Time Management: Is This Your Downfall?

Anyone who runs their own business, whether it is full time or part time, knows that there is NOT enough time in the day – or night – to get things done.

For those of us who work on our businesses full time, we have a long list of things to do and never enough time to complete them.

If you’re in the frazzled position of working full time and then coming home to run your blog (that’s how I started), you understand more than most about the magical things-to-do list.

The magical things-to-do list is the one we all have, which expands all by itself. When we sit down and cross off one thing from the top, the bottom unravels and another four things find their way on to it. At best, this means we’re always busy and never bored. At worst, it means we are creeping towards the edge of burn-out as we try and juggle everything that needs to be done.

I could sit here now and tell you the usual advice about writing great lists, prioritizing and then working out what you need to do most urgently.

I know you’ve heard all that a hundred times before, and all it would serve to do is give you yet another task to do.

Working from home – all it’s cracked up to be?

Let’s face it, when we worked for corporate companies, we all dreamed of being our own boss.

Picture the amazing scene; you wake up late, having had a lovely refreshing sleep. You stretch, saunter downstairs to your ‘office’ and nonchalantly switch your laptop on, before heading up for a luxurious bath. You cast your eye over your emails, decide to deal with them tomorrow, and then shoot off to take the dog for a stroll, be first in line at the sales in the shops, and make it back in time to chuck some laundry in the machine before your partner gets back from their nine to five.

Ha! Funny, right? Here’s the real deal…

You wake up at the crack of dawn, because working from home brings its own responsibilities such as housework and laundry which need to be done before you get down to the ‘real’ stuff. You then rush to get showered and dressed before your first teleconference. You work all morning, promising yourself a coffee as a treat at 11 if you manage to cross of six things from your infernal list.

You work through lunch, because lunch breaks are now a thing of the past. You call your accountant and panic a bit about funds. You then graft until it’s time to cook dinner for your hardworking partner who has had to go out all day, and then hit the laptop again until the small hours, because if your business fails THERE’S NO ONE ELSE TO BLAME!

Hmmm. Does this seem familiar?

Here’s the positive side.

You work for yourself, now.

Which means you don’t clash with colleagues, as you can walk away from them if you like. You can take a holiday (if you dare!) whenever you like. You can stay at home with the dog. You don’t have to drink corporate coffee any more. You can feel proud of your business, as it’s your baby and you made it all by yourself. You can write off your travel expenses against tax. Best of all, you know that every penny that comes in, however large or small the amount, has been earned because you really, and I mean REALLY earned it.

If you get despondent sometimes about the amount you have to do, the only advice I can offer is to remember who you are doing it for…yourself. And your customers. That should be enough to get you to haul yourself out of bed for another eighteen-hour day.

Remember you’re not alone, and millions of entrepreneurs all over the globe are stressing with you right now…for what it’s worth!

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