I can only speak from my experience as a woman who didn't choose to get married or have kids or do any of that conventional stuff but did choose to become self-employed. An organised approach to life is, in my opinion, so valuable to managing every aspect of life. Long before I started my business I had huge swathes of time where I really didn't know where I was supposed to be or what I was supposed to be doing. I had some periods of unemployment where I honestly just cried a lot and felt like a failure because I hadn't figured it all out at the age of 22 or 25 or whenever. I wish I could go back and hug myself and tell her something to make her feel better. What I did always do no matter how hard things got was create some structure. Action and not reaction always works best for me. I remember living in my first, wholly my own, flat in Liverpool (which was absolutely freezing - it didn't have central heating, modern windows, a shower or a washing machine) and there I learned to properly structure my days. At that time it was: job applications, guitar practice, workout, creating art, language learning. These days, approaching 30 years later, I have a little whiteboard up in my office. These lists exist in my head regardless but when I want to really deal with them they get split up. Work. Health. Home. Creativity. Shopping List. Often I write a list for the next day to keep me focussed. Right now on the board it says SUN: Reading, Yoga, Book Transfer, Workout, Deadpool, eBay. Hopefully I will tick those off. People have told me in the past that they simply don't understand what I do all day or that they really can't imagine doing work that they are not required to. I always tell them ' You look at your bank account and your bills coming in and it gets yer ass moving'. Truth be told a lot of independent business owners are messy headed creatives. I have worked for or at least been associated with those types of people and they drive me crazy. If you think you have a clever idea but are going to wing it and throw all your receipts in a box and deal with them later...please don't. I have seen so many businesses spring up and die with that kind of disorganisation. That said I am someone who does not embrace boring repetition. The thing that is great about being self-employed is that even though you do need to be organised and disciplined you also get to mix things up any way that you want. You can start ticking that list off at 7am or 5pm if you don't have clients to deal with. It is much easier to slot health and self-care wherever suits you. It is very easy to fit in a spontaneous day of fun if you want to. And then there is the art of saying NO which I am sure Smithson will be getting on to very soon...