I woke up this morning, drank a cup of coffee and read my newspaper. When I was done, I planned my home business routine for the day. I got up from my chair, walked across the floor and entered my office. Without warning, the room squeezed around me as the lights grew dim. I was paralyzed with apprehension. Suddenly, a small voice cried out inside of me: ?John, you need a day off!?

Does this scenario seem familiar? We have all experienced the challenge of entering our home business office and facing our workload. We turn on our computers and discover: orders need to be filled, e-mails need to be answered, complaints need to be addressed and invoices need to be recorded. Our work from home businesses create enough duties for us but, we still have to find the time for fulfilling the responsibilities of our personal lives as well. There are a variety of reasons why we face the dreaded home office phobia. Generally, the major cause is that we are working to hard.

We want our home based business opportunity to become successful so we pour ourselves into the task of creating our online accomplishments. We work hard because we want to achieve. We measure the success of our work from home venture through the customers that we accumulate. We acquire more customers and our responsibilities increase. We tackle the duties of our internet venture through our commitment. We resolve to succeed through the sacrifice of our time. Monday becomes Tuesday without warning. Suddenly, it's Thursday. Before we know it we are working on Saturday.

We wake up Sunday morning and enter our work from home office. Our room attacks us and our inner voice screams. Our best course of action: listen to that utterance and take the day off. Not only should we take the day off, we should leave our home business environment altogether.

One Saturday morning, my wife and I were sitting in our front room enjoying a cup of coffee. I had a mountain of work in my home office not to mention the leaky faucets and unmowed grass. My apprehension began to escalate and my inner voice was increasing in volume as I walked toward my office. Suddenly, I turned to my wife and said we were leaving for the day. I needed a day off. Let me emphasize this point. We were going to leave our home and enjoy the day by doing something that had nothing to do with filling orders or mowing grass.

Hard work and commitment are essential ingredients to our home business success. Another factor for creating this achievement is down time. Without this essential component, we can lose our perspective and our enthusiasm. The road to our success becomes littered with obstacles that appear to be insurmountable. That is why we need to leave our work environment (just like our 9 to 5 jobs). We can recapture our perspective for achieving internet success because the barriers will not appear as large.

Here are some tips for avoiding home office phobia:

1) Take a day (or two) off: We need to factor down time into our schedule (remember the weekends from our 9 to 5 jobs). We must infuse these moments into our routines and adhere to them. This day is essential for developing a healthy emotional and mental perspective.

2) Leave our home: Our home has now become a place where we are developing a business. We need to leave this environment (like our 9 to 5 jobs). Our home is a place of refuge and rest but it has also become a place for managing an internet business. If we leave for the day, the chances of rediscovering our perspective and our enthusiasm become stronger. If we are gone, we are not tempted to work or reminded that work is in the next room.

3) Clear our mind: We need to go somewhere and do something that clears our minds of the duties and responsibilities of operating a home business. We can spend time with family, go hiking by ourselves or enjoy golfing with friends. We need to find an outlet away from our work environment. If accomplishing the tasks around the house help uncloud our minds, let's do them! But we must plan on leaving our home at least once a week for a better perspective

4) Make family number one: We have taken advantage of our families in the guise of developing our home based business success. Home office phobia develops because we have committed our resources to the wrong thing. Time has a way of running by us because we are busy with our online venture. We must center the success of our home business around our loved ones. They are the best cure for home office phobia.

Home office phobia is an affliction that will eventually find its way into our quest for internet business success. It cannot be avoided. Listen to that inner voice that announces it is time for a break. We need specific and consistent moments where we have the opportunity for rediscovering our mental and emotional perspective. The success of our home business is dependent on this concept. Before home office phobia attacks, leave for the day. Our time away from our internet venture can bring us closer to the home business success that we are searching for.

?Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision?.