Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got - Art Buchwald.

Can you believe it's already May next week! Where is that time going? We'll be half way through the year before we know it and isn't it rushing past? Have you achieved your goals so far this year or is it all just zooming past in a blur and without anything significant being achieved?

One subject that comes up repeatedly with my clients is that of time ' or rather the lack of it. Finding the time to spend developing your business whether you are pre-launch and at the preparation/research stage; or you're up and running and fitting it around your children, a full time job or life in general, can be tricky.

Working from home isn't easy. There's no boss to keep you on the straight and narrow and there are so many distractions calling out for your attention ' 'I'll just load the washing machine', 'the lawn needs mowing'. Finding the time your business needs and then actually keeping it can be an uphill struggle.

GOOD NEWS! I'm going to give you a strategy that really works. I have made use of this strategy many times and it always ensures that I spend the time necessary on my current project and at the same time still maintain that essential healthy work/life balance.

The first thing to do is to decide how many hours each week you want to spend developing your business. Sounds logical doesn't it? But so many of us fall into the trap of working on it as and when we can fit it in, or when we're in the right mood. That will get you absolutely nowhere and fast!

It is absolutely essential that you first fix the number of hours you want to work on developing your business and then work backwards from there to see how you can fit those hours in!

The number of hours you plump for will vary according to the stage your business is at right now. What does your business really need right now that you can afford to give? If it's pre-launch and you are researching, studying and preparing you may decide that 2, 5 or 10 hours a week is just right. If you're up and running then maybe it's 20, 25 or 30 hours a week.

Always bear in mind that it is essential to maintain a healthy work/life balance. After all what on Earth is the point of running your own business if you're going to work yourself into the ground doing it? So no answers of 60 hours please! When your business is fully fledged what is your goal for the number of hours you want to be working on it? Start as you mean to go on.

My aim is to work 25 hours per week on my business. Quite tricky at the moment with my youngest child at the age of 1, but it can be done. And yes I can do it and still maintain a great work/life balance.

Now get a piece of paper and turn it sideways into landscape orientation. Write the 7 days of the week across the top and divide the page into columns, one column for each day. We are going to plan each day hour by hour, so you will position each entry within any given day according to its time (so if you do something at 1.00 till 2.00 on any given day write it about half way down the column).

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