Tips on being a good boss when you work for yourself

As you become increasingly successful at online auction selling, you'll find this activity takes up more and more of your time and gradually becomes less of a hobby and more of a job. Then you'll wake up one morning and realize that not only are you your own boss, but also you're probably the worst boss you've ever had. At that point, you can either quit and go to work for someone else, or learn how to be a better boss to yourself. To-do lists are necessary. But as they grow, they can become like an ever-increasing load of bricks in your backpack. No matter how hard you work, no matter how much you get done, the burden of all the things that you should be doing and haven't done gets heavier and heavier, until you just want to drop the weight altogether and forget about it. If someone else is your boss and knows how to manage well, that boss will help you set priorities: you don't need to do everything today; do this one important thing and do it well, and you'll be a hero. The boss will pat you on the back now and then and let you know that your work is appreciated. The boss will insist that you take breaks and that you not work on weekends or holidays except in emergencies, and will insist that you take a vacation. But when you work for yourself, unless you learn how to be a good boss to yourself, the whole burden of everything that needs to be done may weigh on you 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, year-round. First, prioritize those to-do lists, and try to set reasonable expectations for yourself. Each day there should be one task that if you can finish that day, you'll feel you've done something significant. Anything else you might do is a bonus. Next, begin to keep lists of accomplishments. You may have half a dozen or a dozen kinds of things that you need to do on a regular basis. Keep a list for each of them, including a category for "miscellaneous." When you turn your attention to one thing and start working on it, continue working on it until you arrive at some logical stopping point -- a point from which it will be easy to start again and that feels like an "ending," so you can add it to your list and get a sense of accomplishment for having done it. The lists are a way to pat yourself on the back -- it's cumulative. The longer your list of accomplishments gets, the more you'll feel good about adding to it, and even looking back at it. Also, if you can, while working on projects, divide what you hope to accomplish in a day into pieces -- so you aim to get to this part done by 10 AM, that part by noon, etc. That way, when you work fast, you can reward yourself with breaks. One of the challenges in working alone is that you are likely not to give yourself any breaks, and not to give yourself any rewards or pats on the back either. In addition to to-do lists and accomplishment lists, make lists of goals and plans. But keep those loose and flexible. Don't make them like New Year's resolutions -- objectives that you will never accomplish and that just make you feel guilty thinking about them. Make the to-do and accomplishment lists first; and by looking at the patterns, put together some short-term goals and practical plans for moving in that direction.