March 6, 2025 • 10 mins
Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone! It’s easy to get buried in the chaos. But what if you could actually plan your week in a way that keeps you productive and sane?
In this short episode, Carly Ries and Joe Rando break down strategies for prioritizing tasks, staying flexible, and avoiding the dreaded to-do list burnout. Plus, the simple mindset shift that will have you ending each day feeling like a rockstar!
Hit play and let’s get your week under control!
Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carly Ries (00:00):
Between launching products, writing a book, and
keeping our businesses running,we've got a lot on our plates.
Does this sound familiar? Inthis episode, we're breaking
down how we structure our weeksas solopreneurs, prioritizing
what matters, balancingflexibility with focus, and
making sure our to do list don'trun our lives. So if you ever
feel like you're drowning intasks, tune in because this
(00:21):
episode is full of practicalstrategies to help you stay on
top of it all and plan your weeksuccessfully. You're listening
to The Aspiring Solopreneur, thepodcast for those just taking
the bold step or even justthinking about taking that step
into the world of soloentrepreneurship.
My name is Carly Ries, and my cohost Joe Rando and I are your
(00:42):
guides to navigating this crazy,but awesome journey as a company
of one. We take pride in beingpart of LifeStarr, a digital hub
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork. And if you're looking for
(01:03):
a get rich quick scheme, this isnot the show for you. So if
you're eager to gain valuableinsights from industry experts
on running a business the rightway the first time around, or
want to learn from the misstepsof solopreneurs who paved the
way before you, then stickaround.
We've got your back becauseflying solo in business doesn't
mean you're alone. Joe, sufficeto say we have a lot going on
(01:27):
right now. Would you agree?
Joe Rando (01:30):
Yeah. You know, launching products, writing
books, keeping everything elsegoing. That whole thing.
Carly Ries (01:38):
Yeah. Well, so something that I've been
thinking about a lot recently ishow to plan my work week.
Because at any given time, it'sshould we be focusing on this
launch?
Should we be getting ourchapters in for our new book?
Like, you were just saying, andit it's kind of ever evolving,
what we've talked about what isurgent and what is important.
(01:59):
And we talked about gettingthings in on time and getting
things in correctly. We werejust having this conversation
five minutes ago. And so Ithought it'd be helpful to kinda
talk through what we do assolopreneurs to plan out our
week to crank all this outbecause we are far from alone in
this juggling a million thingsat one time scenario.
(02:20):
So, let's kick things up. how doyou plan out your week when you
have so many balls in the air?
Joe Rando (02:26):
Well, first thing I'd like to do is have a short list
of priorities because,everything's important. But if
you have, you know, 50 things onyour list of priorities, then
you don't move the ball forwardon any of them. So I like to
have that kinda short list,
And when I'm doing it right, andI'll be honest. I don't always
(02:46):
do this right because sometimesyou just go, but it's one of
those things where I kinda tryto have some for work and then
some things for personal, youknow, health and you have that
list.
And so, I could for work rightnow this week, it's the book. I
mean, it's really my short listof work stuff this week is the
book and just the basic things Ihave to do to keep the business
(03:07):
moving. And for health, I havetwo things. I wanna either row
my rowing machine or liftweights. So I just have that
list of things that I wanna getdone every day.
Doesn't always happen every day.Stuff happens. You know? And you
have just these differentaspects of your life, and you
(03:29):
try to have a high priority itemor two on each of them and work
toward them. And it can shiftover time, you know, different
week to week.
But that's how I like to workbecause otherwise my brain just
melts, because there are toomany things. So that's one of
them. So that list and thenmaking some clear goals.
Obviously, if you don't knowwhat you're trying to do, you
know, what finish looks like,then you can just work away.
(03:49):
And I've seen a lot of peoplethat work really hard but don't
have a clear end goal. Andsometimes it's easy and
sometimes it's a little harderto think through what is the end
goal of this. And
if it isn't doable to come upwith an end goal,
should you be doing it? Maybenot. You mentioned the important
(04:11):
but not urgent tasks.
Right? We spend most of our timehopefully on the important and
urgent things, but it's alwaysgood to carve time out for the
important things that aren'turgent. Those usually make your
life better. You know, you takethe time to automate something
that you're doing manually.
Okay. It cost you half a day,but guess what? Within a month,
(04:32):
it saved you two days and thatkind of thing. Time blocking,
obviously, I don't need to saythat. Everybody you ever heard
that one?
But, planning for flexibility.You know, some people like to
schedule their lives to thepoint where when anything goes
wrong, anything comes up,something unexpected, it ruins
their plans, and then it allfalls apart. So it's really
(04:53):
good, in my opinion, to onlyschedule if you're doing time
blocking. Don't go too far inthe future because then you
won't trust your calendar. Youcan time block little pieces in
the future, but don't kind ofblock out the entire week.
And then when you do block outtoday and tomorrow, don't block
it off. Leave 25% of your timeavailable for stuff because it
(05:13):
always happens. It alwayshappens. And so that's that's my
approach. That's kind of soup tonuts how I think about it.
Carly Ries (05:20):
I mean, you hit the nail on the head with the
flexibility thing. Even today,I'm in Colorado. It's 65 degrees
today. One of the first nicedays we've had in a really long
time.
And the way my schedule was setup, it was just writing and
figuring out childcare so Icould do more writing and this
and all that. And then finally,I was like, if I don't take
advantage of this beautiful dayfor at least an hour or half
(05:43):
hour,
that will just reenergize me tojust crank things out. So I
think as a solopreneur, your todo list, you do often think of
the to dos for your business.But thinking about the to dos
for your mental health tofurther your business is equally
important.
Joe Rando (06:00):
I totally agree.
Carly Ries (06:02):
So, forget about that aspect of things. You
talked
about time blocking. We weresaying that time blocking, doing
that not too far in advance, butto do it I try to do it every
night, like, kind of reviewwhat's coming the next day, what
I didn't get done.
Joe Rando (06:18):
Yeah. I think that's smart. that way, the next day,
you got the next day plannedout. But, you know, when I did
at one point in my life, I timeblocked out, like, weeks in
advance.
I'm gonna do this here. I'mgonna play out all the stuff I
had to get done. I was like, Ifelt so good when I finished
because I just had this greatplan, and then something would
happen. And you know, one of thekillers was now, something
(06:40):
happens, and now your entiretime blocking plan out the
window because you've gottaadjust everything. And number
two, would miss meetings becauseI would have a calendar full of
to do items, and I wouldn'tnecessarily always look at it.
And then all of a sudden, it'slike there's a meeting, and I
didn't see it. because you don'ttrust your calendar to be a
(07:02):
calendar anymore when you makeit into a full blown to do list.
Carly Ries (07:07):
Exactly. And who were we just talking to? Will
Christensen like, do not turnyour calendar into your to do
list.
Joe Rando (07:14):
Yep.
Carly Ries (07:15):
And it's so true. to piggyback off of your list for
the day, I try to have threemust get done things. Must get
done because that's so smallthat it's easier to achieve. And
then once you get them done,you're like, you have the
momentum because you're like,man, I'm a rock star. I
completed these tasks.
I'm gonna conquer a few more asopposed to if you had 10 things
(07:38):
on the list, you got three done,and then you're a failure.
Touche. That is so rightbecause, sometimes and I've done
this I did this early on. Thisto do list that looks you know,
it's just like a mile long andjust working down the list, but,
end of the day comes,
Joe Rando (07:53):
and you're like, oh, well, I checked off six things,
but there's 67 more. You're notfeeling that feeling, and yet if
you make a shortlist for thatday, and then do that every day
for the week, the end of theweek yeah. At the end of the
day, you feel good.
At the end of the week, you feelgreat. You know? And you still
might have a bunch of stuff.
Carly Ries (08:12):
Yeah. And it's a mindset thing. I mean, your
tasks are the exact same eitherway no matter what you assign to
yourself, but just how you viewit can can make or break how you
feel and can improve your moodand your your motivation.
Joe Rando (08:27):
I'm gonna date what's his name? David Allen, who wrote
Getting Things Done that wealways talk about. I think he
was kinda making a joke or, kindof making fun of people that he
saw that would get somethingdone and then sit down and put
it on their to do list and checkit off. And he kinda thought
that was goofy, and I'm like, Ikinda get that. I kinda get
(08:50):
that.
You know? It's like, it'ssomething that feels good about
just going check. And if youforgot to put it on your list,
but you got it done, I don'tknow. I didn't have a problem
with people doing that. thinkthat was as goofy as he did.
Carly Ries (09:01):
No. And my last recommendation would be find a
tool that works for you to stayorganized. Everybody's
different, whether it iscalendar blocking and actually
putting your to do list in yourcalendar, which, again, we're
not huge fans of, but, if thatworks for you, great. If it's a
tool like an app that you usegreat if it is a Google Doc that
you just keep a running list ofthings post it notes, whatever
(09:24):
just find what works for youeverybody's different and stick
with it because that'll keep yougoing
Joe Rando (09:29):
absolutely
Carly Ries (09:30):
Joe, if you told me to do a spreadsheet of to do
list and I told you to do a worddoc, we'd be all over the place.
Yeah.
Joe Rando (09:39):
That would yeah. Where do you mean word doc could
work? Yeah. I I could I couldsee that. I just I would
definitely go to a spreadsheet.
Carly Ries (09:45):
Exactly. Well, listeners, thank you so much for
tuning in today. As always,please leave that five star
review. Recommend the show to afriend. We love getting the word
out.
And subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform, and we will
see you next time on theAspiring Solopreneur.
Closing (10:02):
You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't
mean you're alone. In fact,millions of people are in your
shoes, running a one personbusiness and figuring it out as
they go. So why not connect withthem and learn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
(10:22):
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
Between launching products, writing a book, and
keeping our businesses running,we've got a lot on our plates.
Does this sound familiar? Inthis episode, we're breaking
down how we structure our weeksas solopreneurs, prioritizing
what matters, balancingflexibility with focus, and
making sure our to do list don'trun our lives. So if you ever
feel like you're drowning intasks, tune in because this
(00:21):
episode is full of practicalstrategies to help you stay on
top of it all and plan your weeksuccessfully. You're listening
to The Aspiring Solopreneur, thepodcast for those just taking
the bold step or even justthinking about taking that step
into the world of soloentrepreneurship.
My name is Carly Ries, and my cohost Joe Rando and I are your
(00:42):
guides to navigating this crazy,but awesome journey as a company
of one. We take pride in beingpart of LifeStarr, a digital hub
dedicated to all aspects ofsolopreneurship that has
empowered and educated countlesssolopreneurs looking to build a
business that resonates withtheir life's ambitions. We help
people work to live, not live towork. And if you're looking for
(01:03):
a get rich quick scheme, this isnot the show for you. So if
you're eager to gain valuableinsights from industry experts
on running a business the rightway the first time around, or
want to learn from the misstepsof solopreneurs who paved the
way before you, then stickaround.
We've got your back becauseflying solo in business doesn't
mean you're alone. Joe, sufficeto say we have a lot going on
(01:27):
right now. Would you agree?
Joe Rando (01:30):
Yeah. You know, launching products, writing
books, keeping everything elsegoing. That whole thing.
Carly Ries (01:38):
Yeah. Well, so something that I've been
thinking about a lot recently ishow to plan my work week.
Because at any given time, it'sshould we be focusing on this
launch?
Should we be getting ourchapters in for our new book?
Like, you were just saying, andit it's kind of ever evolving,
what we've talked about what isurgent and what is important.
(01:59):
And we talked about gettingthings in on time and getting
things in correctly. We werejust having this conversation
five minutes ago. And so Ithought it'd be helpful to kinda
talk through what we do assolopreneurs to plan out our
week to crank all this outbecause we are far from alone in
this juggling a million thingsat one time scenario.
(02:20):
So, let's kick things up. how doyou plan out your week when you
have so many balls in the air?
Joe Rando (02:26):
Well, first thing I'd like to do is have a short list
of priorities because,everything's important. But if
you have, you know, 50 things onyour list of priorities, then
you don't move the ball forwardon any of them. So I like to
have that kinda short list,
And when I'm doing it right, andI'll be honest. I don't always
(02:46):
do this right because sometimesyou just go, but it's one of
those things where I kinda tryto have some for work and then
some things for personal, youknow, health and you have that
list.
And so, I could for work rightnow this week, it's the book. I
mean, it's really my short listof work stuff this week is the
book and just the basic things Ihave to do to keep the business
(03:07):
moving. And for health, I havetwo things. I wanna either row
my rowing machine or liftweights. So I just have that
list of things that I wanna getdone every day.
Doesn't always happen every day.Stuff happens. You know? And you
have just these differentaspects of your life, and you
(03:29):
try to have a high priority itemor two on each of them and work
toward them. And it can shiftover time, you know, different
week to week.
But that's how I like to workbecause otherwise my brain just
melts, because there are toomany things. So that's one of
them. So that list and thenmaking some clear goals.
Obviously, if you don't knowwhat you're trying to do, you
know, what finish looks like,then you can just work away.
(03:49):
And I've seen a lot of peoplethat work really hard but don't
have a clear end goal. Andsometimes it's easy and
sometimes it's a little harderto think through what is the end
goal of this. And
if it isn't doable to come upwith an end goal,
should you be doing it? Maybenot. You mentioned the important
(04:11):
but not urgent tasks.
Right? We spend most of our timehopefully on the important and
urgent things, but it's alwaysgood to carve time out for the
important things that aren'turgent. Those usually make your
life better. You know, you takethe time to automate something
that you're doing manually.
Okay. It cost you half a day,but guess what? Within a month,
(04:32):
it saved you two days and thatkind of thing. Time blocking,
obviously, I don't need to saythat. Everybody you ever heard
that one?
But, planning for flexibility.You know, some people like to
schedule their lives to thepoint where when anything goes
wrong, anything comes up,something unexpected, it ruins
their plans, and then it allfalls apart. So it's really
(04:53):
good, in my opinion, to onlyschedule if you're doing time
blocking. Don't go too far inthe future because then you
won't trust your calendar. Youcan time block little pieces in
the future, but don't kind ofblock out the entire week.
And then when you do block outtoday and tomorrow, don't block
it off. Leave 25% of your timeavailable for stuff because it
(05:13):
always happens. It alwayshappens. And so that's that's my
approach. That's kind of soup tonuts how I think about it.
Carly Ries (05:20):
I mean, you hit the nail on the head with the
flexibility thing. Even today,I'm in Colorado. It's 65 degrees
today. One of the first nicedays we've had in a really long
time.
And the way my schedule was setup, it was just writing and
figuring out childcare so Icould do more writing and this
and all that. And then finally,I was like, if I don't take
advantage of this beautiful dayfor at least an hour or half
(05:43):
hour,
that will just reenergize me tojust crank things out. So I
think as a solopreneur, your todo list, you do often think of
the to dos for your business.But thinking about the to dos
for your mental health tofurther your business is equally
important.
Joe Rando (06:00):
I totally agree.
Carly Ries (06:02):
So, forget about that aspect of things. You
talked
about time blocking. We weresaying that time blocking, doing
that not too far in advance, butto do it I try to do it every
night, like, kind of reviewwhat's coming the next day, what
I didn't get done.
Joe Rando (06:18):
Yeah. I think that's smart. that way, the next day,
you got the next day plannedout. But, you know, when I did
at one point in my life, I timeblocked out, like, weeks in
advance.
I'm gonna do this here. I'mgonna play out all the stuff I
had to get done. I was like, Ifelt so good when I finished
because I just had this greatplan, and then something would
happen. And you know, one of thekillers was now, something
(06:40):
happens, and now your entiretime blocking plan out the
window because you've gottaadjust everything. And number
two, would miss meetings becauseI would have a calendar full of
to do items, and I wouldn'tnecessarily always look at it.
And then all of a sudden, it'slike there's a meeting, and I
didn't see it. because you don'ttrust your calendar to be a
(07:02):
calendar anymore when you makeit into a full blown to do list.
Carly Ries (07:07):
Exactly. And who were we just talking to? Will
Christensen like, do not turnyour calendar into your to do
list.
Joe Rando (07:14):
Yep.
Carly Ries (07:15):
And it's so true. to piggyback off of your list for
the day, I try to have threemust get done things. Must get
done because that's so smallthat it's easier to achieve. And
then once you get them done,you're like, you have the
momentum because you're like,man, I'm a rock star. I
completed these tasks.
I'm gonna conquer a few more asopposed to if you had 10 things
(07:38):
on the list, you got three done,and then you're a failure.
Touche. That is so rightbecause, sometimes and I've done
this I did this early on. Thisto do list that looks you know,
it's just like a mile long andjust working down the list, but,
end of the day comes,
Joe Rando (07:53):
and you're like, oh, well, I checked off six things,
but there's 67 more. You're notfeeling that feeling, and yet if
you make a shortlist for thatday, and then do that every day
for the week, the end of theweek yeah. At the end of the
day, you feel good.
At the end of the week, you feelgreat. You know? And you still
might have a bunch of stuff.
Carly Ries (08:12):
Yeah. And it's a mindset thing. I mean, your
tasks are the exact same eitherway no matter what you assign to
yourself, but just how you viewit can can make or break how you
feel and can improve your moodand your your motivation.
Joe Rando (08:27):
I'm gonna date what's his name? David Allen, who wrote
Getting Things Done that wealways talk about. I think he
was kinda making a joke or, kindof making fun of people that he
saw that would get somethingdone and then sit down and put
it on their to do list and checkit off. And he kinda thought
that was goofy, and I'm like, Ikinda get that. I kinda get
(08:50):
that.
You know? It's like, it'ssomething that feels good about
just going check. And if youforgot to put it on your list,
but you got it done, I don'tknow. I didn't have a problem
with people doing that. thinkthat was as goofy as he did.
Carly Ries (09:01):
No. And my last recommendation would be find a
tool that works for you to stayorganized. Everybody's
different, whether it iscalendar blocking and actually
putting your to do list in yourcalendar, which, again, we're
not huge fans of, but, if thatworks for you, great. If it's a
tool like an app that you usegreat if it is a Google Doc that
you just keep a running list ofthings post it notes, whatever
(09:24):
just find what works for youeverybody's different and stick
with it because that'll keep yougoing
Joe Rando (09:29):
absolutely
Carly Ries (09:30):
Joe, if you told me to do a spreadsheet of to do
list and I told you to do a worddoc, we'd be all over the place.
Yeah.
Joe Rando (09:39):
That would yeah. Where do you mean word doc could
work? Yeah. I I could I couldsee that. I just I would
definitely go to a spreadsheet.
Carly Ries (09:45):
Exactly. Well, listeners, thank you so much for
tuning in today. As always,please leave that five star
review. Recommend the show to afriend. We love getting the word
out.
And subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform, and we will
see you next time on theAspiring Solopreneur.
Closing (10:02):
You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't
mean you're alone. In fact,millions of people are in your
shoes, running a one personbusiness and figuring it out as
they go. So why not connect withthem and learn from each other's
successes and failures? AtLifeStarr, we're creating a one
person business community whereyou can go to meet and get
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
(10:22):
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
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