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Here's what I have.
1. Whiteboard tasks for the week, w. daily assignments
2. Check emails once an hour
3. Set default page in FF as a blank page(as opposed to Gmail, Reader, etc.)
4. Tea, not coffee. Cup of water on hand at all times.
5. 7 pull ups each time I use the bathroom.
Equipment-wise, multiple screens tend to help. A good chair too.
Prioritization. Spending 10 minutes every end-of-day planning the next day.
2.
Scheduling chaos time. Leave spare time every day and every week which is like extra time to get the tasks done. So there is no backlog.
3.
Using leechblock firefox plugin to make sure I don't read google reader, HN etc before lunch.
4.
Making plans public. I used to have an accountability partner where we both used to tell each other what we'll achieve for that day. And then check up on each other at the end of the day.
5.
Scheduling meetings at the end of the day. While there are exceptions because of time conflicts, most of my meetings happen at the end of the day. And sometimes during lunch.
I run pomodoros: http://www.bestbrains.dk/Blog/2009/02/21/CanATomatoChangeYou...
2. Efficient shell usage
3. Alternating coffee and ganja
I think only the last one's a hack but it's a damn good one.
1. Outsourcing tasks that don't require my specific involvement to my offshore team. 2. Dining out instead of cooking. It is not much more expensive to dine out, but it saves me time (grocery shopping, cooking time, cleaning time). 3. Roomba. I will never vacuum again. Ever.
Note that the above suggestion is self-referential.
Every time I have an idea now, I force myself to put it on that list, and if I'm still thinking about it in 2-5 days, then I'll allow myself some time to explore it further.
It has saved me hours a week. I used to explore an idea immediately for up to an hour, sometimes more, and all that time is lost because several of the ideas shouldn't have been allowed even 2-seconds.