How I Manage My Time As A Solo Founder
My North Star, Deep Work, Saying 'No' and Tools to Increase Efficiency
There are 45 tasks I could complete today.
15 tasks support the six teams at TCLA. 10 fix problems with our platform. 5 make customers happy. 5 relate to launching existing projects. The last 10 relate to administration, regulation or documentation.
Each task varies by complexity and time commitment. Generally, the hard tasks can be completed in 1-2 days, unless they require outside input or research. The easiest tasks can be fixed in under an hour.
Every week, there are 30 new tasks to add to the list.
In another section labelled, “Important but Non Urgent”, I have a separate list of 50 tasks.
Because there are more tasks to complete in a day that I can possibly complete, TCLA is always on my mind. This used to gnaw away at me; I’d keep my head down working long hours to move from one task to another because I felt like I had to get everything done right now. If I didn’t, I was convinced TCLA would collapse.
Back then, I thought I was being productive, but I was not. I was running on autopilot, chasing hits of dopamine every time I ticked a task off the list. Deep down, I was compensating for leaving my past career behind, chasing the feeling of productivity because I felt guilty starting something I wasn’t sure was going to work.
I have now learned that it’s okay if I have 100 tasks outstanding. Each week, the most important thing to work on is the thing that will make TCLA a long-term success, the “North Star Metric”. This shapes how I plan my time; I prioritise the tasks that will progress my primary metric.
Right now, this primary metric is monthly recurring revenue or “MRR”. By analysing MRR, I have a clear indicator of whether TCLA is growing and I can project future performance.
Still, one of my biggest challenges right now is balancing my time. I know what I need to work on, but it’s easy to fill up my time with other deadlines, tasks and meetings.
Deep work
This is where Deep Work changed my life. In the past, I would cut out sleep, exercise and breaks to unlock more hours in the day, rather than learning to optimise the time I had available. Deep work has shown me how to work.
I now structure my day to maximise deep work, where I can have two blocks of uninterrupted time to work on the most important tasks of the day.
To achieve deep work, I put on my headphones, block out time, turn off notifications and set a timer. I then work on a single task without interruption. I am not allowed to multitask, check my phone or search for anything unrelated to the task I am working on.
With deep work, my output is higher, and I have the space and willpower to tackle hard problems. On my best days, the goal is to reach a state of flow.
Outside of deep work, I carry out shallow work, where it’s okay to multitask. I use this time to batch respond to emails and review our team’s activities.
On a non-meeting day, here is a snapshot of my calendar.
Working in this way means tackling tasks with focus and energy, and then taking a break, rather than grazing through task to task throughout the day.
Do few things really well
Because I can only work on so few things in my day, I now say “no” to most external requests, ideas, partnership opportunities and events. By saying no to 98% of these, it means that when I do say yes I can devote myself fully to that task.
This has made me much happier. I know that I get pleasure from producing good work and tackling hard problems. By saying no, I avoid spreading myself too thin by agreeing to activities I cannot devote myself properly to.
Derek Sivers sums this up perfectly: “If you’re not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, say no.”
Tools that increase my efficiency
I love responding to people who reach out to TCLA. But it’s not possible for me to respond to everyone. If I did, I would spend all day responding to direct messages.
As a general rule, I don’t respond to LinkedIn messages or private forum messages. I only respond to emails and support our operations team to manage customer service queries through Zendesk, our ticket-management platform. This way, it’s far easier to respond to messages on a small number of platforms.
It’s a necessary evil, and I still feel guilty for not having the time to respond to everyone. Autoresponders have helped here - anyone who messages me on the forum receives an automated message. At least then I know that members have been acknowledged and directed to the right channel.
Where an autoresponder is not appropriate, I use a Chrome extension called Text Expander to deal with duplicate queries. This allows me to type a keyboard shortcut like “/app” and automatically populate my response with a template I have created.
Until earlier this year, email had become one of the most consuming aspects of my time. I now pay for Superhuman, which makes clever use of filters and keyboard shortcuts to allow me to blitz through email. I admire the company for turning something I had disliked into a pleasure to use.
Plus, it’s pretty.
Finally, I use Things to manage my personal tasks1. One of the best features of Things is the ability to simply press CTRL + Space to display the below Quick Entry wherever I am on my computer.
I capture just about every work-related thought I have using Things, from TCLA tasks to new business ideas and quotes that have stuck with me.
Because I can immediately log any ideas or thoughts for future reference without changing the window, this feature has been fundamental in allowing me to maintain deep work. As soon as I write an idea down, I no longer have to think about it.
An incredibly articulate piece of writing. Your advice is valuable to all and I hope that in time, your newsletter expands to a wider audience. The number of people who would benefit from your words is infinite.