You are a hard worker. But oftentimes at day’s end, it seems you haven’t accomplished much. You want what you do to really count. Here are ways to consistently and incrementally improve performance.

Don’t overwrite e-mail. Much of your time—probably too much—gets eaten up by e-mail. There’s no need for wringing your hands over every word. Make a conscious effort to keep your e-mails short and sweet. Get to the point quickly and use action verbs in subject lines so that both you and the recipient know what needs to happen before the e-mail is even opened. And while long e-mails waste the time it takes you to write them, keep in mind that the person receiving the e-mail doesn’t want to have to spend so much time reading it, either. Chances are your boss doesn’t want or need a three-paragraph rundown of how your client meeting went. He just wants to know if the client is happy and continuing business with you.

 …