And now that I think about it, this morning the costume designer was literally running back and forth between the opening of a new business office, her sewing room, and coordinating the volunteers she had recruited to help her. These are just a few examples of what I could easily turn into hundreds of examples of a typical day in the life of a high octane woman.

Let's face it. Today's women lead crazy busy lives! And the craziest part is that the stress brought on by all this craziness is as much from the "life" commitments we make as it is from the work commitments we have. Of course, high octane women take it even a step farther. They don't just strive for excellence at work. They strive for excellence in everything they do, and that includes family commitments, volunteer activities, community involvement, or anything else they take on, which can wreak havoc on any attempts to capture that elusive balance that everyone seems to be talking about, but very few seem to have. And because many high-achieving women take on work/life balance as an ultimate pass/fail challenge (like thinking they should be able to reach the mountain peak each and every day even if the forecast calls for white-out conditions and hurricane force winds), something that is supposed to be stress-reducing (seeking balance) can quickly become stress-inducing.

So for all of you out there who are stressing out because your life-work has become as stressful (if not more so) than your work-work, here are three gems of wisdom that will hopefully take a little stress out of your high octane balancing act: