Sound Bite: Our Favorite Productivity Hacks You May Have Never Heard Of

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Staying busy as a solopreneur is one thing, but being productive is something entirely different!

Sure, you've heard all the basics – time blocking, to-do lists, and the Pomodoro technique...but I bet you haven't heard of Carly's favorite productivity hack that she shares in this episode (it may even be a little TMI!)!

In this short episode, she and Joe share their favorite hacks that you can't always get from a simple Google search. They go beyond the obvious to uncover hidden gems that will have you wondering why you didn’t start using them sooner. 

Be sure to tune in!

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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, click here to check out SoloSuite Intro!

Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: 00:00

You guys, staying busy as a solopreneur is one thing. It's very easy to do. Being productive as a solopreneur is an entirely different thing. You could fill your days doing research and getting a sidetracked with various things, but to actually get in the zone and get stuff done that benefits your business and ultimately your life, takes some practice. And there are are recommendations for people all over the place, but you need to find those that actually work for you.

Carly Ries: 00:32

So in today's episode, Joe and I just briefly dive into our 2 tips. I get a little TMI with mine. Sorry about that. But we just wanted to share what works for us in hopes that it might work for you. So stay tuned.

Carly Ries: 00:47

You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my cohost Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy but awesome journey as a company of 1. We take pride in being part of Lifestarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work.

Carly Ries: 01:22

And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone.

Carly Ries: 01:43

Joe, I feel like when we talk to solopreneurs time and time again, we talk about lead generation and productivity. AI gosh. This is one of our soundbite episodes, but I feel like this could take up a month's worth of our regular episodes.

Joe Rando: 02:01

It will.

Carly Ries: 02:03

Taking the dog for a walk right now or outside gardening or whatever. I say, let's share just a couple of each of our favorite productivity hacks, that people might be like, oh, I haven't even thought about that. And mine are very strange, and you're not gonna find this in chat gpt or SEO or sorry. or in Google. So if you're okay with that, I'm gonna share my 2 first because they're so bizarre, and then you could do yours.

Carly Ries: 02:29

Does that work?

Joe Rando: 02:30

Following on to bizarre though. I don't know if I wanna do that.

Carly Ries: 02:32

I mean, you've already heard this, so it's not gonna catch you up.

Joe Rando: 02:34

I'm just teasing.

Carly Ries: 02:35

You've heard the one a, but I haven't told you the one B of it.

Joe Rando: 02:39

Okay. Okay. Go ahead.

Carly Ries: 02:40

1 a. So my hack, I'm gonna call it the Carly Ries, unplug hack.

Joe Rando: 02:47

Carly Unplugged.

Joe Rando: 02:48

That's what I call it.

Carly Ries: 02:49

Unplugged is my hack for this. So what I'll do is I will charge my computer to a 100%, and then I unplug it. And I give myself the deadline of when my computer dies, and depending on how big the project is. So I'll charge it to 50% or whatever, And I make myself get that assignment done before my computer dies. I don't let myself plug it in.

Carly Ries: 03:13

And that way I just hit the ground running. No distractions because I'm working against the clock. The other part of it that I haven't always disclosed may I hope this isn't TMI, but I'll drink a cup of coffee. And I'm like, oh, wait. Before I need to use the restroom, like, an hour and a half, 2 hours later, I need to get that done.

Carly Ries: 03:32

So it's like things you can't avoid, and you have to get it done before that time.

Joe Rando: 03:39

That one sounds like it gets more and more time pressure as you get further along.

Carly Ries: 03:45

It's gonna get bizarre. And we have never gone there on this podcast or any discussion, but it works because you're like, gosh. Like or it does have to do coffee, water, whatever you wanna drink. Coffee. And, give yourself that deadline because if you say, oh, I'm gonna work on this for an hour.

Carly Ries: 04:00

It's kind of an arbitrary deadline. But if you have these things where your computer is going to die or that water is gonna hit you, you have to get it done. So those are those are my 2 hacks.

Joe Rando: 04:13

That's great. Well, have nothing so creative as that, and I don't know how to name the second one. But Yeah.

Carly Ries: 04:19

We're not gonna name it. I'm almost already embarrassed that I said that.

Joe Rando: 04:22

No. It's actually a good hack, though. I mean, you know, those kinds of things are like, you know, if you have to go pick the kids up at school or something, you have it. I gotta get this done before I go pick up the kids and that kind of thing. So it's a little more than just an arbitrary position of the hands on the clock if anybody still has an analog clock. So mine are gonna be much more mundane, but my productivity hack is actually a book that you've probably, if you've heard me talk at all about this topic, you've heard me talk about before, which is Getting Things Done by David Allen, GTD as it's called.

Joe Rando: 04:56

And I won't go through it because it would take an entire episode. I think we have an episode on GTD actually in this podcast from a while back. But, the idea is in this getting things done processes, you capture everything. So when any information comes in, whether it's an important email or, you know, piece of mail or whatever it is, you know, it comes in, it gets captured in an inbox. You can have multiple inboxes.

Joe Rando: 05:21

You can have your email inbox. You can have a physical inbox. Anything can be an inbox. And then, you process it. And when you process it, you look at it and say, Okay, can I do this in 2 minutes or less?

Joe Rando: 05:33

Yes. Just do it then. Don't wait. If it's more than 2 minutes, then you basically put it into a to do list. Maybe you delegate it or maybe it's not something actionable, so in which case, you file it or you throw it in the trash if it's something you don't want.

Joe Rando: 05:49

So the reality is that you have this entire kind of structured process for dealing with all the stuff that comes in because I found that a lot of my time was being wasted figuring out what to do next and finding stuff I needed to do the stuff I needed to do. And by being organized like this, it really helped me a lot. And then the other one I was gonna say is my take on time blocking. I love time blocking. I don't always do it, but when I do, I usually have a more productive day.

Joe Rando: 06:17

And when I do time blocking, though, I have a rule that I learned the hard way. I only time block for today or tomorrow unless it's something urgent. You know? If, like, I have to, you know, make a phone call on, 3 weeks from today, period, that day has to happen. I will schedule it even if it's not an actual time that I have to do it.

Joe Rando: 06:39

But, I don't believe in time blocking out your calendar to the max because what happens is, at least for me, and I've heard David Allen talk about this on other people too, that you start to go think of your calendar as a to do list, and then you start missing meetings. Right? And it's also, you know, all of a sudden, you've got a meeting comes up. They got to move things around. So I find that time blocking only is really, really helpful when you do it from the short term into the future.

Joe Rando: 07:07

And then, you know, from there, you just kind of work from your to do list. So then if

Joe Rando: 07:13

starting a new day or getting planning for tomorrow, time block out the day because you'll know what really needs to happen. But if you time block out a week from Thursday, priorities are gonna change between now and then, and and all that work you did is gonna be useless, and you're gonna be ignoring it.

Carly Ries: 07:26

Great. Great points. So anyway, that is our sound bite for today. Hopefully, you have 4 new recommendations on how to be more productive. We will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur.

Carly Ries: 07:39

Excuse me. But before then, leave the 5 star review. Subscribe on YouTube, your favorite podcast platform. We so appreciate the support. Have a good one.

Joe Rando: 07:48

Bye bye.

Closing: 07:52

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 person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At Lifestarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.