"...aaaannd... TIME!"  Put a time limit on obligations.

You will have to meet with some people in order to get certain things done.  It's inevitable and unavoidable.  But you want to be the one to control the time. 

Have a predetermined time limit before the meeting starts and make that known to your guest, otherwise you are at their mercy.  This is especially true with salespeople.   Especially, especially true with advertising salespeople.  They never have somewhere better to be than wasting your time. 

If they do waste your time, even after you've made your time limit known, don't be afraid to penalize them.  If they can't respect your time, they can't have your respect.

Become your own agent...book yourself solid for months.

One of the most useful strategies that I've learned through the years is to book myself with projects in advance.  That way, the chances of something popping up and wasting my time lessen. 

When I look back at my most productive weeks, they always occur when I made a plan for the week of my "have to get done" actions and they were "booked" on a daily basis.   Some people use planners (Franklin Covey or DayTimer) which is fine.  I've used them, but in reality, it was really just a man-handbag to put my checkbook and pen in while I carried it around looking important. 

All I do now is take a piece of paper and put down what I absolutely have to get done for the week on it, and write down the day on which I will get it done.  I cross it off when I do it.

Keypoint: Work expands to fill the time available to do it, thus limit the time you give yourself to accomplish something.  It'll make you sharper!

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