BOOK OF THE MONTH…Tools for Small Business Survival in Today’s Hyper-Connected World

As a small business entrepreneur, you’re more than likely overwhelmed much of the time with all that has to be done—oftentimes with limited resources—and the fact that the world is moving at breakneck speed 24/7, thanks to the double-edged sword that is the latest and greatest technology. Sometimes it just seems like you’re taking two steps back for every one that you take forward, doesn’t it?

9781477800676_p0_v1_s260x420It’s with mastering this daily challenge in mind that Behance, the online leader in creative empowerment, has assembled a toolkit to help the most “overextended, over-distracted and overwhelmed” among us. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Creative Mind is the latest offering in the organization’s ongoing 99U book series—the so-called “missing curriculum”—designed to foster new research and education on best practices for turning thoughts into action.

“To make great ideas a reality,” 99U says, “we must act, experiment, fail, adapt and learn on a daily basis.” It’s in keeping with this philosophy that Manage Your Day-to-Day offers tips and inspiration for today’s busiest business owner from some of the foremost experts on four key aspects of this issue:

1. Building a Rock Solid Routine—Giving structure, rhythm and purpose to your daily work

2. Finding Focus in a Distracted World—Honing your attention to produce work that really matters

3. Taming Your Tools—Managing new technologies for better workflow and well-being

4. Sharpening Your Creative Mind—Pushing through creative blocks to keep the “aha moments” coming

“I was at the mercy of everything around me—everything but my goals and true preferences,” writes best-selling author of 99U’s Making Ideas Happen and Behance’s founder Scott Belsky in the book’s foreword. “I was long overdue for a self-audit.” Further asserting “that every great leader must face his or her demons in order to overcome them,” Belsky goes on to says that it’s our routine (or lack thereof), our capacity to work proactively rather than reactively, and our ability to systematically optimize our work habits over time that determine our ability to make ideas happen.”

If Belsky’s situation at all mirrors your own, then Manage Your Day-to-Day may be just the book you need on your nightstand this summer. Moreover, it’s an especially good choice if you agree with this says-it-all quote from the book, which is attributed to legendary songstress Lena Horne: “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”

Look for Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Creative Mind at your local library, or pick up a copy today by visiting your local bookstore or clicking here on either of these online retailers: Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com.

Meantime, we’d like to know what you think… What tricks and tactics do you use to manage your life and maintain some semblance of balance between work and family as a home-based business or other small business owner? Any tips you’d like to share, we’re all ears!

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