t enough hours in the day. And that blows. But why limit yourself when there’s an entire community of coworkers that can be your wingmen (and wingwomen)?! Instead of turning down that new project, think about delegating some of the tasks to a coworker who’s going through a dry spell. If the project’s scope exceeds your capabilities, think about collaborating with one or more coworkers to provide comprehensive services your client wasn’t expecting. You’ll forge new working relationships, and everyone gets a slice of the spoils. #win.

How productive have you been this week? Do you have more productivity tips to share? Go ahead and share them in the comments below!

Image via Flickr/Pink Sherbet Photography