Do you finish your day not even finishing half of your to-do list items? There are two ways to look at this. First, you could be wasting a lot of time and not managing your working hours very well. The second scenario is that you are simply taking on too much.

I know how you feel. I have a very ambitious daily to-do list. On some days, I actually finish crossing things off. On others, I don’t even finish half of the items. Some of these things pertain to my online business. But others involve things like housework and self-care.

So, how do you know if you’re actually taking on too much, or if you’re just plain unproductive? Well, the first thing you should do is monitor your work hours. Keep track of how you spend your time. There are little things that can suck away the minutes including

• Checking email all the time

• Playing facebook games

• Surfing online saying you’re doing it for research

• Ignoring your work and cleaning instead

After you monitor your minutes, you need to decide if you’re taking on too much or if you’re just letting time slip by without really getting anything done. When I resolved my schedule and started to be more productive, I realized that I still had several items on my list that were unfulfilled. I set a goal to work five hours a day. If after 5 hours I am less than halfway through my list, it means I am being too ambitious and am setting unrealistic goals.

Which one is it for you? Are you taking on too much or do you need to be more efficient with your time?