Fortunately,there are a few simple adjustments to your mindset and daily schedule that can make a big difference. In her newest article, “Why Does it Feel like I’m Always Working?” featured on Forbes.com, expert time coach and work-life balance master, Elizabeth Grace Saunders, discusses simple solutions you can start implementing today. Overcome feelings of guilt, and tactfully stop over-committing by setting boundaries. You can work hard but still have time to play hard- every day!

So take a break from your work, and check out Elizabeth’s Forbes Article now.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®, which provides life coaching for individuals who struggle with time management.

Real Life E® empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule Makeover^TM process. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through custom training programs.

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

expert time coach Elizabeth Saunders never thought she would be an entrepreneur!

Now featured in TIME online, Elizabeth shares how her career journey has evolved. Best of all, Elizabeth divulges valuable tips and advice for budding entrepreneurs. Anything is possible…even if it’s not exactly what you had planned!

Read Elizabeth’s article, “Confessions of an Accidental Entrepreneur.”

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E® a time coaching and training company that empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule Makeover^TM process. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through custom training programs.

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

Whether you work from home or in an office, expert time coach and entrepreneur Elizabeth Grace Saunders has some quick tricks to help keep you on track. Try a few of Elizabeth’s personal productivity techniques listed below, and see just how much you really can accomplish today!

Like many of you, my daily priorities vary. But I have some standard mental tricks for staying focused and productive. Following my Morning Routine and Daily Planning, I use these techniques to implement the plan.

Elizabeth’s Daily Strategy

After planning and processing, I can’t wait to get things done!

• Follow Orders: Each day, I make a number order for my daily activities and try to follow it as closely as possible so the most important tasks get done early in the day and early in the week. Less pressing activities can be moved to another day if my schedule changes.
• Allow for Reflection: Stepping away from my computer and thinking about how to solve a problem or write a blog post or reply to a complex e-mail is not procrastination. This reflection time is immensely productive and seems to happen best for me over a snack or a quick walk.
• Reward Myself: To keep up my motivation and to allow for a quicker mental shift between types of activities, I reward myself with these types of breaks: replying to a few personal e-mails, a snack or a stretch break.
• Cut Up Large Projects: At the start of the 2–3 hour blocks of time I set aside for large projects, I scribble down a mini-plan of all of the action steps. Then I implement on that mini-plan within the time block.
• Evaluate the Cost: If a project starts taking longer than expected, I evaluate the cost of finishing it versus moving on to something else or getting it to “good enough” with the understanding I can come back if there’s time.
• Stuff in Little Activities: I try to do little activities like sending in checks or setting up appointments within small pockets of time between scheduled activities.
• Watch My People Levels: If I’m craving people time, I try to arrange a call or work in an environment where I’m around others. If I feel tired of being around others, then I seek out solitude.
• Capture the Next Step: If I leave a voicemail, I make a note on my calendar doc to follow up. If I leave a meeting, I make a note of when to complete the minutes. If I receive a blog post assignment, I make a note of its deadline and when to start it. Everything has a documented next step.
• Create Urgency: I always think of a few more things that it would be nice to fit in a day or the week than I think I could actually get done. That way I’m motivated to push myself and see how much I can do instead of subconsciously delaying because I’m not sure what would be next.
• Accountability & Transparency: I have four individuals that help keep me motivated by holding me accountable. I commit to being transparent with them about what I’m actually getting done, especially in terms of business and professional development. (They send me lots of encouraging affirmation in return!)

To your brilliance!

Your time coach,

Elizabeth

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®, which provides life coaching for individuals who struggle with time management.

Real Life E® empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule Makeover^TM process. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through custom training programs.

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

I’ve had complete freedom over my schedule for more than half a decade.
During my first couple of years as a full-time entrepreneur, I didn’t set boundaries on when I worked and what I did when.

• Frustration when I just wanted to take an evening or weekend off but felt like I couldn’t.
• Guilt when I had any open time but wasn’t working.

Deciding to limit how much I worked and when I worked really changed everything. (I did experience withdrawal symptoms when I first started this process: Step away from the computer Elizabeth!) But I persevered in setting boundaries, and since then, I’ve been able to “let go of work” mentally and emotionally and enjoy free time without guilt.

One of my bedrock routines that gives me a sense of peace and control is daily planning and processing described in detail below. But first a few notes:

• Like with my Morning Routine, this is an example for you to gain insight from, not a template for everyone. Some of my coaching clients plan in the evening, others have fewer steps in their process, others use more tech tools–routines should be your personal servant not your master.
• This is my own variation based off of some of David Allen’s Getting Things Done philosophies. I found that I procrastinated when I only tried to do a big weekly review but can consistently do a daily review.
• Daily processing and planning does seem to take a lot of time, but it is the only way I’ve been able to keep on top of responsibilities with clients around the world and work 40 hours or less a week. It’s worth it.

See below for an inside look at how I start my work days…

Elizabeth’s Planning Routine

• Going through my morning processing and planning checklist is totally mindless. I don’t need to wonder what to do first when I start my day–it’s always the same. (This really helps when I’m unmotivated, tired or down.)
• My work is very dynamic and my priorities shift on a daily basis. I don’t feel comfortable making a final decision on my daily to-do’s until I’ve gone through all of my inboxes.
• I really don’t like answering e-mail or doing other mundane processing. Before I made clearing out my inboxes part of my morning routine, I always felt guilty and behind. Now I effortlessly keep on top of e-mail, voicemail, mail, etc.

When I start my day, especially if it’s a Monday, I don’t know what needs to be completed for the rest of the day. But I know that by the time I finish my routine, I’ll have found clarity and feel in control. I have many clients who are super techy (which is awesome), but I’m not. So my tools and methods are relatively simple.

On Mondays, I look over my Google calendar to make sure that there are no appointments from the prior week that I need to move or follow up on and that all of my current week’s appointments are in the calendar. Then I make a pdf of the current week’s calendar and print it out.

I know this may make some paper-free people shake their heads, but I find that having a custom printed out schedule of the week makes it much easier for me to visualize my schedule and priorities. So I do what works for me.

During my Monday weekly processing and planning, I also:

• Review my Personal Projects List
• Process all the mail from the past week that I collect in a lateral desk file.
• Confirm appointments and anticipate any scheduling problems.
• Schedule Facebook and Twitter updates on Hootsuite.com
• Review my Google Calendar To Do Lists: Professional Priorities, Professional Someday/Maybe, Personal Priorities, Personal Someday/Maybe
• Write out at the top of my printed out calendar my top personal and professional goals for the week.
• Sketch in on the calendar when I should have time to get my goals done.

• Review my printed calendar and if necessary, make alarm reminders for meetings. (I usually set them for 15 minutes before the start time.)
• Review my calendar Word doc where I keep supporting notes/links/thoughts for daily activities organized by day.
• Review my Professional Projects List organized by deadline.
• Answer all my business e-mail. (If something will take more than a few minutes for a response, I make answering the specific e-mail a to-do item to be completed later that day.)
• Answer the most important personal e-mail.
• Organize papers from the past day and look at my Tickler file.
• Listen to and respond to any voicemail or text.
• Check Hootsuite.com for any Twitter.com @replies or DM’s and respond.
• Comment on or share relevant time management posts.
• Make a final decision on my daily priorities and the order in which I will complete them.
• Ask myself: How can I bless my clients today? Then do anything that comes to mind.

• I don’t give myself a choice in whether I do these steps, but I have complete freedom in choosing what order I complete them. I bounce all around within these possibilities depending on what I feel like doing next.
• Not everyone needs this many steps–this is just what makes me feel in control and on top of life.
• All kinds of online and paper Calendars and To Do List systems can work. The important thing is that you stick with one consistently.
• This can take a long time: On a daily basis, I’m usually done by 10 a.m. at the earliest. On Mondays, it’s closer to 11:30 a.m.
• But… I have the whole afternoon free to execute without worrying about my priorities or what to do next.
• These routines are the magic cure for almost any type of ailment. I can start the day tired, listless, crying–whatever!–and by the time they’re done, my brain and heart are in gear and ready to take on the day.

One of my time coaching clients shared these thoughts with me, which I’m sharing with his permission, about why initially adopting these planning and processing habits is so hard:

“I’m getting more disciplined about time blocking (progress!).

But one of the things that good time blocking does is make you aware of how little discretionary time you actually have.  So, then I started thinking about “Where can I cut back on something I’m doing?”, and immediately I thought of exercise.  Most of my workout sessions (when you include travel, changing, showering, etc.) are 1.5-2 hours.  But then, almost instantly, I said to myself, “No, that’s not negotiable.  I’m not going to cut back on exercise, because it brings me so many benefits in terms of my energy level, my long-term health, and even the emotional value of the assertion of self-worth.”  Then it hit me — I’m struggling to “find the time” each day to purge my index cards, time block my day, and to do good weekly reviews.  But I’m not talking about hours a day:

I find the time for exercise. Why not time management?

I thought of a few reasons:

1.  At some level, I’m still not convinced that I’ll see the deep benefits.  Rationally, I believe there will be benefits. But since I haven’t experienced the higher state, I don’t have enough evidence to have a deep emotional connection with the benefits.

(Note from Elizabeth: I hope my deep emotional connection with the benefits encourages you in this area! They will come with experience.)

2.  I’ve worked at exercising for years, and seen the benefit of exercising, and the negative results of not exercising. I know how big the benefits are of exercising because of the contrast at various times.  I haven’t had the same history and experience.

3.  I know how to exercise, and I’ve done it enough that I’m good at it. It feels good, and I feel good about being good at it. I’ve got lots of things down to a routine, and set up to make it easy.  I own enough exercise clothes that I don’t have to worry about laundry.  I’ve had my workout routines designed by a fitness center trainer so I’m confident I’m doing things that will work.  I have my checklist for packing my exercise clothes, and it’s part of my daily routine.  I know what times of day I can usually fit it in, and part of looking over my daily landscape is figuring out when to fit it in.  I don’t really question whether or not I want to fit it in; it’s a “given”.

With time management, in many ways I’m still a novice, don’t feel like I’m really good at it, and just don’t have enough history and experience as to how to respond to the various challenges.

Therefore:

• I need to focus on simple things I can do, make them very concrete, and keep practicing until I get good.
• I need to be patient and gentle with myself, not set an extremely aggressive goal and then beat myself up when I don’t reach it.  It’s the equivalent of starting to exercise by walking around the block once, then twice, then working up to where you can do 20-30 minutes of intense aerobics.  It takes time, you need to be patient with yourself, and you have to have the belief that the benefits are there if you keep going, and holding on to that belief is one of the key challenges.
• Another thought from Drive was “Mastery is painful.”  To get really, really good at something, you have to have extremely disciplined practice over an extended period of time, like the NBA player who shoots 500 foul shots at the end of every practice.

Doesn’t he do an awesome job of describing the process of lasting behavioral change with time management?! I’m so happy for and proud of my clients when they share these ephiphenies with me.

I hope that seeing how someone whose mastered daily planning and processing gives you insight in how it could happen for you.

Your time coach,

Elizabeth

P.S.-If you need help in making this happen, reach out to me and we can set up a time to talk.

P.P.S.–Thanks so much for all of your fabulous feedback last week! Feel free to send me your thoughts on this week’s newsletter and to comment on last week’s morning routine posted on my blog.

This recent article published on Forbes.com by expert time coach, Elizabeth Saunders, gives valuable insights into how to make networking work for you.

Go to events you want actually want to attend, and build relationships with peers whom you’re really excited to get to know.

Check out Elizabeth’s advice, and learn how to make better connections in less time.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®

a time coaching and training company that empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule Makeover^TM process. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through custom training programs.

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

Working from home is a balancing act for the whole family and requires everyone’s respect and support. Sixteen year-old, Matt Simon, knows this from first-hand experience. Check out Matt’s illuminating article, and get a teen’s perspective about what it’s really like to have a parent working from home.

When Parents Work at Home: “My Name is Matt…and My Mom Works from Home”

Matt is a teen writer for Radical Parenting.com, a parenting website written from the kid’s perspective with 82 teen interns! He is a 16-year-old from New York City, NY. He loves to be social and spend time with his friends, as well as being an active leader in his community. However, school also plays an important role in his life and he is motivated to achieve his dreams. For more articles by teens please check out RadicalParenting.com.

My mom has officially worked from home for about three years now. Like everything my mom does, I see the positives and the negatives of this drastic change in her life. Because of this, I feel the need to discuss a few things with those teens who, like me, have a parent working at home.

Personally, I LOVE knowing when my mom is working and when she’s open to do whatever. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, however, she can be aggressive sometimes. Because of this fact, I need to know when I can talk to her and when I should stay clear of her office/my sister’s old room. Because my mom is the only source of income for my family (my dad hasn’t worked for over twenty years), I feel the need to let my mom do what she needs to do in order to keep the bacon flowing.

Since my mom started working at home and started her own law firm, the rest of the family developed their own respective “roles” during the my mom’s working time. I do my homework or go to work, my dad prepares dinner and/or does the laundry. My mom does her work. Simple. At 7:30 every night marks the end of my mom’s work time because that’s when we all sit down and have dinner together and share stories about the days we’ve had. I personally love it like this. However, I do understand the other side, where there is a more flexible time of work. In my opinion though, I feel as if the work will never truly be completed. I think we have a balance at my family, and it works out perfectly!

My mom usually stops her work after dinner, however there are those nights where she works all night. To be honest, this really does not bother me because on weekdays and Saturday nights, I am very independent from my parents. After dinner, I either finish my homework or go out and hang out with my friends. Therefore, if my mom were to work after dinner, it would not phase me. However, my time with my parents is Sunday nights. I would be DEVASTATED if my mom worked on Sunday nights. I wouldn’t cry or anything–I’m almost seventeen–but I would be disappointed. We always watch movies on Sunday nights, all together as a family. That includes my mom!

Now, for the main event: How does my mom working at home affect my stress level?

I have a valid answer, in my opinion. I really don’t feel more stressed or less stressed on a daily basis. That may just be because of my personality, or maybe because of my age. However, those days when my mom is stressed… I get stressed! She comes out of her office sometimes, completely frazzled– and I NEVER use that word! She either has just dealt with a nasty client, or hates the case she’s working on, or anything. Whenever she’s in her “mood,” we ALL feel it.

I actually see a correlation between my test grades and my mom’s stress level. When she’s stressed, I’m stressed and I don’t reach my full potential at school. Other than that though, I like knowing that my mom is home most of the time. I feel comfortable knowing that if there is ever a problem, I can always tell my mom, even if it is before dinner.

My name is Matt, and my mom works from home. There are some positives and negatives. In my opinion though, I prefer my mom working out of the house, just because then I can cherish her time at home more. However, either way, I enjoy knowing the fact that my mom is still doing what she loves to do, no matter of the location.

For those teens out there: I’d love to hear your take on this!

For those parents out there: I’d love to hear your take too!

This is definitely something that affects everyone in the family as a whole.

About Real Life E®

Not to fear! We’ve done the research on some of the most popular time management and task organization tools on the web. This post offers a practical comparison of some of the best online tools.

From the most basic, to more complex, these sites will help keep you organized. Going virtual with your lists will allow you to stay on track even on the go. To your brilliance!

To-Do List Resources

www.tadalist.com

Summary: Simple and straightforward, Ta-da List is like your basic paper to-do list, only electronic!

Price: Free

Compatibility: Works with the most popular web browsers (IE 6/7, Firefox 2, and Safari 2), and with Mac, PC, and iPhone.

How it Works: Check a box and the to-do is marked, “Done!”

Sharing: Keep your lists private, or share them with your friends, family, or co-workers

Other Info: Ta-da List also offers a paid, upgraded version of their to-do list for businesses called Backpack.

Backpack is an intranet for your business. You create a “page” that keeps documents, discussions, and schedules in one place all the time with content sharing options.

www.toodledo.com

Summary: Organize and track your tasks in more than just a list format. The calendar view option is great for big-picture, visual learners.

Price: Free

Compatibility: Mac, Windows, most mobile devices; Ability to import tasks from Palm OS PDA, Microsoft Outlook, Apple’s iCal, and other online to-do lists

How it Works: Tag and track projects by priority and in sub-folders. Keep track of estimated time spent on a project versus the actual time spent. Even assign personal goals to individual tasks allowing you to see how the way you spend your time contributes to long-term goals.

Sharing: Public or private, with other collaboration options available

www.evernote.com

Summary: Much more than task management, EverNote is great for keeping track of the mis-mash of all those little things in life that you want to remember too (receipts, trip itineraries, even wine labels!)

With tons of fun and practical web software applications, techies can take this organizer as far as they want. Check out EverNote’s extensive array of Desktop and Web Services (or as they call it, the EverNote “Trunk”)

Price: Free

Compatibility: Windows, Mac OS X, PC’s, iPhone, and other mobile devices; Applications for linking your Twitter and social media accounts too

How it Works: Type a text note, clip a web page, snap a photo, or grab a screenshot. Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made search-able. Add tags or organize your notes into different virtual notebooks. Search for notes by keywords, titles, and tags.

Sharing: Public or private- your choice depending on what you need to organize

www.rememberthemilk.com

Summary: Similar to EverNote, but a bit more basic. Though Remember The Milk also has dozens of mobile and desktop applications, this service is focused more on task management, tracking, and organization.

Price: Free

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Gmail, Outlook, and more. Sync with iCal and Google Calendar too.

How it Works: Create a list, set due dates, then get reminders to any of your mobile devices, email, and social media accounts.

Add notes to your list, and use the maps feature to track where you have to go to accomplish each task. Even print a hard copy of your list or weekly planner.

Check out this Tour of Things to Do with Remember The Milk

Sharing: Keep your tasks private, publish them publicly, or send to your choice of contacts

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

Set Expectations so You Can Take a Real Vacation

When you and your customers don’t see eye-to-eye on the timing of communications, deadlines and billing—stress happens!

To help you prevent frustration and feel more in control, here’s expert advice from Elizabeth Grace Saunders, CEO of Real Life E®, a company that provides time coaching and training services that help business owners feel peaceful and accomplished, about how to set expectations with customers.

So, why is setting time expectations so important?

The challenge for business owners is that if you don’t set expectations, your customers will. That means you may go for months–or even years–feeling like you’re constantly being thrown for a loop by everyone else’s whims. Most customers don’t know what’s reasonable in your business so for everyone to be happy, you need to let them know what to expect.

What’s one of the biggest problem areas?

Communication is by far one of the biggest issues. If business owners don’t set clear boundaries on when they will and won’t be available to answer customers’ questions, they never feel like they have a break.

What do you suggest to set time expectations about e-mail, voicemail, etc.?

Set limits on when you and your staff will be accessible, and as much as possible, stick with them. Also try not to set the expectation that you will answer communication immediately. If you consistently answer e-mail and voicemail in about 24 hours, customers won’t be upset if they don’t hear from you right away. (For more info on this topic, check out my blog post on How to Set E-mail Expectations.)

What about when you don’t hear back from customers?

When customers don’t communicate a decision until right before a deadline, it can wreak havoc on your workflow. You can use this type of approach to set standards for communication with your customers:

Dear customer:

I’ve attached the proposal for the work we discussed. In order to meet your deadline of Friday, December 17, I’ll need to hear back from you by Friday, December 10. If I receive a decision from you after the 10^th, we’ll need to move back the deadline.

We look forward to serving you well.

All the best,

Business Owner

Are there any other ways business owners can eliminate deadline stress?

If you don’t make promises to deliver products or services “by tomorrow” or “by next week,” you can reduce stress by increasing your timeline. Also, business owners shouldn’t make commitments to a deadline until they have a clear sense of when they can complete the work. Just because a customer wants something as soon as possible, doesn’t mean that you should stay up until 2 a.m. trying to finish everything for them.

What about billing?

Try to get some or all of the payment before delivering the work. This reduces stress on both sides and makes it completely clear when payment is due. If that’s not possible, bill promptly and ask for payment due upon receipt. Then take note of when to follow up—depending on your industry either two weeks or four weeks later. Staying on top of billing and following up quickly tends to reduce stress and confusion caused by an invoice months past due.

Any other final time tips?

If there’s any part of your business that’s causing you time stress, ask yourself the question, “Should I be setting my expectations differently for myself or others?” Most of the time the answer is, “Yes!”

Thanks so much Elizabeth for this great advice! And if you would like to receive more great time tips from Real Life E®, go to http://www.ScheduleMakeover.com

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E® a time coaching and training company that empowers individuals who are overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished through an exclusive Schedule Makeover^TM process. Real Life E® also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and work/life balance through custom training programs.

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council that includes HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes and Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich fame.

Well the truth is you are not alone. For many of us our number one challenge is staying tuned into business while working from home. Let’s face it, the luxury of being able to work from home has created yet another obstacle in our already cluttered lives.

So the question is how do we beat procrastination and distractions? Amanda Sykora has shared 15 Tips to Increase Productivity When Working From Home with Suite101 readers. The tips vary from knowing when to stop to creating plans of action for your work.

Go ahead, check out the list, and reclaim your time!

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach & professional speaker who helps men and women who are overwhelmed and frustrated because they want to achieve a life of peace and productivity but are struggling to make it happen.

For more insight on how to move forward, feel peaceful and create a life of love, meaning and purpose, check out ScheduleMakeover.com

Elizabeth has been featured in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC, and is happy to be interviewed for your broadcast or publication.