What, Me Worry?

When worry strikes, strike back.

What's the cost of allowing worry to get the best of you?"Your business willultimately fail," admonishes T. ReneeWilson, 23, president and CEO of CMGCommunications ManagementGroup, a high-tech consulting firm based in Atlanta."When youstart acting out of worry, your whole demeanor, your wholeattitude,changes--the way you respond to clients, the way yourespond to your employees,the way you carry yourself."

Fortunately for Wilson, she never allowed worry to fester in hermind for long,as her business' success demonstrates. In justfour years, Wilson, who startedher firm as a 19-year-old student atGeorgia Tech University in Atlanta, hastaken her company fromstart-up to $5 million in annual revenues, with officesin bothAtlanta and Washington, DC.

What's her secret to overcoming worry? "One of thebiggest [solutions] is timemanagement," says Wilson."Entrepreneurs are faced with so much on a day-to-daybasis.It's simply impossible to bring [worries] from yesterday or twoor threedays ago into today [and still handle the] new challengesyou face every day,every hour, every minute."

So how do you keep your focus on today's tasks when yourmind is flooded withworries about what went wrong yesterday or whatcould blow up in your facetomorrow? Here's Wilson's fivetips:

1. Plan and prioritize what needs to be done for the nextday."If youdon't plan ahead," says Wilson,"a lot of times at the end of the day, you havenothing to showfor your efforts. If you have a list of things you'veactuallychecked off, you can see how productive you reallyare."

2. Estimate how long each task will take."A lot ofpeople attempt to dotoo much at one time, setting unrealistic goalsfor themselves. As a result,they get frustrated," Wilsonexplains.

3. Tackle one thing at a time and stick with it."I[used to] have alist of 10 things and tried to work on seven ofthem simultaneously, but itwould take me four times as long tocomplete just one thing," says Wilson."Stick with onetask until you're finished; then move on."

4. Plan for interruptions."A lot of people say,´From 8:00 to9:00, I'm going to do this; from 9:00 to10:00, I'm going to do this; from10:00 to 11:00, I'm goingto do this,' " Wilson observes. "They never[schedule]any time for returning phone calls, speaking with clients,talkingto employees, or [interruptions]. When you don't planfor any of that, your daygets totally off schedule."

5. Plan time for yourself--and guard it religiously."Regardless of howhectic your schedule is," Wilsonadvises, "take time out every day to dosomething you enjoy,even if it's only for 10 or 15 minutes."

With your business' success at stake, break free from thetyranny of worry.When you take control of your time by focusing onyour highest priorities,you'll accomplish more--with lessstress.