One of the hottest commodities for conscious entrepreneurs is TIME.  It’s all too easy to let a perceived lack of time become an obstacle that stops you dead in your tracks.

How can you possibly build your business when it already feels like you have soooo much on your plate and not enough hours in the day?

Here’s the most important thing to understand: this is more a MINDSET issue than a TIME issue.

The reality of time is that it’s the great equalizer – we all have the same amount of it. You and I have the same amount of time in a day as the president, Oprah, and every other insanely busy person on the planet.

However, most people let their day happen to them instead of having control over their day. And if you continue to do that, nothing will change for you.

So first and foremost, you need two critical Feminine Leader mindsets:

1. Building my business is a mission-critical priority. Oprah is very on-mission. She’s willing to put up with some discomfort because she is doing her bigger work in the world.

2. Nobody controls my day but me. Chances are you’re spending far too much time on activities that do not produce income and that are taking care of other people. You’re letting other people dictate how your day goes – their needs, their demands and their drama.

Then you need simple practices to eliminate leaks and reclaim your time for what truly matters.

Here are 2 simple steps you can take to free up an hour or more of time each day for your business, even if you are still in a full time job:

Step 1: Take out your calendar and list all of your commitments for 7 days.

Do a “time audit” of all the leaks. Where is time going to other people’s needs, requests or dramas? Then ask yourself this magic question: what do you have to say NO to, in order to say YES to the business you really want?

For example, if you’re in a full-time job, here’s what you may have to say NO to:

• No to working on your lunch break for your boss when you could be working on your lunch break for your business OR relaxing
• No to the idea that you’re going to get fired if you you’re not working 24×7 for them
• No to any form of “I have to or I won’t get money”
• No to checking and responding to emails constantly throughout the day.
• No to doing everything for everyone else before you do for you.

Step 2: Clear the decks.

Make a list of the distractions, interruptions and time stealers you identified and begin to implement boundaries. This may look like unsubscribing to mailing lists you never read, cutting the time you spend on social media or watching TV in half, even pulling back from relationships that drain you.

You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to reclaim an hour or more per day just by setting boundaries. This may be a little uncomfortable at first, but this is about creating YOUR reality. Remember… mission-critical.

Bonus tip: If you already have team in place, let GO of email. Create a super-secret email just for your most personal inner circle, and release all the public/business email to be sorted, handled and answered by an assistant. Seriously, this can free up multiple hours per day for most entrepreneurs!

Step 3: Create a framework for your day.

Choose the days you work, choose the hours you work, and then choose what happens during those hours. Hour by hour, write out a template for yourself.

Now don’t get me wrong, there will be crunch times, but always remember that this is an investment in your future. When you have a step-by-step path and when you KNOW what you need to be focusing on and what you can let go of – all of a sudden that investment gets a LOT easier.

An added benefit is that when you embrace these mindsets and take these steps you can apply them to your life as well as your business. The things that are keeping you from creating a business you love are the same things that are chewing up the time you could be spending on enjoyable activities.

Take these steps this week and discover that you actually DO have time for your business AND for having a life!