Staying productive and organized is a challenging task for most entrepreneurs. However, organization is the single most important factor in establishing and sustaining productive work habits.

So, here’s a look at ten organization and productivity tips to help you work smarter.

1. Consolidate your contact lists.

“There is so much technology that we often
have duplicate software that do the same thing. Take your contacts for example. I used to have contacts in Outlook, Gmail, my Phone’s SIM Card, 
CRM, mailing lists, and others. I hired an intern to consolidate all of my 
contacts to one system (CRM), which then syncs to my other devices. One
 central location removes duplicates and saves time when searching for the
 most up to date phone number or email. Good software will also allow
 sharing and editing across and organization so everyone has the same 
information. The same consolidation should be done with your calendars and
 task lists.”

– Phillip R. Christenson, CFA, Financial Advisor at Phillip James Financial: @InvestPJF

2. Leverage technology and prioritize

“In my experience, one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face, with respect to organization, is not having a central repository where everything “lives.” I’m constantly bouncing between internal projects and client-related tasks. I use a web-based software product called Social Bridge (created by Central Desktop) to shift between a variety of virtual workspaces — some internal and some client-centric — keeping all my projects and priorities front and center at all times.”

– Ben Landers, President and CEO of Blue Corona: @benlanders

3. Clean up your email inbox.

“Deal with each email as you read it and file it away. Having hundreds (or thousands) of unread emails can make it easy to lose track of important tasks. An organized inbox ensures that you are always on top of deadlines and business opportunities.”

– Michael Talve, Founder and CEO of The Expert Institute: @TheExpertInst

4. Track your to-do’s list daily.

“Track your to-do’s daily and manage them like your business depends on it — because it does. Before you put anything on the list, fully understand exactly how it is going to move you toward your next goal (i.e., getting customers, creating a marketing funnel, etc.). Commit to getting everything on that list done each day and when you are through the list, you are through with your day. There will be times when you don’t get through everything; move those unfinished [tasks] to another day.”

– Jeff Steinmann, Author & Consultant of How to Quit Working:@quitworkingnow

5. Document everything in one place.

“Most people know that if you need to remember something, you should write it down. However, most people also write a lot of different things down in a lot of different places. If you really want to get, and stay, organized you need to have one dedicated place where you document all the things you need to remember and the tasks you need to complete. Here, we use a web-based project management application called Basecamp to keep track of everything.”

– Don Fornes, Founder and CEO of Software Advice: @dfornes