What are you doing right now?

Sure, you're reading an article, supposedly on time management. But is this the best use of your time? You may be learning about something that's been your Achilles' heel in growing a more profitable business. But could you be doing something more productive - and more profitable, right now?

Some call this "day mapping," or tracking the highest, most effective use of the day. It's just one exercise workers can perform to ensure they're operating at peak efficiency.

With no assistants to perform supporting chores, and no limit to the time-consuming tasks that must be done to keep the business running, efficiency is paramount. Working business owners must think of ways to squeeze more time out of an otherwise static workday.

But many owners don't give time a second's thought. They mosey through their day, do their reporting or new-business cold-calling when they're so inclined, then plan when their spirit moves them. Certainly, planning is a right-brain process - and creative juices must be tapped when at their peak of ripeness. But we all need to know when our personal performance peaks and valleys - or circadian rhythms - come, so we can do the right task at the right time. Business owners are not alone. A University of North Carolina research project asked 4,000 retired executives - all 70 and older - what they would change if they had it to do over again. The majority said they would like to have realized earlier that time is a non-renewable asset, and made better use of the time they were given. What's worse, the average worker wastes up to an hour each day looking for papers, fumbling through files and generally being disorganized, notes The Monticello Corporation, an Atlanta-based organizational software manufacturer. Realizing that time - for business and family - is a precious, non-renewable asset is central to making the most of each day and finding your time management sweet spot. Do so, and you'll boost output and billings, and have more time for yourself. Valuate and evaluate your time to ensure it's being spent wisely. Experts note that saving time starts with a shift in priorities. Try these three steps first:

• Plan
  Sketch out your day and week early to avoid wasting time along the way. Prioritize important projects and set realistic deadlines for them - knowing all the while that other projects (a rewrite or new quick-hit assignment, for example) will arise to find their place around them);
• Prioritize
  Ask yourself what the most valuable use of your time is. Ask what you should do that will give you the greatest return for your business?
• Perform
  Stick to your assessment. Don't squeeze in more "important" projects, knowing you'll have to scramble to meet deadlines, or possibly beg an extension.

TALLY YOUR TIME

Over the next few days, map your days and chart your time usage, asking if what you're doing right now is the best use of your time. Note your productivity peaks and valleys throughout each day. Some are most creative in the morning, so they'll use those hours for productive or creative processes. Some find that they need to have interaction with others during the day, so they'll do their reporting or routine business during "business hours," and save more challenging tasks for early mornings or evenings. What will you find? It might amaze you how you can get caught up in minutia. You could realize you're spending too much time on "non-paying" efforts. You'll learn to work in a more productive way. To set up a schedule, take a long-term view of your calendar. Look at a week or a month, as opposed to the day. Even if you use a "day-at-a-glance calendar, buy another that's weekly or monthly. If the week has important projects to be completed, schedule them in first. Little "to-dos" will pop up, but with the larger tasks scheduled, core projects and time demands will be in place.

Here's a few other tips to boosting your time management:

• Time shift to aid your peak productivity times. If you are more creative in the morning, use that time wisely. Take your phone off the hook, screen your calls with Caller ID, or just let voice mail or the machine answer incoming calls. Write that article, proposal, press release or book chapter. Once you've tapped out on create juices for the morning, you can settle back into the office rhythm.
• Just say no. Probably the hardest task when running an at-home business is telling family or friends "I have to call you back" when they call during deadline or our "right-brain time." Be firm. Even if it's a sidelight, this is a business you're running.
• Prioritize your "to-do lists." For example, if writing that pitch letter is the most important priority for the week, place an "A" next to it. Many "A" items can share space on the list, but only as many as can reasonably be completed in the time allotted.
• Stay organized. File papers. Ditch clutter. Create a filing system that works for you, and spend a few hours each Friday or Sunday evening tending to it and clearing the clutter.
• Touch mail only once. Open, categorize and file mail or parcels the moment they come in the door.
• Develop a powerful paper and computer file management and storage system, and review it frequently. Understanding why papers are filed a certain way will help you remember where they're filed.
• Develop a contact management system - either software like Act! or Ascend, a well-kept Rolodex or even that little black book - and massage it to become a powerful tool. Categorize listings so you can look up people by subject area, as well as by name. Note the names of your contacts' spouses, kids or - especially - their assistants (gatekeepers can be very helpful).
• When on the phone, type notes into the computer - so you won't have to transcribe handwritten scribbling later. Use Post-it notes to for quick notes or reminders, but record them somewhere more permanent later so they don't accumulate on you.
• Make your phone a power tool. Program in your most frequently dialed numbers into speed dial to alleviate misdialing or looking up numbers again. Use a headset to make answering incoming calls a one-button motion, while also eliminating a pain in the neck.
• Use Caller ID. Using this common feature will allow you to screen most incoming calls, thereby determining whether you want to have a particular conversation.
• Dedicate a data line. Don't jump off a call or put off making one to receive a fax or log online. Dedicated fax/data or business lines can cost less than $20 a month - and may be totally tax deductible.
• Use a call coding service, like AT&T's Call Manager or Sprint's Call Accounting services, to attach billing codes to each long distance call. At month's end, all long-distance toll calls are separated, itemized and totaled.
• When receiving emails daily, use a communications program that will filter incoming mail and steer it to files detailed by client or task. This will allow you to read them at your own schedule.
• Get a faster modem. Today's DSL, ISDN or cable modems can speed you through your online experience. And log on at off-peak hours (late in the evening or early in the morning) when online traffic volume is at its lowest to Internet connections are their fastest.
• When replying to telephone messages or especially emails, focus on keeping them short and simple. Don't write a laborious missive or get into idle chatter when there are more important tasks to be done. Get your point across, then log off or hang up. Brevity can be challenging, and rewarding.
• When those assignments or projects come in, log them on a dry eraser or white board. This will let you track due dates, word counts, file names in the computer and even assigned fees. And it's a great motivator to draw a line through a completed assignment.
• Standardize. Create uniform editor pitch, follow-up or other business solicitation letters. Ditto for email. Keep an updated copy of your resume in the PC, and copies of your best clips in an easily accessible file.
• Invoice electronically via electronic mail. Format an invoice template, including your business and personal names, address and Social Security or Federal Employment Identification Number. Then, plug in the client name, project and amount, and hit "send." Just make sure the publication allows e-invoices.

Jeff Zbar is a home-based journalist, speaker and consultant specializing in alternative officing and small business technology and marketing issues.
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