Remember that a consultant is not only working for a company even if he or she is self-employed, but also working for a client.  The client's work has to come before all else.  This is what makes working as a consultant so difficult and it also why consulting company's own internal work often takes a back seat to insuring that the revenue-generating work comes first.

However, in a sense, we are all consultants in our daily work since we have our assignments and our customers.  Peter Drucker would like us all to have only a single master in our work lives.  Most of us are lucky if we only report to two masters and not more.  This means that we have to become masters of prioritization and masters of completing tasks while they are still small and manageable.  We have to realize what things contribute to our clients' and customers' business.

And, to go along with all that, we have to prioritize our personal and family lives into the mix.  We have to find time for our own health and well-being.  We often know that our own well being is important, but we treat it as not urgent, as we go about dealing with our own and other people's emergencies.  Remember that other people's emergencies are important and urgent for them, but not necessarily for you.  Consider where they should be in your list of daily priorities.

Verse 63* of the Tao gives some hope for managing our days and priorities.

"Take on difficulties while they are still easy
Do great things while they are still small
Step by step the world's burden is lifted
Piece by piece the world's treasure is amassed

So the Sage stays with his daily task
     and accomplishes the greatest thing
Beware of those who promise a quick and easy way
     for much ease brings many difficulties

Follow your path to the end
Accept difficulty as an opportunity
That is the way to end up
     with no difficulties at all"

*Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Lao Tzu with Translation and Commentary by Jonathan Star, Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin, 2001, page 76