In his book, the 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferriss describes how you can escape the 9 to 5 and get more out of your day. Some of his tips include*:

• Check e-mails once a day at most, and never first thing.
• Wriggle out of meetings.
• Delegate - or outsource - all labour intensive tasks.
• Practice being awkward so that you don't get troubled with trifles.
• Take outrageous liberties with your working practices without asking permission. Apologise afterwards.
• Apply Pareto's Law: focus on the 20% of work that produces 80% of the profits.
• Dump the 80% that produces 20% of the profits.
• Don't waste time reading what's of no relevance to you.
• Try to liberate yourself gradually from the workplace, claiming to be more efficient at home.
• Don't defer having fun until you're too old.

* I enjoyed the list so I thought I'd share it, but I don't accept any responsibility or any negative consequences or harm that arise from trying these pointers. Use them at your own risk.