Yep, it’s happened to all of us. You get up bright and early and start working away and before you know it it’s 10pm and you still have half your To Do list left.

“How did that happen? There’s not enough time in the day!”

Owning and running your own business can be a time consuming endeavor, especially during start-up or when you’re beginning a new project or expansion. It can get very stressful, I’ve been there. It can easily swallow up all your time and leave you feeling like you’re never going to get ahead.

Here’s the truth, you are never going to have nothing to do. There will always be more promotion you can do, more products to add, little problems popping up here and there, etc. That’s how it is with business – any business. Unless you hire someone to take over all the management while you sit back in your big, comfy CEO chair you’re going to be busy.

And that’s fine. Maybe someday you will hire someone to take over so you can just chill. But until you get to that point you have to pace yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed and lose control.

Before I start talking about actually managing your time, I want you to accept something – your To Do list will never be empty. As soon as you accept that you will feel less stressed and more in control. Business is like that, there is always something that needs attention. If you ever find yourself with nothing to do, you’re not doing something you should.

So how do you keep from getting overwhelmed when you’re pouring your heart, soul, and time into something that will never be finished? Police yourself.

Everyone does this differently. Some people create very strict time tables for themselves; blocking out time to work on one project and when that time is up they move into the next time block and the next project. Some people set goals; once one goal is reached they move onto the next. Some break up the days of the week; Monday is for blogging, Tuesday is for conversion work, Wednesday is for Paid Ads, and so forth. You’ll want to experiment to see what works best for you personally.

Here’s what I do:

I don’t work well under strict structure, I’m much more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. So I set one or two main goals for each day and once they are reached I work on smaller stuff. I always have several projects going on at once, the goals I set are not “Complete Project #1 then work on newsletters and articles”, I don’t make the project my goal – I make part of the project my goal.

For example, I am writing a How To eCommerce Book. If I made my goal the book, I wouldn’t be able to work on anything else for weeks. So instead I make one or two chapters my goal and then work on other aspects of my business. Then the next day my goal will be two more chapters.

Pay attention to how you work. You can try keeping a daily journal detailing time spent and work completed. That may help you determine how you work best. Don’t try to force yourself into a structure that is too stringent for you, you’ll end up getting frustrated which leads to lower productivity.

Think about breaks during the day too. Working from sun up to sun down might sound like it’ll help you get a ton accomplished but very few people can actually stay focused for that long. That’s not how we’re wired. I like to take a walk in the afternoon – get outside, away from the computer, just for a little while. Breaks are refreshing and will help you maintain a solid level of productivity throughout the day.

There will be days when you don’t reach your goals. Don’t freak out, it happens to the best of us. The reasons for it are as varied as our personalities and lives. Don’t let the failure to meet a goal get you down, just get up the next day, readjust your plans if you need to, and get it done. It’s not the end of the world and you CAN do it.

Related posts:

1. The Social Marketing Time Suck