At her hair studio in Fenton, Mich., Jenny Coburn urges clients to make more time for themselves - but doesn't follow her own advice. "When you're a perfectionist with a customer service business, you're never off-duty. I call in even on days off. It's been years since my husband and I have gone away for more than a long weekend."

Growing numbers of Americans like Coburn say they are starved for personal time. In an online survey conducted by the organization-consulting firm VitalSmarts, almost half of the respondents didn't take all the vacation days they'd earned. And about a third described their work/life balance as poor or very poor.

Too little downtime may have life-or-death consequences: A nine-year study of 12,338 men ages 35 to 57, all free of heart disease at the start, showed that those who took vacations were 29% less likely to be diagnosed later with heart disease - and 17% less like to die of it - than those who skipped vacations.

So what chains us to our jobs? The prime culprit is fear. People are afraid of not getting an email, missing a conference call - and of what they'll discover about themselves if they relax. Before you can carve out time for yourself, do some soul-searching - not just about what you want but also what you need. As human beings, we all need to take time to feed our souls.

Here are some strategies for getting started:

TRACK WHERE YOUR TIME GOES.
For several days, jot down what you're doing every half hour. Look for time-devouring sinkholes like reading blogs or flickering through TV channels. Ask yourself, "Is this the best way I should be spending my time right now?"

IDENTIFY WHAT YOU LIKE TO DO.
Make a list of your activities over recent months. Put a plus sign next to those that energized or excited you and a minus sign next to those that drained you. Use your past to plan your future by putting more plus activities on your calendar.

SCHEDULE LEISURE FIRST.
People think like Cinderella: First they have to finish their work and then they can do what they like. You may assume you have no other choice, but how you spend your time is based entirely on what you choose to do with it. If fitness is Priority One, for example, block out time for workouts and stick to your schedule.

UNPLUG.
Spend time being rather than only doing. Turn off the car radio. Don't automatically turn on gthe news when you get home. Cocoon yourself in silence. Several times a day, come to a complete stop. Einstein used to

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