Finding you work/life balance isn’t always easy. You may need to get creative, like Jane did. But what if you, like Jane, work in an environment where face time is very important? Perhaps your co-workers and your boss keep different hours than you: they could begin their day at 11 a.m. while you start yours at eight. If this is the case and you are determined to keep those unusual hours, like Jane, than here are a few tips to help you succeed.

How productive did you feel last week? If you got less done than you'd hoped....what kept you from staying on task?  For many people, a constant stream of interruptions is the biggest hurdle to productivity.  So, here's some advice for preventing unnecessary interruptions from taking more than their fair share of your upcoming week.

When People struggle to manage their time, they very often jump to the conclusion that they are internally flawed somehow, that they are born incompetent in this area of life. Or they throw their hands up in resignation, convinced that “out of control” is just how life is supposed to be in the modern world. Both of these perceptions are totally inaccurate and self-defeating. Often it’s a combination of forces that create time-management problems. Consider the top 10 time management mistakes and how to avoid them.

Between homework, after-school activities, friends, family, cleaning, errands and a zillion other events competing for your time, yours and your child’s life can be shockingly full of activity. It’s not easy fitting it all in, but you’d be surprised how much you can get done when you learn to organize your time.

The phrase, Work-Life Balance tends put many people off.  Impossible!  A pipe dream!  A dated concept!  But I don’t think so.... the issue isn’t the term—it’s our definition of the phrase and what it implies that needs to evolve.

            Lack of sleep and poor nutrition can be compensated for with caffeine, sugar, power bars, or the pure will to concentrate, but nothing substitutes for genuine physical health. Sleep, exercise, a proper diet, and regular checkups maintain your physical body. This is a basic, essential priority, which provides the well of energy from which you draw the strength to accomplish everything else you need to do. Some people neglect their own physically health for so long that they forget what it feels like to be healthy and rested. Making the commitment to your physical health will have an immediately....

          Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% people wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends.  I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan---the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing.

            During stressful times, it’s more essential than ever to stay in balance—to mindfully fill your downtime off with activities that really recharge you.  If you spend your time on the right things-you gain renewed perspective, optimism....

Once the world gets quiet, does your mind wake up? Do you start ticking through your to-do list the minute your head hits the pillow? A churning mind can’t sleep; and a mind without sleep doesn’t function.  Sleep deprivation is miserable--it steals energy and productivity from the next day — so you don’t enjoy your waking hours either, and the cycle starts all over again.

So, how can you reclaim the pleasure of a good night's sleep?  First, I want to ask you a question: Do you think of sleep as the end of one day or the beginning of the next? I find that......

             More and more people are working from home these days—as freelancers, budding entrepreneurs, or even as virtual employees of a larger company.  Working from home often brings with it a lot of freedom – the freedom to make decisions, to set hours, and to determine your own workplace culture. Yet the home-based office has its share of challenges. Space is limited. It’s hard to be productive with unstructured days. You do not have the same support that comes with working at a big company, and the lines often blur between home and work.         

            With just a little organization, you can be productive, efficient, and enjoy all of the advantages of working from home. Here are a few of the core strategies I give my clients to ensure they get things done and feel effective.........

We live in a fast-paced world filled with infinite possibilities and opportunities. Like

kids in a candy shop, we can easily feel overwhelmed choices on where we spend our time. What’s most important? How do we find time to get things done? How much can we handle? It is tempting to shove more in our day than is humanly possible, and discouraged at the end of the day when we barely got past the second item on our to-do list.    In an overstuffed schedule, we feel out of balance—where one area of our lives monopolizes our time at the expense of other more important things.

Throughout my 20 years as a time management coach , I’ve found that there are certain key skills that make the difference between a day that feels in balance vs. out of balance....

Have you noticed a time management backlash to the economic crisis?  Procrastination seems to be at an all time high these days--90% of our clients complain about their ineffectiveness at work these days.  It's hard to get anything done....when people you are doing business with take longer to respond, you've got a bunch of new responsibilities to wrap your head around, and your own to-do list has become a bit of a stranger to you.

Restructuring, hiring freezes, and the unpredictable business climate have created a situation in which it's hard to figure out where to invest your time, to provide value.  How do you prioritize when your to-do list goes on for 7 pages? How do you produce quality work when you are distracted with worry? ..............

Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% of the people surveyed wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends.  I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan---the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing....