feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. H. Jackson Brown

There aren’t enough hours in the day. Have you heard yourself say this, and say it often? I have had a chance to listen to the challenges faced by employees and business owners alike who are working very hard to succeed, often at the cost of their personal lives.

What, if any, of it is possible? What if you had time for those things that are important to you and that would help you achieve your goals? First of all, time cannot be managed; it flows. When you learn to lead and manage yourself to integrate all areas of your life, you will find it’s not something you specifically need to do. Imagine that all those feelings of panic, procrastination, and being in a hurry were not in your life

Take a look at the following and you can begin to feel relaxed knowing that you can be organized and plan routines that are flexible. Feeling out of control comes when you have lost touch with what is important to you and you end up doing too much of what doesn’t matter or doing nothing.

Begin by finding your center. Know what you want and what you don't want and act accordingly. Lack of planning, prioritizing, and focus aren’t going to move you toward vision and will inhibit momentum. Take time to stop! Breathe deeply and reboot your brain. Make a long list of everything that needs to be done. Go through the entire list and rate each item in order of its value and immediacy, with ten as the highest priority and one as the lowest. Take all the 7-10s and go to work. Ask yourself if you can leave the 1-6s off the list for now. Be passionate about what you're doing. If you love it, then you can do it. Remember to enjoy the process of growing your business. It's why you got started in the first place.

Avoid procrastination – just do something. All the time you spend worrying about the different things you have to do is self-defeating. The more time you spend worrying, putting things off, and spinning your wheels, the more you add to your workload. Watch how quickly that pile on your desk disappears when you stop killing time and actually attack it or tackle your list.

Don’t wait until it’s perfect. So many people don't turn in work, never get things done, or never start a business because they're waiting until it's perfect. Life isn't perfect. You have to take a risk. Maybe you'll make a wrong decision, but you have to make the decision and move on.

Decide what you can give up. This is an important decision. Don’t try to please everyone, have everyone like you, or be a star at the expense of your health. Avoid an addiction to adrenaline. What can you delegate to others?

Practice organization and tidiness. Clutter zaps time and energy! You not only feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have f

elf to integrate all areas of your life, you will find it’s not something you specifically need to do. Imagine that all those feelings of panic, procrastination, and being in a hurry were not in your life

Take a look at the following and you can begin to feel relaxed knowing that you can be organized and plan routines that are flexible. Feeling out of control comes when you have lost touch with what is important to you and you end up doing too much of what doesn’t matter or doing nothing.

Begin by finding your center. Know what you want and what you don't want and act accordingly. Lack of planning, prioritizing, and focus aren’t going to move you toward vision and will inhibit momentum. Take time to stop! Breathe deeply and reboot your brain. Make a long list of everything that needs to be done. Go through the entire list and rate each item in order of its value and immediacy, with ten as the highest priority and one as the lowest. Take all the 7-10s and go to work. Ask yourself if you can leave the 1-6s off the list for now. Be passionate about what you're doing. If you love it, then you can do it. Remember to enjoy the process of growing your business. It's why you got started in the first place.

Avoid procrastination – just do something. All the time you spend worrying about the different things you have to do is self-defeating. The more time you spend worrying, putting things off, and spinning your wheels, the more you add to your workload. Watch how quickly that pile on your desk disappears when you stop killing time and actually attack it or tackle your list.

Don’t wait until it’s perfect. So many people don't turn in work, never get things done, or never start a business because they're waiting until it's perfect. Life isn't perfect. You have to take a risk. Maybe you'll make a wrong decision, but you have to make the decision and move on.

Decide what you can give up. This is an important decision. Don’t try to please everyone, have everyone like you, or be a star at the expense of your health. Avoid an addiction to adrenaline. What can you delegate to others?

Practice organization and tidiness. Clutter zaps time and energy! You not only feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have

y and reboot your brain. Make a long list of everything that needs to be done. Go through the entire list and rate each item in order of its value and immediacy, with ten as the highest priority and one as the lowest. Take all the 7-10s and go to work. Ask yourself if you can leave the 1-6s off the list for now. Be passionate about what you're doing. If you love it, then you can do it. Remember to enjoy the process of growing your business. It's why you got started in the first place.

Avoid procrastination – just do something. All the time you spend worrying about the different things you have to do is self-defeating. The more time you spend worrying, putting things off, and spinning your wheels, the more you add to your workload. Watch how quickly that pile on your desk disappears when you stop killing time and actually attack it or tackle your list.

Don’t wait until it’s perfect. So many people don't turn in work, never get things done, or never start a business because they're waiting until it's perfect. Life isn't perfect. You have to take a risk. Maybe you'll make a wrong decision, but you have to make the decision and move on.

Decide what you can give up. This is an important decision. Don’t try to please everyone, have everyone like you, or be a star at the expense of your health. Avoid an addiction to adrenaline. What can you delegate to others?

Practice organization and tidiness. Clutter zaps time and energy! You not only feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have

orkload. Watch how quickly that pile on your desk disappears when you stop killing time and actually attack it or tackle your list.

Don’t wait until it’s perfect. So many people don't turn in work, never get things done, or never start a business because they're waiting until it's perfect. Life isn't perfect. You have to take a risk. Maybe you'll make a wrong decision, but you have to make the decision and move on.

Decide what you can give up. This is an important decision. Don’t try to please everyone, have everyone like you, or be a star at the expense of your health. Avoid an addiction to adrenaline. What can you delegate to others?

Practice organization and tidiness. Clutter zaps time and energy! You not only feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have

feel less able to work effectively, it also takes more time to sort through things when you need them. Clutter can distract you, and do you need any more distractions? Is too much time being spent on doing the same thing repeatedly? Simplify!

Rethink meetings. If you find yourself in an unavoidable meeting, make sure that your time is well spent. Try scheduling 20-minute meetings, either 20 minutes before lunch or 20 minutes before the end of the day. People want to go to lunch, and they want to go home.

Minimize interruptions. Make appointments with yourself to do certain things and do not allow interruptions to pull you away from those important things. Focus on one specific thing at a time.

Make time to have fun. Remember that for which you're working. You started a business in order to enjoy your life more fully, not to be at the mercy of anyone else's schedule. Scheduling fun time to relax is just as important as scheduling that management meeting. It will refresh you and give you the energy you need to tackle more work. How to do it? Schedule it.

Treasure your family time. If all you can squeeze in is an hour a day and they give you all their love and you give them the same back, this is what you need. That's quality time. Support each other in your endeavors.

Don't dwell on the past. This is self-defeating. It brings up memories and the brain interprets it as happening now. It crushes creativity and positive flow.

Learn to know and respect your energy level. Some people only need four hours of sleep each night, and others need seven. If you only need four hours, maybe you can write poetry or train for a marathon between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. But if you need seven hours, try to get that much rest, and stop feeling like a slacker. Balancing is about having and doing the most you can, and enjoying yourself in the process.

Learn to say NO. Taking on too much can put more pressure on you and prevent you from working at your best. Do not allow others to ask too much of you; your time is valuable, you decide how you spend it.

Take time for yourself. Step back, evaluate, and energize yourself to be effective. You are more effective if you are not doing, doing, and doing and just take time to listen to your inner wisdom.

Learn to time block. My main learning, or coping, strategy is to do things in blocks. Writing an article is one block. Reading and responding to emails is another. You can use a calendar, electronic calendar, Microsoft Outlook®, or whatever you have. Here’s an example of a week’s time blocking in a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet. I use color-coding for different themes. Action Steps: ACTION STEPS: Now take time to design your own time blocking method. Remember that each block is an appointment time. Be sure to include:

? Time for projects

? Administration

? Family

? Spirituality

? Appointments with others

Remember your appointment blocks are your appointment to commit to a task, and are just as important to make as appointments with others. They are appointments with yourself, to do what you need to do. Take a moment to review all of these management skills. You are now free to make choices about what, if anything, you want to change.

Which management skills do you need to work with to have a more balanced life? What steps can you take today?