Sun’s out, distractions outta control?
Whether it’s rescheduled meetings, kids at home, or that pool calling your name, summer can wreak havoc on a solopreneur’s schedule. In this episode, Carly and Joe get real about how to stay focused when everything around you screams “vacation mode.” From early morning work sessions to strategic procrastination (yes, really), they’re spilling their best tips for getting stuff done without missing out on the season.
Tune in for laughs, life hacks, and a reminder that flying solo doesn’t mean doing it all alone.
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):
In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Joe
(00:02):
and I tackle the ultimate summerstruggle, staying focused. From
predawn work sprints to timeblocking hacks and the
surprising productivity boost ofditching doom scrolling, we're
diving into how solopreneurs cankeep momentum going when
distractions are everywhere.Whether you're juggling client
work, camp drop offs, or justtrying to figure out if it's
(00:23):
okay to call it quits early forthe live music and patio drinks
one afternoon, this one's foryou. So tune in for some real
talk, simple strategies, and agentle reminder that flying solo
in business doesn't mean you'realone.
Carly (00:36):
You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the
podcast for those just takingthe bold step or even just
thinking about taking that stepinto the world of solo
entrepreneurship. My name isCarly Ries, and my cohost Joe
Rando and I are your guides tonavigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone. We take pride in being part
(00:57):
of LifeStarr, a digital hubdedicated to all aspects of solo
solopreneurship that hasempowered and educated countless
solopreneurs looking to build abusiness that resonates with
their life's ambitions. We helppeople work to live, not live to
work. And if you're looking fora get rich quick scheme, this is
not the show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
(01:18):
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who've
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
alone.
Carly Ries (01:32):
Joe, you texted me late afternoon yesterday, and
you were like, is there a glitchwith our Calendly or are we
having a ton of reschedules thatare just all over my inbox for
interviews right now? And I waslike, rest assured, I just had
to reschedule a few things. Itwas just a couple of interviews,
but there were a lot of emailsthat came associated with it.
(01:55):
But it's summer. And there arereschedules happening across the
board.
There's distractions left andright. There's kids out of
school. There's grandkids out ofschool. There's a pool in your
yard. There's all or anybody'syard.
There are distractions. Summerseems to be a harder time for
solopreneurs to buckle down anddo that standard, not nine to
(02:17):
five, but that standard schedulethat they're used to the rest of
the year. So I figured todaywould be a good day to really
address how to stay focused whenthere are distractions
everywhere, especially in thesummer months.
Joe Rando (02:29):
I'm glad you asked me because I'm a world authority on
this topic.
Carly Ries (02:32):
You are.
So what are some pointers youhave for people that are
distracted easily, I guess, ingeneral, but specifically for
this time of year?
Joe Rando (02:45):
Well, honestly, I was kidding a minute ago, but,
really, I think you just have toaccept the fact that, it as we
say here where I used to live inGreater Boston, it's summertime.
And summertime, you go outsidebecause why stay inside when
it's gonna be lousy weather fromNovember through, really, April?
(03:07):
And so, just one of the thingsis to accept the fact that you
really wanna take advantage ofthis nice weather. It's good for
you. I just read an article.
Like, I'm a geek. I readScientific American, and there
was an article about how sun isbasically a very healthy disease
preventer. So go out and getthat sun, and, accept a little
(03:30):
bit of acceptance of a littleless productivity, a little more
outside time might be a wisechoice in the long run.
Carly Ries (03:37):
Provided you can afford to do that. But I mean,
because if that means steppingaway from client work, some
people are like, but I need toget those to dos done to pay the
bills. I think it's also justkinda reframing your schedule. I
was talking to a friend of minethe other day, and she was like,
what time have you been gettingup?
And I was like, oh, 05:00. And Ijust start, 04:30. Because I do
(03:59):
a little morning me time, andthen 05:00 is when I've started
working recently. And she waslike, oh, that makes sense
because your entire team is onthe East Coast. And I was like,
well, makes sense because it'ssunny out, so my brain's like,
oh, we can start getting stuffdone.
And then I have drop offs forsummer camp. And then I have all
(04:20):
these things during the day, butmy to dos don't go away. So for
me, I'm fortunate enough that Iam an early bird, and the 04:30,
05:00 doesn't bother me at all.I actually prefer it, and I like
that time of day. But I thinkyou also just need to realize
like, embrace the season, butalso embrace the time that you
like, you don't have to do thatnine to five.
(04:40):
As a solopreneur, it's okay ifyou work five to eight, and then
maybe even at night again tokind of accommodate the shifts.
So I don't know if you'venoticed my chats coming in a
little earlier than normal thissummer.
Joe Rando (04:52):
Yeah. And I'm curious though, everybody wants to know
what time do you go to bed whenyou get up before four thirty?
Carly Ries (04:58):
eight.
Joe Rando (05:01):
that makes a ton of sense.
I mean, another thing is, youknow, I don't know about
everybody. I can't speakglobally, but I think about
ninety three point seven percentof people out there could
probably buy a lot of time by,not doom scrolling, and just,
you know, taking some of thattime to get off the device and
saying, you know, I'm gonna gooutside, listen to the birds
(05:23):
instead of, you know, whatever.But really there's just a lot of
ways you can find time in a daythat that, you're probably not
thinking about, and it's worthexploring that to get to buy
that time to be to to be able toappreciate, you know, except for
you people in SouthernCalifornia that get it year
round. Thank Wow. That toappreciate the weather when it's
(05:47):
really nice.
Carly Ries (05:48):
And if you wanna kick in the pants to to see
where the time is, a few monthsback, I think it was when we
were getting close to one of ourbook deadlines, I was feeling
kind of overwhelmed.
I was a little bit stressed out.And I was like, just wanted to
make sure I hit this deadline.And my husband grabbed my phone
and showed me the usage of whereI'm spending all my time on my
(06:08):
phone.
And let's just say there werequite a few hours that I could
get back from mindless scrollingthat I wasn't really realizing.
Those two minutes here and therejust really add up.
Joe Rando (06:18):
It adds up. Yeah. And it's not just you. I mean, it's
almost everybody. But, anyway,so that's a big one to me.
We say this all the time, buttime blocking. You know? Getting
that stuff time blocked so thatyou just get her done. I mean,
that just makes a bigdifference. And, if you're not
doing it, you might findyourself being a lot more
(06:40):
productive. it just also takesthose distractions and kinds of
you know, if they're true justthings that are coming at you,
you say, well, I can't do thatuntil 03:30 or whatever because
I've got this thing on mycalendar. Always saying that I
don't believe in time blockingtoo far in the future unless
it's crucial, but, you know, forthe most part, time blocking can
(07:00):
really help.
Carly Ries (07:01):
And with that, don't overwhelm your to do list. Do
like, come up with three thingsyou have to get done that day
that like, you really have toget done, whether it's client
work, something to move theneedle for your business,
whatever. And then everythingelse is just icing on the cake,
but it's easy to get distractedand then feel, get so down on
yourself for not accomplishingeverything that you want to. So
(07:23):
if you have just these fewthings, you'll still feel good.
The momentum will keep going.
And so just don't try to attempt10 big ticket items in one day.
It's a recipe for burnout,especially in these summer
months.
Joe Rando (07:39):
Absolutely. No. I'm just totally agreeing with you.
here's what I used to do.
I would keep to do lists, andI'd have a to do list, and I
would have things I wanted toget done that day and only get
five done. So then I take thethose five, bring them over the
next day, but I also have newthings come on. So now I
probably have 12 things. And thenext thing it my to do list is
37 items long, and I just wannajump off a bridge. And that's a
(08:00):
really bad strategy. like yousaid, just pick maybe it's three
things. Maybe it's five things.Maybe it's one thing because
it's something big. But just bereal and don't schedule more
than, like, 75% of your workhours because stuff is gonna
come along that you're not gonnaplan on. And then you're gonna
get behind, and then you'regonna feel terrible.
Carly Ries (08:20):
And plan on the distractions. I mean, you know
you're gonna have them,especially in the summer. So
just plan for that time. But Ialso wanna just say, I think a
lot of people look for resetsthe first of the year, and
that's when they do a lot oftheir planning and and figuring
out what they wanna automate,delegate, use AI for, and all of
that.
But I feel like summer's also areally good time. You need to be
(08:41):
thinking, like, if I know I'mgonna be distracted, if I know
I'm going on family vacations,but I need to get all this stuff
done, maybe it's a good time tothink about what you can
automate, delegate, and use AIfor to free up some of that
time. Because a lot ofsolopreneurs are still doing
everything manually. So maybetake a step back and think what
can be happening behind thescenes while you're off getting
(09:02):
distracted at the pool, orwherever you are getting
distracted this summer. But youhave to remember, flying solo in
business doesn't mean you'realone.
Use these resources, use thesetools, and that'll help free up
a lot of time.
Joe Rando (09:15):
Get some help. You know? Get a VA or whatever.
Maybe it's a good excuse to geta VA.
I just know that, I have beenable to, in recent years, kinda
just say, like, this Friday, I'mleaving work early. We're going
over to a place called the deck.There's live music. We're just
gonna have dinner. It's outside.
(09:35):
And, you know, years ago, Iwould have been like, I can't
go. I can't leave early. Andit's like, if you can build the
business up to a point where youcan walk away sometimes and kind
of enjoy life, it makes a hugedifference. I just really think
that people need to think thatway to not feel that, there's no
(09:56):
way they can walk away fromstuff.
Honestly, you know, someday,I've made this joke before, but
I'm gonna write a book calledthe power of procrastination
because a lot of times, half thestuff that you're doing, if you
don't get to it, it doesn'tmatter. And that's another thing
that I really recommend is takea good hard look at all the
stuff that you're doing and say,what's gonna drive the needle?
What's important? Because a lotof times the things that we're
(10:19):
doing, they're urgent, butthey're not important. And if
they're not important, theneither delegate them or don't
even do them.
Because if you're like me andyou've overbooked yourself a
lot, you wind up not doing somethings, and it never comes
becomes a problem. And so that'sjust to me one of the things
(10:39):
that I think people need tothink about is just, you know,
some stuff in that to do listprobably can go in the trash
bucket.
Carly Ries (10:46):
Joe, I'm so excited you said that because I think
that is a perfect place to stopand tease next week's SoundByte
episode, where we're gonna betalking about how to prioritize
tasks when everything is urgent.And I'm gonna be picking your
brain about the Eisenhowermatrix, and you kinda just
dabbled in that a little bitjust now.
Joe Rando (11:02):
I did. I mentioned it indirectly.
Carly Ries (11:05):
So Yes. stay tuned for next week's episode or next
week's sound bite episode,excuse me. And thank you so much
for tuning in. We would lovethat five star review. Share
this episode with a friend, andsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform on YouTube.
And we will see you next week onThe Aspiring Solopreneur. You
may be going solo in business,but that doesn't mean you're
(11:26):
alone. In fact, millions ofpeople are in your shoes,
running a one person businessand figuring it out as they go.
Why not connect with them andlearn 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 theconversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
In this episode of The Aspiring Solopreneur, Joe
(00:02):
and I tackle the ultimate summerstruggle, staying focused. From
predawn work sprints to timeblocking hacks and the
surprising productivity boost ofditching doom scrolling, we're
diving into how solopreneurs cankeep momentum going when
distractions are everywhere.Whether you're juggling client
work, camp drop offs, or justtrying to figure out if it's
(00:23):
okay to call it quits early forthe live music and patio drinks
one afternoon, this one's foryou. So tune in for some real
talk, simple strategies, and agentle reminder that flying solo
in business doesn't mean you'realone.
Carly (00:36):
You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the
podcast for those just takingthe bold step or even just
thinking about taking that stepinto the world of solo
entrepreneurship. My name isCarly Ries, and my cohost Joe
Rando and I are your guides tonavigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone. We take pride in being part
(00:57):
of LifeStarr, a digital hubdedicated to all aspects of solo
solopreneurship that hasempowered and educated countless
solopreneurs looking to build abusiness that resonates with
their life's ambitions. We helppeople work to live, not live to
work. And if you're looking fora get rich quick scheme, this is
not the show for you.
So if you're eager to gainvaluable insights from industry
(01:18):
experts on running a businessthe right way the first time
around or want to learn from themissteps of solopreneurs who've
paved the way before you, thenstick around. We've got your
back because flying solo inbusiness doesn't mean you're
alone.
Carly Ries (01:32):
Joe, you texted me late afternoon yesterday, and
you were like, is there a glitchwith our Calendly or are we
having a ton of reschedules thatare just all over my inbox for
interviews right now? And I waslike, rest assured, I just had
to reschedule a few things. Itwas just a couple of interviews,
but there were a lot of emailsthat came associated with it.
(01:55):
But it's summer. And there arereschedules happening across the
board.
There's distractions left andright. There's kids out of
school. There's grandkids out ofschool. There's a pool in your
yard. There's all or anybody'syard.
There are distractions. Summerseems to be a harder time for
solopreneurs to buckle down anddo that standard, not nine to
(02:17):
five, but that standard schedulethat they're used to the rest of
the year. So I figured todaywould be a good day to really
address how to stay focused whenthere are distractions
everywhere, especially in thesummer months.
Joe Rando (02:29):
I'm glad you asked me because I'm a world authority on
this topic.
Carly Ries (02:32):
You are.
So what are some pointers youhave for people that are
distracted easily, I guess, ingeneral, but specifically for
this time of year?
Joe Rando (02:45):
Well, honestly, I was kidding a minute ago, but,
really, I think you just have toaccept the fact that, it as we
say here where I used to live inGreater Boston, it's summertime.
And summertime, you go outsidebecause why stay inside when
it's gonna be lousy weather fromNovember through, really, April?
(03:07):
And so, just one of the thingsis to accept the fact that you
really wanna take advantage ofthis nice weather. It's good for
you. I just read an article.
Like, I'm a geek. I readScientific American, and there
was an article about how sun isbasically a very healthy disease
preventer. So go out and getthat sun, and, accept a little
(03:30):
bit of acceptance of a littleless productivity, a little more
outside time might be a wisechoice in the long run.
Carly Ries (03:37):
Provided you can afford to do that. But I mean,
because if that means steppingaway from client work, some
people are like, but I need toget those to dos done to pay the
bills. I think it's also justkinda reframing your schedule. I
was talking to a friend of minethe other day, and she was like,
what time have you been gettingup?
And I was like, oh, 05:00. And Ijust start, 04:30. Because I do
(03:59):
a little morning me time, andthen 05:00 is when I've started
working recently. And she waslike, oh, that makes sense
because your entire team is onthe East Coast. And I was like,
well, makes sense because it'ssunny out, so my brain's like,
oh, we can start getting stuffdone.
And then I have drop offs forsummer camp. And then I have all
(04:20):
these things during the day, butmy to dos don't go away. So for
me, I'm fortunate enough that Iam an early bird, and the 04:30,
05:00 doesn't bother me at all.I actually prefer it, and I like
that time of day. But I thinkyou also just need to realize
like, embrace the season, butalso embrace the time that you
like, you don't have to do thatnine to five.
(04:40):
As a solopreneur, it's okay ifyou work five to eight, and then
maybe even at night again tokind of accommodate the shifts.
So I don't know if you'venoticed my chats coming in a
little earlier than normal thissummer.
Joe Rando (04:52):
Yeah. And I'm curious though, everybody wants to know
what time do you go to bed whenyou get up before four thirty?
Carly Ries (04:58):
eight.
Joe Rando (05:01):
that makes a ton of sense.
I mean, another thing is, youknow, I don't know about
everybody. I can't speakglobally, but I think about
ninety three point seven percentof people out there could
probably buy a lot of time by,not doom scrolling, and just,
you know, taking some of thattime to get off the device and
saying, you know, I'm gonna gooutside, listen to the birds
(05:23):
instead of, you know, whatever.But really there's just a lot of
ways you can find time in a daythat that, you're probably not
thinking about, and it's worthexploring that to get to buy
that time to be to to be able toappreciate, you know, except for
you people in SouthernCalifornia that get it year
round. Thank Wow. That toappreciate the weather when it's
(05:47):
really nice.
Carly Ries (05:48):
And if you wanna kick in the pants to to see
where the time is, a few monthsback, I think it was when we
were getting close to one of ourbook deadlines, I was feeling
kind of overwhelmed.
I was a little bit stressed out.And I was like, just wanted to
make sure I hit this deadline.And my husband grabbed my phone
and showed me the usage of whereI'm spending all my time on my
(06:08):
phone.
And let's just say there werequite a few hours that I could
get back from mindless scrollingthat I wasn't really realizing.
Those two minutes here and therejust really add up.
Joe Rando (06:18):
It adds up. Yeah. And it's not just you. I mean, it's
almost everybody. But, anyway,so that's a big one to me.
We say this all the time, buttime blocking. You know? Getting
that stuff time blocked so thatyou just get her done. I mean,
that just makes a bigdifference. And, if you're not
doing it, you might findyourself being a lot more
(06:40):
productive. it just also takesthose distractions and kinds of
you know, if they're true justthings that are coming at you,
you say, well, I can't do thatuntil 03:30 or whatever because
I've got this thing on mycalendar. Always saying that I
don't believe in time blockingtoo far in the future unless
it's crucial, but, you know, forthe most part, time blocking can
(07:00):
really help.
Carly Ries (07:01):
And with that, don't overwhelm your to do list. Do
like, come up with three thingsyou have to get done that day
that like, you really have toget done, whether it's client
work, something to move theneedle for your business,
whatever. And then everythingelse is just icing on the cake,
but it's easy to get distractedand then feel, get so down on
yourself for not accomplishingeverything that you want to. So
(07:23):
if you have just these fewthings, you'll still feel good.
The momentum will keep going.
And so just don't try to attempt10 big ticket items in one day.
It's a recipe for burnout,especially in these summer
months.
Joe Rando (07:39):
Absolutely. No. I'm just totally agreeing with you.
here's what I used to do.
I would keep to do lists, andI'd have a to do list, and I
would have things I wanted toget done that day and only get
five done. So then I take thethose five, bring them over the
next day, but I also have newthings come on. So now I
probably have 12 things. And thenext thing it my to do list is
37 items long, and I just wannajump off a bridge. And that's a
(08:00):
really bad strategy. like yousaid, just pick maybe it's three
things. Maybe it's five things.Maybe it's one thing because
it's something big. But just bereal and don't schedule more
than, like, 75% of your workhours because stuff is gonna
come along that you're not gonnaplan on. And then you're gonna
get behind, and then you'regonna feel terrible.
Carly Ries (08:20):
And plan on the distractions. I mean, you know
you're gonna have them,especially in the summer. So
just plan for that time. But Ialso wanna just say, I think a
lot of people look for resetsthe first of the year, and
that's when they do a lot oftheir planning and and figuring
out what they wanna automate,delegate, use AI for, and all of
that.
But I feel like summer's also areally good time. You need to be
(08:41):
thinking, like, if I know I'mgonna be distracted, if I know
I'm going on family vacations,but I need to get all this stuff
done, maybe it's a good time tothink about what you can
automate, delegate, and use AIfor to free up some of that
time. Because a lot ofsolopreneurs are still doing
everything manually. So maybetake a step back and think what
can be happening behind thescenes while you're off getting
(09:02):
distracted at the pool, orwherever you are getting
distracted this summer. But youhave to remember, flying solo in
business doesn't mean you'realone.
Use these resources, use thesetools, and that'll help free up
a lot of time.
Joe Rando (09:15):
Get some help. You know? Get a VA or whatever.
Maybe it's a good excuse to geta VA.
I just know that, I have beenable to, in recent years, kinda
just say, like, this Friday, I'mleaving work early. We're going
over to a place called the deck.There's live music. We're just
gonna have dinner. It's outside.
(09:35):
And, you know, years ago, Iwould have been like, I can't
go. I can't leave early. Andit's like, if you can build the
business up to a point where youcan walk away sometimes and kind
of enjoy life, it makes a hugedifference. I just really think
that people need to think thatway to not feel that, there's no
(09:56):
way they can walk away fromstuff.
Honestly, you know, someday,I've made this joke before, but
I'm gonna write a book calledthe power of procrastination
because a lot of times, half thestuff that you're doing, if you
don't get to it, it doesn'tmatter. And that's another thing
that I really recommend is takea good hard look at all the
stuff that you're doing and say,what's gonna drive the needle?
What's important? Because a lotof times the things that we're
(10:19):
doing, they're urgent, butthey're not important. And if
they're not important, theneither delegate them or don't
even do them.
Because if you're like me andyou've overbooked yourself a
lot, you wind up not doing somethings, and it never comes
becomes a problem. And so that'sjust to me one of the things
(10:39):
that I think people need tothink about is just, you know,
some stuff in that to do listprobably can go in the trash
bucket.
Carly Ries (10:46):
Joe, I'm so excited you said that because I think
that is a perfect place to stopand tease next week's SoundByte
episode, where we're gonna betalking about how to prioritize
tasks when everything is urgent.And I'm gonna be picking your
brain about the Eisenhowermatrix, and you kinda just
dabbled in that a little bitjust now.
Joe Rando (11:02):
I did. I mentioned it indirectly.
Carly Ries (11:05):
So Yes. stay tuned for next week's episode or next
week's sound bite episode,excuse me. And thank you so much
for tuning in. We would lovethat five star review. Share
this episode with a friend, andsubscribe on your favorite
podcast platform on YouTube.
And we will see you next week onThe Aspiring Solopreneur. You
may be going solo in business,but that doesn't mean you're
(11:26):
alone. In fact, millions ofpeople are in your shoes,
running a one person businessand figuring it out as they go.
Why not connect with them andlearn 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 theconversations at
community.lifestarr.com.
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