Since its release just over two weeks ago, much has been said and written about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's new book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will To Lead. I am not one of Sheryl's haters, in fact, having had the opportunity to witness her speak on a number of occasions while we both worked at Google, I can testify that she is a truly inspirational woman. However, I feel that her story only represents one type of woman, the successful woman in business who also has children.

The beauty of modern technology is that it has vastly speeded up communication and the transmission of information, helping businesses to become more efficient and productive. But this acceleration poses a real challenge for many small business owners who can get left behind if they aren't "up to speed". But for the women entrepreneurs in these same areas those difficulties are multiplied by cultural traditions that often prevent them from being included in local business networks and markets.

Today, on National Stress Awareness Day, if you are feeling the pressure, instead of ignoring it perhaps take a moment to think about how you can de-clutter your day of all the things that are causing you stress and take some time for yourself.

So, what have I learned so far? It's hard, takes constant focus and effort in everything you do, and you need to make some compromises. But when it works, it's nothing short of magic.

This idea that women are 'putting their children first' is entirely misleading, it seems to me. Women are merely putting work very firmly second.

Feminism has long been conflated with self-indulgent, over-entitled melancholy, but to me the difference is clear. The editor of Vogue, Alexandra Shu...

It's incredibly difficult to get a part-time job, especially if you are professional, qualified and reasonably well-paid. Too many companies aren't open to the part-time option or to job-shares. Too many women are trapped in the job they have. There is nowhere else to go. It's worse if you have had a baby without the security of a job to go back to. It took me years to get a part-time position, and I know I am not alone. In fact, I have been banging on about this, and the waste of a whole tranche of intelligent, well qualified women, for years.

In 2000 I was diagnosed with stress related depression. Until that moment I thought I was superwoman and could do it all; run a home, rear a child and succeed at the job I loved and do it all to the highest standard, with no concern for my own health and wellbeing. I was on a hamster wheel created entirely by myself.

We've all been there at some stage, haven't we? You're desperately in need of a holiday (a week in Kos or maybe something more exotic) but your partner/mates are far too busy with their hectic work lives. So what do you do? Wait until someone's free (but it seems like you've waited months already) - OR go on your own? Yes! You could go on holiday on your own!