June 26, 2025 • 12 mins
Ever feel like you're drowning in tasks, yet still not moving the needle in your business? You’re not alone. In this episode, Carly and Joe unpack that all-too-familiar solopreneur overwhelm—when everything feels urgent and there’s zero breathing room.
They break down how to prioritize when your to-do list is screaming at you from every direction, using the Eisenhower Matrix, tips from Getting Things Done, and a little “delegate, automate, AI” magic. If you’re stuck in constant hustle mode, this episode might just be the breath of clarity you need.
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):
Feeling buried under a never ending to do list? We've
(00:03):
been there. In fact, we werethere just last month. In this
episode, Joe and I unpack thechaos of juggling launches,
deadlines, and platform updates,all while trying to breathe. We
share real life insights on howto prioritize when everything
feels urgent.
We explain how the EisenhowerMatrix and David Allen's Getting
Things Done method can save yoursanity. And we offer practical
(00:24):
tips for buying back your timethrough delegation, automation,
and process fixes. If your dayfeels like one giant fire drill,
this one is for you. You'relistening to the Aspiring
Solopreneur, the podcast forthose just taking the bold step
or even just thinking abouttaking that step into the world
of solo entrepreneurship. Myname is Carly Ries and my cohost
(00:46):
Joe Rando and I are your guidesto navigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone.
We take pride in being part ofLifeStarr, 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
(01:09):
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
because flying solo in businessdoesn't mean you're alone.
(01:30):
So Joe, for the past few months,I feel like we have been in it.
We have had so many top prioritytasks to get done. In fact,
there was like, I don't knowwhere to go right now. So within
a matter of weeks, we had alaunch. We've been working on
the website, our we've beenupdating our platform behind the
(01:51):
scenes, and we've been writing abook that had strict deadlines.
And I feel like now that we'recoming up for a little bit of
air from that, we still have alot that we need to get done,
but I feel like we can kind ofstep away and breathe a little
bit from what it was a monthago.
And think. And feel like, wow,that we maybe should have done
it this way, but we are so busy,we're focusing on this thing
(02:13):
that we didn't do it that way.And it's so fresh enough where
it's like we can speak to it andbe relatable about it. But I
wanna talk about how toprioritize tasks when everything
seems urgent. Because I thinkthat's a constant feeling that a
lot of solopreneurs have, thateverything needs to get done
right now.
(02:34):
So you are so familiar with theEisenhower matrix. Can you kind
of explain what that is? BecauseI think that really helps to
paint a picture of how toprioritize in this situation.
Joe Rando (02:46):
Sure. So people have probably seen this somewhere in
their journeys through life, butthe idea is it's a quadrant
analysis. And what that means isthere's if you remember your x
and y graphs when you were inhigh school in algebra, the idea
is you've got, something on thisone, which in this case is
(03:09):
urgent or not urgent. So this isurgent, not urgent. And then
this is, not important orimportant.
So you've got these foursquares. So this is, important
and urgent, important but noturgent, then you have, not
(03:30):
important and not urgent, andurgent and not important. So
you've got these four, differentthings, and it's easier with a
picture. Maybe we should throw alink to that in the show notes.
But the idea here is that thetasks fall in one of these
squares. and most of the time,you're working on things that
(03:51):
are urgent and important. Atleast I hope so. I mean, that's
what you should be doing. Ifit's urgent and it's important,
that's where you should beputting most of your time. And
for most solopreneurs, that'swhere they're putting all of
their time, and that's aproblem, believe it or not, even
though it sounds like you'redoing the right thing. And the
reason for that is that you havethings that are not urgent but
(04:13):
are important. So nobody'sscreaming for it.
There's nothing that's gonnablow up because it doesn't
happen, but it's something thatis important in the sense of
usually working on your businessinstead of in your business, you
know, automating a processthat's tedious, hiring a virtual
assistant, coming up with astandard operating procedure
(04:33):
that's something that's costingyou time to rethink how to do
every month. Those kinds ofthings that are, like I said,
nobody's, banging on the door tomake sure these things get done.
But once you do them, you buymore time. You have more time
now to spend working either inthe business, the important and
urgent, or on the business, theimportant but not urgent. Things
(04:55):
that are urgent, but notimportant.
So the things that got to getdone, they're not really gonna,
you know, the world's not gonnaend. You give those to somebody
else. You off load those somehowor automate those somehow. And
if they're not urgent and notimportant, you know, you gotta
(05:16):
stop playing Wordle so much. Youknow?
So that's the general idea.
Carly Ries (05:24):
I feel like I wanna come up with a jingle for it,
like, delegate automate AI.Delegate automate AI.
Joe Rando (05:30):
This sounds like that schoolhouse rock from way back
when.
Carly Ries (05:34):
Exactly. It's the modern version of that. But I
just think people, they work ontheir business or in their
business so much, that theydon't see the low hanging fruits
of getting some of these tasksoff of their plate that aren't I
feel like the ones that areurgent and important are the
ones that only they could befocusing on. Because those and
(05:55):
hopefully the revenuegenerators.
But everything else in thatquadrant, or in that matrix,
like, who can you give that to?You just said it, to delegate
and outsource. But I thinkthat's a really important thing
that people put on the side, andthey're like, one day I'll do
this. But they don't realizethat they just invest that time
right now. It can help them outso much.
Joe Rando (06:16):
Right. And that's the biggie. so the way I think about
it is, you need to work in thebusiness. You need to be doing
those important and urgentthings most of the time. But
carve out, I don't know, ten,fifteen, 20%, you know, 10% of
your time.
Just say, every day, I'm gonnaspend forty five minutes working
(06:37):
on something that is gonna makethe business better when it's
done. And you can really veryquickly find yourself it's the
one way to buy more time. Right?
Carly Ries (06:48):
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Well, then also,
David Allen, I think he talkedabout this in Getting Things
Done, which circling back tolike to the beginning of
LifeStarr, it was a huge, centerpoint for the company. But he
also says, focus on those bigthings, but also, if something
will take you two minutes orless, just do it. it may not be
(07:09):
urgent. Right. It may not beimportant. But it's mental
weight that you're carryingaround because you know you have
to do it, so it's just draggingyou down. If it takes two
minutes or less less, even if ittakes five minutes or less, in
my opinion, just do it. get itoff your plate so you don't have
keep worrying about it andthinking Right.
Joe Rando (07:25):
Because the mental energy of having to put it
someplace where you will notlose it to come back to it is
not it's not worth theinvestment. If it's bigger than
that, then you're better off. Ifwe're gonna go into you know?
Because, I mean, getting thingsdone is certainly a very
powerful way to manage tasks.And the idea there is you
capture everything in an inboxor inboxes, and then you decide,
(07:47):
you know, is it actionable?
If it is, if it's less than twominutes or five minutes,
whatever you think, do it. Ifit's not, then you either
schedule it for some time in thefuture, basically putting it on
a list that says, you know, todo or delegate it to somebody
else. And in which case you havesomebody else doing it. And
that's a really powerful way tokind of maximize productivity
(08:09):
because, you know, one of thethings that I think people spend
a lot of time on is figuring outwhat to do. Right?
So okay. I just finished this.What do I do now? Oh, and now
they gotta go in, and they gottathink look and say, oh, I
probably should do this. And ifyou have that list and you can
look down the list and go, youknow what?
The way I'm feeling right now,this is the thing I think I
(08:30):
wanna do because I'm in theright frame of mind for that,
and it's important. Crank itout. It can be really helpful.
So, yeah, getting things done,that list. The other thing he
has since I wanna be complete isyou got the list of things that
you've asked other people to do.
He calls them waiting fors. Soyou say, hey, Carly. Can you
write this blog? And I put it onthe list. I go, blog about, you
(08:53):
know, AI and from Carly.
So now when I talk to you next,I go, hey. Where's the blog
about AI? So it really, makeslife easier than having to try
to remember all this stuff.
And so that's another powerfulway to be, you know, prioritize
tasks and to be productive.
Carly Ries (09:10):
Yeah. But I think the moral of the story is just
take a step back and see if youare just bogged down with task
after task and you don't see thelight at the end of the tunnel,
there I will say, there arephases of solopreneurship where
you're gonna have a lot ofurgent important tasks. I feel
like that was the situation wewere in a month ago. We also
knew that there was an end toit.
We knew the book was gonna bedue by this date. We knew once
(09:33):
everything was launched, thelaunch would be over. we knew
there was light at the end ofthe tunnel. So I think it's okay
to have those periods ofeverything seems important and
urgent. But if that's your dailylife,
Then you really need to take astep back and ask yourself,
doing these because you need toor because you think you should?
(09:55):
Are you working with the rightclients? Did you take on too
many clients? And it's a phase,fine. If it's not, do some work.
Joe Rando (10:04):
Let me just add one more to that. One of the things
I have seen many times, and thatis things are not being done
right somehow. Something'sbroken about your process, which
then causes you know, you haveto put out a fire. And when that
happens, I learned that the onlything to do in that case is to
(10:26):
invest the time to figure outwhat went wrong and figure out
how it never happens again. Ifyou do that, if you and that
usually involves creatingstandard operating procedures
for you and anybody that you'recontracting to help you.
But if you do that, if you fixthese things each time something
breaks, over time, it turns intoa machine, and it again, another
(10:46):
thing that buys you timebecause, you're basically taking
these things that are extremelyurgent a lot of times when
something breaks, and now you'vegot that important and urgent
way in the corner there. Like,you're not gonna be doing
anything else until this isdone, and you turn that into
something that doesn't evenhappen. So now it's easier to
prioritize tasks once you fixthose things. I think that's
(11:07):
just an important thing to keepin mind that I think a lot of
people come across but don'tnecessarily react to properly.
Carly Ries (11:13):
For the listeners, you're not alone. Every
solopreneur goes through thisphase. It's kind of a trial and
error, especially when you'rejust starting out of figuring
out how much you can take on andhow much you can't. So just know
you'll get there. We're all inthis together, and thank you so
much for tuning in.
Please subscribe on yourfavorite podcast platform. Leave
that five star review. Sharethis episode with a friend, and
(11:35):
we will see you next time on theAspiring Solopreneur. You may be
going solo in business, but thatdoesn't mean you're alone. In
fact, millions of people are inyour shoes, running a one person
business and figuring it out asthey go.
So 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
(11:58):
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
Feeling buried under a never ending to do list? We've
(00:03):
been there. In fact, we werethere just last month. In this
episode, Joe and I unpack thechaos of juggling launches,
deadlines, and platform updates,all while trying to breathe. We
share real life insights on howto prioritize when everything
feels urgent.
We explain how the EisenhowerMatrix and David Allen's Getting
Things Done method can save yoursanity. And we offer practical
(00:24):
tips for buying back your timethrough delegation, automation,
and process fixes. If your dayfeels like one giant fire drill,
this one is for you. You'relistening to the Aspiring
Solopreneur, the podcast forthose just taking the bold step
or even just thinking abouttaking that step into the world
of solo entrepreneurship. Myname is Carly Ries and my cohost
(00:46):
Joe Rando and I are your guidesto navigating this crazy but
awesome journey as a company ofone.
We take pride in being part ofLifeStarr, 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
(01:09):
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
because flying solo in businessdoesn't mean you're alone.
(01:30):
So Joe, for the past few months,I feel like we have been in it.
We have had so many top prioritytasks to get done. In fact,
there was like, I don't knowwhere to go right now. So within
a matter of weeks, we had alaunch. We've been working on
the website, our we've beenupdating our platform behind the
(01:51):
scenes, and we've been writing abook that had strict deadlines.
And I feel like now that we'recoming up for a little bit of
air from that, we still have alot that we need to get done,
but I feel like we can kind ofstep away and breathe a little
bit from what it was a monthago.
And think. And feel like, wow,that we maybe should have done
it this way, but we are so busy,we're focusing on this thing
(02:13):
that we didn't do it that way.And it's so fresh enough where
it's like we can speak to it andbe relatable about it. But I
wanna talk about how toprioritize tasks when everything
seems urgent. Because I thinkthat's a constant feeling that a
lot of solopreneurs have, thateverything needs to get done
right now.
(02:34):
So you are so familiar with theEisenhower matrix. Can you kind
of explain what that is? BecauseI think that really helps to
paint a picture of how toprioritize in this situation.
Joe Rando (02:46):
Sure. So people have probably seen this somewhere in
their journeys through life, butthe idea is it's a quadrant
analysis. And what that means isthere's if you remember your x
and y graphs when you were inhigh school in algebra, the idea
is you've got, something on thisone, which in this case is
(03:09):
urgent or not urgent. So this isurgent, not urgent. And then
this is, not important orimportant.
So you've got these foursquares. So this is, important
and urgent, important but noturgent, then you have, not
(03:30):
important and not urgent, andurgent and not important. So
you've got these four, differentthings, and it's easier with a
picture. Maybe we should throw alink to that in the show notes.
But the idea here is that thetasks fall in one of these
squares. and most of the time,you're working on things that
(03:51):
are urgent and important. Atleast I hope so. I mean, that's
what you should be doing. Ifit's urgent and it's important,
that's where you should beputting most of your time. And
for most solopreneurs, that'swhere they're putting all of
their time, and that's aproblem, believe it or not, even
though it sounds like you'redoing the right thing. And the
reason for that is that you havethings that are not urgent but
(04:13):
are important. So nobody'sscreaming for it.
There's nothing that's gonnablow up because it doesn't
happen, but it's something thatis important in the sense of
usually working on your businessinstead of in your business, you
know, automating a processthat's tedious, hiring a virtual
assistant, coming up with astandard operating procedure
(04:33):
that's something that's costingyou time to rethink how to do
every month. Those kinds ofthings that are, like I said,
nobody's, banging on the door tomake sure these things get done.
But once you do them, you buymore time. You have more time
now to spend working either inthe business, the important and
urgent, or on the business, theimportant but not urgent. Things
(04:55):
that are urgent, but notimportant.
So the things that got to getdone, they're not really gonna,
you know, the world's not gonnaend. You give those to somebody
else. You off load those somehowor automate those somehow. And
if they're not urgent and notimportant, you know, you gotta
(05:16):
stop playing Wordle so much. Youknow?
So that's the general idea.
Carly Ries (05:24):
I feel like I wanna come up with a jingle for it,
like, delegate automate AI.Delegate automate AI.
Joe Rando (05:30):
This sounds like that schoolhouse rock from way back
when.
Carly Ries (05:34):
Exactly. It's the modern version of that. But I
just think people, they work ontheir business or in their
business so much, that theydon't see the low hanging fruits
of getting some of these tasksoff of their plate that aren't I
feel like the ones that areurgent and important are the
ones that only they could befocusing on. Because those and
(05:55):
hopefully the revenuegenerators.
But everything else in thatquadrant, or in that matrix,
like, who can you give that to?You just said it, to delegate
and outsource. But I thinkthat's a really important thing
that people put on the side, andthey're like, one day I'll do
this. But they don't realizethat they just invest that time
right now. It can help them outso much.
Joe Rando (06:16):
Right. And that's the biggie. so the way I think about
it is, you need to work in thebusiness. You need to be doing
those important and urgentthings most of the time. But
carve out, I don't know, ten,fifteen, 20%, you know, 10% of
your time.
Just say, every day, I'm gonnaspend forty five minutes working
(06:37):
on something that is gonna makethe business better when it's
done. And you can really veryquickly find yourself it's the
one way to buy more time. Right?
Carly Ries (06:48):
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Well, then also,
David Allen, I think he talkedabout this in Getting Things
Done, which circling back tolike to the beginning of
LifeStarr, it was a huge, centerpoint for the company. But he
also says, focus on those bigthings, but also, if something
will take you two minutes orless, just do it. it may not be
(07:09):
urgent. Right. It may not beimportant. But it's mental
weight that you're carryingaround because you know you have
to do it, so it's just draggingyou down. If it takes two
minutes or less less, even if ittakes five minutes or less, in
my opinion, just do it. get itoff your plate so you don't have
keep worrying about it andthinking Right.
Joe Rando (07:25):
Because the mental energy of having to put it
someplace where you will notlose it to come back to it is
not it's not worth theinvestment. If it's bigger than
that, then you're better off. Ifwe're gonna go into you know?
Because, I mean, getting thingsdone is certainly a very
powerful way to manage tasks.And the idea there is you
capture everything in an inboxor inboxes, and then you decide,
(07:47):
you know, is it actionable?
If it is, if it's less than twominutes or five minutes,
whatever you think, do it. Ifit's not, then you either
schedule it for some time in thefuture, basically putting it on
a list that says, you know, todo or delegate it to somebody
else. And in which case you havesomebody else doing it. And
that's a really powerful way tokind of maximize productivity
(08:09):
because, you know, one of thethings that I think people spend
a lot of time on is figuring outwhat to do. Right?
So okay. I just finished this.What do I do now? Oh, and now
they gotta go in, and they gottathink look and say, oh, I
probably should do this. And ifyou have that list and you can
look down the list and go, youknow what?
The way I'm feeling right now,this is the thing I think I
(08:30):
wanna do because I'm in theright frame of mind for that,
and it's important. Crank itout. It can be really helpful.
So, yeah, getting things done,that list. The other thing he
has since I wanna be complete isyou got the list of things that
you've asked other people to do.
He calls them waiting fors. Soyou say, hey, Carly. Can you
write this blog? And I put it onthe list. I go, blog about, you
(08:53):
know, AI and from Carly.
So now when I talk to you next,I go, hey. Where's the blog
about AI? So it really, makeslife easier than having to try
to remember all this stuff.
And so that's another powerfulway to be, you know, prioritize
tasks and to be productive.
Carly Ries (09:10):
Yeah. But I think the moral of the story is just
take a step back and see if youare just bogged down with task
after task and you don't see thelight at the end of the tunnel,
there I will say, there arephases of solopreneurship where
you're gonna have a lot ofurgent important tasks. I feel
like that was the situation wewere in a month ago. We also
knew that there was an end toit.
We knew the book was gonna bedue by this date. We knew once
(09:33):
everything was launched, thelaunch would be over. we knew
there was light at the end ofthe tunnel. So I think it's okay
to have those periods ofeverything seems important and
urgent. But if that's your dailylife,
Then you really need to take astep back and ask yourself,
doing these because you need toor because you think you should?
(09:55):
Are you working with the rightclients? Did you take on too
many clients? And it's a phase,fine. If it's not, do some work.
Joe Rando (10:04):
Let me just add one more to that. One of the things
I have seen many times, and thatis things are not being done
right somehow. Something'sbroken about your process, which
then causes you know, you haveto put out a fire. And when that
happens, I learned that the onlything to do in that case is to
(10:26):
invest the time to figure outwhat went wrong and figure out
how it never happens again. Ifyou do that, if you and that
usually involves creatingstandard operating procedures
for you and anybody that you'recontracting to help you.
But if you do that, if you fixthese things each time something
breaks, over time, it turns intoa machine, and it again, another
(10:46):
thing that buys you timebecause, you're basically taking
these things that are extremelyurgent a lot of times when
something breaks, and now you'vegot that important and urgent
way in the corner there. Like,you're not gonna be doing
anything else until this isdone, and you turn that into
something that doesn't evenhappen. So now it's easier to
prioritize tasks once you fixthose things. I think that's
(11:07):
just an important thing to keepin mind that I think a lot of
people come across but don'tnecessarily react to properly.
Carly Ries (11:13):
For the listeners, you're not alone. Every
solopreneur goes through thisphase. It's kind of a trial and
error, especially when you'rejust starting out of figuring
out how much you can take on andhow much you can't. So just know
you'll get there. We're all inthis together, and thank you so
much for tuning in.
Please subscribe on yourfavorite podcast platform. Leave
that five star review. Sharethis episode with a friend, and
(11:35):
we will see you next time on theAspiring Solopreneur. You may be
going solo in business, but thatdoesn't mean you're alone. In
fact, millions of people are inyour shoes, running a one person
business and figuring it out asthey go.
So 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
(11:58):
advice from other solopreneurs.Be sure to join in on the
conversations atcommunity.lifestarr.com.
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