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There are, of course, key tasks Davies can't delegate. She keeps lists of those and does the most urgent work first.

STEP FOUR: Redefine Yourself
Sound difficult? A strong motivation--such as Davies's passion for nonprofit work--helps. For Rick Pratt, owner of CC&A Construction Co., in Denver, an instant family provided the incentive to change. When his wife's children from a previous marriage moved in, the remodeling contractor saw that he "needed to create a better balance" between his personal life and his business life.

For Pratt, achieving balance meant shrinking the business. He went from working more than 60 hours a week to putting in fewer than 40. Then he trimmed his staff by two-thirds and cut revenues by a third. Working less didn't come easily---especially since Pratt discovered that his ego stood in the way. He realized that taking on big projects had made him feel like a big shot. "I've found that the real reason people work a lot isn't because they have so much to do, but because they find refuge and status in being busy," Pratt says. "I wanted to be a broader person." (He claims that because he's now more selective about the jobs he takes, his business's net income, ironically, is bigger than ever.)

STEP FIVE: Make Personal Commitments Concrete
Like work obligations, personal commitments are easier to keep if you put them in writing. Pratt started putting family activities on his "to do" list. "Most of us don't put into our schedule what time we're going to have dinner with our family," he says. "It ends up taking place only if everything else gets done, but an entrepreneur's job is never done." At first, Pratt admits, he felt sheepish telling potential clients he couldn't meet with them at night to estimate jobs, something most of his competitors do regularly. But, he found, "nobody will argue with you if you want to put your family first."

STEP SIX: Develop Systems
If you can't cut back now, you can still plan for the future. When John Sobeck started his company, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 1983, he worked 80 hours a week. But Sobeck had a vision: by age 55, he'd be his own man. Today, at 54, he works about 20 hours weekly at his $2-million fire - and water -damage restoration business, First General Services of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

For Sobeck, the years of preparation paid off. Early on, he wrote up policies and procedures so that new workers can learn their jobs quickly. He customized a computer program that holds all employees accountable, by keeping tabs on their activity. "The business could pretty much run by itself," boasts Sobeck, who annually invests from $20,000 to $30,000 in computer software and equipment that track the business's pulse.

The business is still growing: he and some partners opened a new field office last year. Meanwhile, he continues to spend his summers fishing in North Carolina. And when he's in town? He hits the links by 2 p.m.

Stephanie Gruner is a staff writer at Inc.

How to Kick Back
So you've decided you want to work less--but you don't know how to start. Consider these tips from consultant Lanny Goodman, owner of Management Technologies, in Albuquerque.

1. Plan for your freedom. Get away for a three-day weekend with your partner and envision what you'd like your lives to be like. Talk about what you'd do with your free time. If you've been putting in 70-hour weeks for years, it will take time to develop other interests and get used to spending more time with family and friends.

2. Make a public commitment. Announce to key employees that by such and such a date you're going to reduce your hours. Be specific about both your new schedule and the target date. Then work together to figure out how to make the plan fly.

3. Do an activity assessment. An old time-management trick is to list everything you do during the day. You'll probably find that much of your workload is driven by your expectation that you ought to be working hard, rather than by any real logic. Go through your list and ask of each item, "Is this the best use of my time, creativity, talent, knowledge, and experience?" If the answer is no, look for another way to handle the task.

Resources
Rick Pratt swears by Stephen Covey's audiotapes (the unabridged Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership). Covey's Seven Habits Organizer, (which can be ordered by calling 800-654-1776) has also helped Pratt reconcile his personal goals with his daily schedule.

Jay Conrad Levinson's new book, The Way of the Guerrilla: Achieving Success and Balance as an Entrepreneur in the 21st Century (Houghton Mifflin, 800-225-3362, $19.95), discusses everything from delegating to sustaining a balanced life.

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