2. DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE, NOT WHAT YOU'D RATHER BE DOING

It's all very well to set a work schedule and stick to it, it's quite another to spend that time doing what has to be done rather than what you'd rather be doing. Sure, we'd ALL prefer to read and respond to email than write next chapter of our e-book. Reading and responding to email is easy. Writing is hard! But reading and responding to email won't grow your business. Creating new product lines will.

3. ALLOCATE ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO CONCENTRATION LEVEL REQUIRED

Following on from previous point, if you're spending first three hours of your peak concentration time reading and responding to email rather than writing next chapter of your book, you're doing right things at wrong time. Yes, you do need to read and respond to your email but it's not an intellectually demanding task. Do it when your brain is winding down, not when it's at its sharpest. Do hard work when your brain is at its best.

4. KEEP DISTRACTIONS TO A MINIMUM

Doing right things at right time is all for nought if you're going to be interrupted every ten minutes. Turn OFF email program that chimes every time you get new mail. Most likely it's NOT a new order and, even if it is, it will still be there at time of your next allocated email check.

Similarly, let answering machine answer your private phone. Get a second line installed to be used exclusively for your business. And let machine get THAT when you're not working. Maintaining separate worlds as much as possible is best way to avoid burnout.

5. BE FLEXIBLE BUT ACCOUNTABLE

The best-laid plans of mice and men and all that mean that you need to be flexible in response to an unanticipated change in your schedule. If something comes up that needs your attention when you had intended to be working, by all means attend to it. Just make up time later on. It's swings and roundabouts. It all comes out in wash.

6. CARROTS WORK BETTER THAN STICKS

Finally, my favorite tactic. Reward yourself for getting job done. Nothing motivates me more to finish a set project that knowledge that when I do, I have full permission to curl up on couch with a good book for a couple of hours.

Give yourself an incentive to get whatever it is done. Then you can truly enjoy best of both worlds. You can relax and enjoy whatever your reward is, free of guilt that comes with knowing very well you should be doing something else, and with certain knowledge that you've taken care of business first.

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Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com Also, visit Elena's newest site, Web Work From Home http://www.web-work-from-home.com

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com Also, visit Elena's newest site, Web Work From Home http://www.web-work-from-home.com

ad 4) lack of proper communication - a couple of examples to get feeling: a) you receive a reasonable email offer, you reply and that's it - no response b) you come across an interesting service or product on a website, you contact webmaster for more info, and again, no response c) or you receive a response but it's clear that person just replies without reading your mail at all d) correspondence containing bad language, no structure, no names, no facts, you don't know why person writes you, just advertising.

ad 5) misleading information - eg if someone promises something free to you but you've got to pay a membership fee or any other cost to get it.

ad 6) hype advertising - as soon as you see an ad or receive an email promoting hype or scam you know that you're not dealing with a proper business professional, so it's a waste of time for you to start a co-operation.

ad 7) fraudulent conduct - a completely different category is a person intentionally trying to get your money ie a person who knows he's promoting hype or scam or behaves fraudulently on purpose, trying to rob you of money or time and credibility - just a little example: companies trying to make you promote them, work for them or offering a service or product but knowing that you wouldn't for a reason, so they don't tell you but they (=the better ones) state this in their terms of use, knowingly expecting that you won't read it, others (=the worse) don't tell you at all until you sign up a contract and learn yourself on way, companies not paying out your earned money within an acceptable period though cashing their commissions and using your money to finance their business.

The above are just little examples occurring in thousands every day. And now you're asking how to cope, what to do to avoid it and to protect yourself, your time and your business.

The only way to go is to develop your sense to know at once, as soon as you come across such an item.

How to learn: experience is answer. Learn, read, apply, test, take your time to study, listen to others, learn from others, stop your chaotic run from one opportunity to another, don't think you miss something if you stop for a day, a week, a couple of months and study and grow. The vital point is to read, and to learn how to read: once you utter you have no time to read, you're finished. The real start is to grow yourself into a true entrepreneur, and you can't without reading and studying. It needs a complete change in thinking, in attitudes, in life values, responsibilities, discipline.

An entrepreneur is not a person making a few bucks for a couple of months without working, but who is able to work hard, to accept risks, to be responsible for himself, for his business in good and bad, for people dependent on him, to develop and accept lifestyle he imagines, and support it and retain it not for a couple of years but for a couple of generations. An entrepreurship is not a seasonal job, it's not a job at all, it's not a business opportunity, it's a lifestyle, a specific way of thinking, it's ability to accept obligations, hard work, discipline - bigger and tougher, higher lifestyle you want to have for yourself and your people, not only your family.

The good news is that it's not necessary to be born an entrepreneur (though it's much easier if you are) but you can grow yourself into one. And other good news is that good, real opportunities will always be around because true entrepreneurs invent them all time, and as soon as you grow into a real, professional, a true entrepreneur, you will discover your own inventiveness, you will be able to develop your own ideas into opportunities for yourself and people you want to help to achieve what they imagine for themselves.