Punching a time clock makes no sense for professionals. Their contribution is not the time they spend on their work but the value they create through their knowledge.

1. Know your priorities

Many things that you do at work are probably not the best use of your time. For instance, many professionals often spend much more time than necessary perfecting relatively low-priority tasks.

Understand what really matters to you, your boss, and your organization, and then be willing to be less than perfect on your lower-priority tasks.

2. Avoid meetings like the plague!

In the same spirit, most professionals would agree that many business meetings are incredibly wasteful — they typically last too long, they usually fail to produce concrete results, and they are sometimes completely unnecessary. Yet, just as a misplaced focus on hours allows perfectionism to persist in the workplace, it also allows employees to keep scheduling redundant, poorly run meetings.

3. Don’t forget to recharge

On the other side of the coin, an organization that places too much emphasis on time spent at the office probably neglects the importance of time spent away from the office. In order to be productive at work, professionals need to be able to recharge, physically and mentally.

4. Exercise every day and get enough sleep

On the physical dimension, sleep and exercise are often the first two personal activities to face the chopping block when professionals have to increase their hours spent in the office.

5. Avoid burnout

Long hours at work wear people down mentally. All too often, I see professionals work to 8, 9, or 10 every night and go into the office every day of every weekend, even if there is no real crisis. While these professionals might be increasing their output over the short-term, this type of overwork inevitably leads to burnout.

So you should assertively protect your personal time. That means being firm with your boss about times when you are not available — family dinners or your child’s soccer games, perhaps.

6. Don’t be afraid to speak up

Obviously, asking for more flexibility at work is easier said than done. But while I certainly can’t guarantee that every request will be successful, I can state with confidence that there is little harm in asking politely.

Believe it or not, most bosses understand your desire to spend some time with your children or enjoy a romantic dinner with your spouse. Your boss can’t address your needs unless he or she knows what they are!