Get everything in place before you start so that it is all to hand during the day.

Slightly longer, if more persuasive version:

If you’re working in the kitchen of Anthony Bourdain, legendary chef of Brasserie Les Halles, best-selling author, and famed television personality, you don’t dare so much as boil hot water without attending to a ritual that’s essential for any self-respecting chef: mise-en-place.

The “Meez,” as professionals call it, translates into “everything in its place.” In practice, it involves studying a recipe, thinking through the tools and equipment you will need, and assembling the ingredients in the right proportion before you begin. It is the planning phase of every meal—the moment when chefs evaluate the totality of what they are trying to achieve and create an action plan for the meal ahead.

For the experienced chef, mise-en-place represents more than a quaint practice or a time-saving technique. It’s a state of mind.

How to Spend the First 10 Minutes of your Day – Ron Friedman, Harvard Business Review (19 June 2014)

You can see how this applies beyond the cooking of food to the doing just about anything but Friedman has more interesting things and examples to say in the full piece.

Via Lifehacker