My mother told me that someday I would see the clock tick so fast that the days would fly by and that all those times I sat waiting for something to happen I'd wish I'd have spent them doing something productive - as usual, my mother was right. As a woman entrepreneur, I know there truly isn't enough time in the day!

As a business coach, working with male and female entrepreneurs, I can confidently report it doesn't matter if you have a $100,000 business or a $10 million business, what your gender is, or even whether or not you have a family depending on you, there are still just 24 hours in your day. And, how you spend that time WILL determine your success or failure.

But, before I share my tips for how best to spend your time, I want you to ask yourself,

"What would I do if I could add an hour or two to my day?"

Your answer to this question has more to do with how you manage your time than you might think. Let me explain.

First, we all know people that are late no matter how much they promise to be on time. Are these people busier than we are? Is what they need to do more important than what we have to do? Of course not. People who are habitually tardy choose to be late. They don't place importance on being on time. Perhaps, they never learned that "the early bird catches the worm". Now, before you think I'm am just sharing a cliché, I want to tell you that I know from experience that if you want to bump into the important people at an event YOU'LL ARRIVE FIRST! Yes, it is that easy. Very important people (VIPs) always show up on time -why? Because they have a schedule to keep and they only way they can keep to it is to be on time. For the most part, their handlers make sure that they do.

So, the first tip in time management is to be on time ALWAYS! No excuses. Leaving early is much less of an issue and your time will be well spent while present. Oh, by the way, as soon as you are known as someone who is always on time others will follow suit or realize that they won’t get your attention. Successful people are on time.

Second, stop making lists of things to do later. If it is important to do than it is most probably important to do it now. Not everything can be put on a 'to do' list.

I've worked with clients who want to spend their time with me discussing their 'to do' list. Discussing your 'to do' list is like planning your own funeral. By the time it comes around to happening the planning really won't matter.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with creating steps to getting things done. For example, a task such as designing a new website is not likely to be done all at once. But, if it is on your 'to do' list I can promise you it means you may never get it started. In order to get anything done, one must take action. Some things take very little action and yet too many women in business don't accept the responsibility of taking a risk in getting them started.

Third, this time waster is fear - fear of taking action that doesn't turn out as you want. Remind yourself that when you were little and there seemed to be an abundance of time you didn't fear anything. That's right! Most of us just went out and did whatever we wanted to do and never thought a minute about taking a risk in not having it turn out just right.

Fear is a time waster.

Finally, every moment you spend thinking you should be somewhere else, such as believing you should be with your family when you are at work or at work when you are with family takes time away from focusing on the present. Live in the moment and you'll have more time for everything.

So, back to my question of what you would do it you could add an hour or two to your day. As I have asked this of dozens of women entrepreneurs and women in business, I know the answer is almost universal and it is - do something for myself - exercise, read, rest, etc.

In other words, women still are not putting themselves first in organizing their time. So, here are my tips for all women in business and women entrepreneurs:

(1) Start giving yourself one hour a day to exercise, meditate, sleep, read or whatever. You will still have 23 hours for everything else.

(2) Start delegating the details to others. Rather than writing a "to do' list get someone to do your 'to dos'.

(3) Start living in the moment. Appreciate wherever you are whenever you are there. There will never be another moment like the one you are in right now! Don't allow your ability to make choices make you guilty for making them.

(4) At work listen to your employees and get regular feedback on exactly what is going on. When you are in the loop it takes a lot less time than always needing to catch up on problems with customers, vendors and others.

(5) Be on time. It will change your life in positive ways you can't imagine, particularly if it is a new experience for you.

(6) Focus on the big picture and not on every piddly little detail. Visionaries will always have more time than diddlers.

Time really is a terrible thing to waste and wasting it because you fear what might come next is even sadder.

As women we have more choices than ever before in our history and our choices shouldn't hold us back, but push us forward.

Start today by remembering the little girl in you that had all the time in the world to do what she wanted to do and still had time to dream.