#08_advice-questions
Thread
Hi– a little advice from fellow founders/solopreneurs?
I’m a technical founder and up until recently my only focus has been software development/project management. But lately there’s so many things on my radar as a solo founder, and it’s been challenging to stay organized as my days are spent context-switching a lot. This in itself, I quite enjoy, as I’m out of my comfort zone and it’s a good challenge. But I find myself yearning for my time to be a little more organized/optimized as it used to be when my focus was purely software dev/project management.
Any tips on staying organized? I have an Airtable where I try to document everything I need, but it’s far from ideal at the moment for optimizing on time management. Thought I might try Motion . Has anyone used this?
Hi! I am using Notion to document / capture everything. I'm also a fan of Jasper and Granola for note capturing w/o a bot.
Other folks really like
For me, I'm a fan of starting each day by identifying what is the ONE work thing I must do today.
I understand the challenges of transitioning from a focused technical role to juggling multiple responsibilities as a solo founder. Here's a structured approach that might help you regain that sense of organization:
1. Time Blocking Strategy:
• Dedicate specific time blocks for different types of work (e.g., 2 hours for deep coding, 1 hour for business development)
• Protect your peak productivity hours for your most important tasks
• Include buffer time between blocks for context switching
2. Task Management Framework: While Airtable is great for documentation, consider implementing:
• A simple "Must Do/Should Do/Could Do" prioritization system
• Weekly planning sessions on Sunday/Monday to set priorities
• Daily "Top 3" tasks that must be completed
3. Energy Management:
• Track when you're most productive and schedule challenging tasks then
• Take regular breaks between context switches (try Pomodoro technique)
• Schedule similar tasks together to minimize mental drain
4. Tools Recommendation: Motion is a good option, but also consider:
• Notion for documentation + project management
• Todoist for daily task management
• Google Calendar for time blocking
• RescueTime to track where your time actually goes
The key is finding a system that works for YOUR workflow rather than forcing yourself into someone else's system.
Hey Nikhil, understand the challenges of transitioning from a focused technical role to juggling multiple responsibilities as a solo founder. Here's a structured approach that might help you regain that sense of organization:
Time Blocking Strategy:
• Dedicate specific time blocks for different types of work (e.g., 2 hours for deep coding, 1 hour for business development)
• Protect your peak productivity hours for your most important tasks
• Include buffer time between blocks for context switching
Task Management Framework:
• while Airtable is great for documentation, consider implementing:
• A simple "Must Do/Should Do/Could Do" prioritization system
• Weekly planning sessions on Sunday/Monday to set priorities
• Daily "Top 3" tasks that must be completed
Energy Management:
• Track when you're most productive and schedule challenging tasks then
• Take regular breaks between context switches (try Pomodoro technique)
• Schedule similar tasks together to minimize mental drain
Tools Recommendation:
• Motion is a good option, but also consider:
• Notion for documentation + project management
• Todoist for daily task management
• Google Calendar for time blocking
• RescueTime to track where your time actually goes
The key is finding a system that works for YOUR workflow rather than forcing yourself into someone else's system.
@Taiga Gamell @Diana Stepner thank you for so many great suggestions!! I’m already sure some of these will make a big difference in my workflow.
Hey Nikhil - another useful free tool I use to manage different folders and drives across businesses is:
@Brian Lee love this, thanks for sharing!