Prioritise better in 10 minutes (even when your brain is screaming)

Ever felt like your brain is a tab-overloaded browser but the tabs are to-do lists and emotions?

👉 That was me last week.

Things are growing (yay!) — the business is getting busier, the community is popping off, and I’m so grateful… but also kind of spiraling. 😅

So here’s the challenge:
How do you figure out what to do first when everything feels urgent and important, and you’re already stretched thin?

This edition’s new essay format helps me explore this - so read it below!

_{IN NEWSLETTER #17:}

^{COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT:}

Want to learn how to use AI to save ~20 hours per week?

Join the Becoming an AI-Powered Freelancer course and stop wasting 4 hours a day sifting through emails, creating marketing material and prioritising your tasks.

Here’s a special 50% off coupon code for this week only: CANDIDCONSTULT

_{*This is to showcase work by members of the Candid Community — reach out if you want a spotlight!}

A STORY, STRATEGY, & SYSTEM

The Growth Spiral

^{THE STORY}

So here's the truth — things are picking up in the best possible way. More clients, more community members, more collabs, more... everything.

And honestly? That’s the dream.
But it also meant I hit this weird wall where my usual systems just… broke.
I kept thinking,

My head felt like Notion, Slack, Google Calendar and my own inner monologue were fighting for dominance. Even though I knew what needed to be done, I couldn’t see it clearly. And the second I tried to prioritise, I got stuck in “but what about this?” spirals.

Stop and Sort (even if it feels counterproductive)

^{THE STRATEGY}

I realised the issue wasn’t what needed doing — it was that I wasn’t pausing long enough to actually see it clearly.

Like… I knew the difference between important and urgent, but my brain needed a visual to help me trust that instinct. So I stopped. And I started mapping.

I now do a brain-dump to map my tasks based on two simple things:

• Ease (how easy is this to do?)

• Impact (how much does this actually move the needle?)

Just doing this makes me feel like I’ve got my footing again.

The Impact-Ease Map

^{THE SYSTEM}

This baby right here 👇 is what saves my overwhelmed little solopreneur soul.

Here’s how I use it:

• Quick Wins → Do these when I need a little boost or motivation to get going. Easy + impactful = dopamine AND momentum.

• Timeblock → Schedule the high-impact hard stuff so I know it will get done and it doesn’t float around in my head.

• Delegate or Drop → If it’s easy but doesn’t matter? Offload it.

• Just Drop It → No impact, high effort = BYE 👋

I do this once at the start of a busy week, or anytime I feel swamped. It takes ~10 mins and saves me hours of anxious flailing.

Got a good prioritisation framework? I’m still learning and adapting, so I’m all ears if you’d like to hit “Reply” and have a chat about it! 👂️ 

^{UPCOMING EVENTS:}

KNOWLEDGE DROP:

Okay, here’s your "I gotchu" lineup this week — something to plug the holes, grow your LinkedIn and make content less painful:

Make content less painful:

Jomiro Eming specifically chooses tools that make it easier to ideate, write and publish his content — so it works for him. Check out his Scrappy Stack:

^{FREE 5-DAY CHALLENGE CREATOR LAB:}

^{PRACTICE YOUR PITCH IN CANDID COMMUNITY}

Pitch prompt: Convince a stranger in an airport lounge in 30 secs ✈️
PRACTICE YOUR PITCH!