One of the biggest challenges to being self-employed and owning your own business is getting over time management procrastination. It’s just so easy when you’re the boss to let things slide until it’s an emergency and you must absolutely get the task done. Here are a few tips to get out of this habit and start being productive today, not tomorrow.

Female entrepreneurs have the best of both worlds. They’re able to live their life as they choose, striving to attain their goals, hopes and dreams. Of course with all of this freedom and empowerment comes a heady dose of stress. Entrepreneurs have the common characteristic of biting off more than they can chew, or almost more than they can chew since they often accomplish things when all odds are against them.

“All work and no play.”

“Work hard play hard.”

You know the clichés, but do you know why they’re clichés? Because they’re true.

Business owners tend to be type A personalities and you’ll often find them hard at work around the clock. Unfortunately, this all work and no play attitude can lead to a whole host of problems. We’re talking about burnout, stress, fatigue, mental and physical health issues – not to mention boredom. It’s time to add a little fun in your life. Here’s how to find time for fun in your busy schedule.

There is nothing worse than coming into work on monday morning and finding my desk buried in Friday afternoon’s trash. You can help your week start off a lot better if you just do a little house cleaning before you leave work on Friday. Not only will your week start off better but you can relax a bit more during the weekend knowing that you have everything wrapped up at the office – even if that office is in your home!

Here are a few ways that having a cluttered work can affect your ability to do your job effectively:

We all feel stress sometimes. Stress is the natural response of our body to help us deal with difficult situations. Without it, we would be unable to survive. The problem is that nowadays, most people have too much of it. This can not only be detrimental to your health, it can also hurt your business. That’s why it’s a good idea to figure out what stressors are causing you problems in your business and lessen them so you can be more productive and effective.

There are several things everyone who has ever owned their own business have in common.

Everyone who owns their own business has to deal with the day-to-day decisions on how to grow their business. Everyone who owns their own business has to deal with marketing strategies, networking, cash flow analysis and perhaps the most common trial…

…how to balance their personal and professional life.

Do you ever wonder what separates highly successful entrepreneurs from the average person? There are a few key ingredients that are essential to attain the kind of success you’re striving for. Now you’re probably thinking this is another article about passion. It’s not. Passion is good; however, it isn’t enough. Passion has to lead to something more. Passion has to lead to action and in order to have the wherewithal to take action you need to have these two key traits:

* Commitment

and

* Discipline

Let’s take a look at them individually.

Commitment

It doesn’t matter if you are a mom building webpages at the family computer after the kids have gone to bed or an old hat who has incorporated; there is one thing that labels us all. We are all executives of our own small businesses. When I say executive, I mean it. We earn that title a hundred times over our mega-corporate counterparts because we have to wear so many hats just to get through the day. Our businesses depend on us alone. We have to do so many different things to effectively manage our two most important assets that we are truly ‘Jack’s of all trades’. Today I am going to talk about our number one MOST important asset: Time.

Time management can be the single biggest challenge to working from home and being a successful entrepreneur. Learning to overcome these obstacles can be the key to managing and leading a successful business.

What are time management obstacles and what causes them? Many things cause time management obstacles including:

1. Perfectionism – Many people use perfectionism as a crutch; a way to stay busy doing what they know how to do and to let the rest slide. For example, you’re a skilled writer but detest accounting, which means you spend days on a sales letter and your books are so messed up you don’t know who owes you what or how much money you’re making or losing.

Once the holidays come around it seems schedules and staying on task fly right outside the window. Not only do you have your regular business tasks which may increase due to the holiday season, but family is often off work and out of school. And then of course there are the holiday festivities, which means preparation time. Is balance possible, or do you just throw up your arms and give into chaos? Don’t give up! Here’s how to balance your work schedule during the holidays.

Set realistic goals

Ok, we’re going to start a series of articles on how to be that most dreaded of all persons. A boss!

Now, I know you’re going to say, “Man, you’re crazy! I became a webmaster to get away from a boss. I don’t want to learn how to be one.” But, now that you’ve kicked over the 9 to 5 traces, you need to learn how to be your own boss.

And, frankly, it’s much more difficult than most people think. And one of the biggest problems in being your own boss is managing your time. Let’s start out with a little questionaire

Stress is a natural response. In fact, it’s a necessary response. A little stress helps us to avoid dangerous situations and act when necessary. However, stress can become a problem when used irrationally.

Prolonged daily stress has been proven to affect the overall health negatively and may lead to many illnesses. Short bursts of stress on the other hand are less damaging, but may also be taxing on the body when done regularly.

To avoid stress at work, home or in general try one of our quick stress reduction techniques:

Lack of productivity is something many of us suffer with. When you work at the office, it’s very easy to get distracted by everything going on around you. And when you work from home, productivity can unfortunately be even more of an issue.

Here are a few tips designed to help anyone who is struggling with their productivity levels.

#1 – Stay focused. This is easier said than done, but one sure way to boost your productivity is by staying focused on one task at a time. Studies have shown that those of us who “multitask” actually get less done. Having your email program open along with several other windows on your computer is very distracting and will take away from your ability to focus on the task at hand.

Burnout is something most of us face from time to time, even if we absolutely love our jobs and life. It happens for a number of reasons and those reasons are often the answer for how to recover from burnout. Here are a few reasons for burnout and how to recover from them.

#1 Gratitude. Sometimes we lose sight of what we do enjoy about our career, job and life. We get busy, we become bogged down with work and demands and we lose the joy. How on earth can you feel inspired and motivated when you’ve lost the joy? You cannot, so the answer to recover from this type of burnout is to find the joy again. Remember why you love to do what you do and why you’re grateful to be doing it.

If you want to get stuff done at work, you need to take breaks. Our brains and bodies aren’t meant to go non-stop. The longer you go without taking a break, the slower you’re going to be working. By taking breaks, you’re going to increase your productivity and probably get more done in the long run. Occasionally, you’re going to need a day off, or even a full vacation.

We all know that working at home can be very testing at times. I have thought long and hard on how to create a balance between ‘work time’ and ‘home time’, and thought I would share my findings with all of you, in hopes of relieving some of the stress related to working at home.

Whether an office is a completely separate wing, a room, or a corner in the kitchen or family room, it is an office. When this happens, suddenly home is also a place of business.

As you immerse yourself in the world of webmastering you will quickly discover that time management is critical. Every day it seems like there is something new added to your schedule. This goes on and on without end. The more you do the more you need to do. The reason it gets so overwhelming is that webmastering branches off into so many different areas. Html, php, banner ads, blogs and the list goes on…