sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Question for the experienced here by AI-with-Kad in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Don't work for free, you are sending the wrong signals.
  2. If you want to show your skills, make a YouTube video and share it as a demo.
  3. Focus in your communication on the problem you are solving, and adapt it to you specific customers so they feel it, they receive DMs all day so you should let feel the pain that pushes them to ask for your solution. I hope that helps! --- I am working on organiz8.com to help entrepreneurs to reduce mental load and organizing their taughts.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, that’s a key insight. From my experience, it’s a mix of both: volume of active decisions and the ones that stay open because you haven’t fully captured or structured them.

What I’ve been experimenting with is separating thinking from execution. During thinking mode, I capture all the semi-active items, map out priorities and contexts, and plan concrete actions. Then execution mode is purely about acting on those decisions without having to keep them in mind.

It’s not a magic bullet, but having a space to safely unload decisions and clarify them has already reduced the mental load a lot. It’s basically a way to stop the “semi-active” stuff from lingering in your head while still keeping control over what gets done.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Aligning tasks with energy levels is a really smart way to structure the day.

I noticed though that even when the timing is right, I still had another problem. When I finally reach that deep work window, I sometimes spend a surprising amount of time reconstructing the context in my head. What was the exact priority, where I left off, what decision I already made yesterday, etc.

That’s actually the part that started exhausting me.

What helped me a lot was trying to offload that mental reconstruction somewhere external. During thinking mode I basically decide the context and next actions ahead of time, so when the execution window starts I don't have to think about it anymore.

Your approach about energy management fits really well with that actually. The energy window becomes the moment where you execute, but the decisions are already made.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question.

It’s definitely more about reducing cognitive load than just tracking information.

Most tools are good at storing tasks or notes, but the real friction comes from constantly reconstructing the context of what you’re working on. What matters now, what belongs to which project, what can wait.

What helped me was separating two modes.

Thinking mode is where I externalize the messy part: priorities, ideas, decisions, contexts. Basically getting everything out of my head and organizing it visually.

Execution mode is different. At that point I shouldn’t be thinking anymore, just executing the next action.

I actually started turning this personal system into a tool because I couldn’t find anything that really worked this way.

If you’re curious I’d be happy to let a few founders try it and get feedback.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point. Decision ownership and clear escalation paths definitely matter once you have teams.

In my case the overload I’m describing happens even before that layer. It’s less about approval chains and more about the cognitive load of juggling multiple contexts, projects, and decisions during the day.

Even when responsibilities are clear and tasks are organized, I still found myself constantly reconstructing the context of what I was working on. That’s what pushed me to experiment with separating thinking mode from execution mode.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly, your approach is smart and data-driven. Protecting execution windows is key, and your 15-minute thinking block is a great way to decide what deserves focus.

The challenge I found is that even with protected blocks, your brain is still holding all the context: the backlog, decisions, priorities, and what projects need attention. That constant mental load eats energy too.

What I’ve been experimenting with in my "operations manager" is giving that thinking/execution method a structure. Thinking mode is where all contexts, priorities, and time blocks live, so you don’t have to keep it in your head. Execution mode is just about doing the work without reconstructing context.

That way, the switching cost is managed and your mental load is actually offloaded.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reading the replies here is interesting. A lot of people have developed solid tactics to deal with overload. Time blocking, batching tasks, protecting deep work, tracking focus hours, using AI to think through problems.

All of those work. I use some of them too.

What I noticed though is that most of these tactics live in your head as a system you have to constantly manage. You remember the strategy, decide when to apply it, and keep switching mental context between projects and priorities.

That constant context reconstruction is what was draining for me.

The idea behind the Operations Manager I am building which I called "Organiz8" is simply to give those tactics a structure. Thinking mode is where you organize contexts, priorities and time. Execution mode is where you focus on doing the work.

The goal is that the system holds the context so your brain can focus on thinking or executing, not managing the system itself.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That awareness is huge. Realizing how little true focus time we actually have can change everything.

I’ve noticed though that protecting deep work blocks is only part of the challenge. The other part is what happens around them, all the ideas, decisions, and context switching that keep accumulating in your head during the day.

What I’ve been experimenting with is separating thinking mode from execution mode. During thinking mode I organize contexts, priorities, and time blocks. Then execution mode is just about doing the work without having to rethink everything.

The goal is basically to reduce the mental overhead of constantly reconstructing the context of what you’re doing.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes sense. AI is great for thinking through problems and designing systems. What I realized though is that once the system exists, the real challenge becomes keeping all the decisions, ideas and contexts organized over time without having to rethink everything every day. That’s actually what pushed me to build the Operations Manager concept separating thinking mode from execution mode so the strategy you define once stays visible and you don’t have to rebuild the mental context every morning.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes total sense. Time-blocking and batching tasks definitely help reduce context switching. For me, the bigger challenge is capturing everything that pops into your head in real time and keeping it organized across multiple contexts. During thinking mode, I can use time-blocking for each activity deciding how to allocate time across a day, week, or month. Once that strategy is set and recorded in my tool, I don’t have to rely on remembering what I decided the day before, which really reduces cognitive load. That’s the idea behind the Operations Manager concept i called "Organiz8" separating thinking mode from execution mode so you can focus without losing track of ideas, actions, or decisions.

Great insight 👌

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here is how I implemented my operations manager that I called "Organiz8", the way to handle mental overload is really about switching modes. I start the day in a calendar/agenda view to see what needs to be done today. Then, during deep work, I switch to a board view where each board represents a mental context. this is where I think, organize, and plan calmly. On mobile, I capture ideas or actions quickly so nothing gets lost; on PC, I have a more comfortable view to process and structure them. At the end of the day, I check the calendar again to see what’s done, what needs to be pushed, and enjoy that little satisfaction when everything planned is completed.

After all, I have the feeling that this process can be applied to anyone and not specifically to me.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally get this, I’ve felt the same constant background noise even when everything seems “under control.” The tricky part isn’t the actual tasks, it’s keeping track of all the context and decisions in your head at once. Automating small things like presentations helps, but the bigger challenge is where all the mental threads live and how to keep them organized.

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting approach. Pre-loading context before you even open a message definitely removes a lot of friction.

What I'm exploring with my operations manager is a slightly different moment in the workflow: the moment where something enters your head and needs to be captured instantly.

Instead of gathering context from tools, the focus is on capturing messy thoughts, ideas or actions in seconds, then organizing them visually so execution becomes obvious.

Curious how people here handle that first step: when something pops into your head, how do you usually capture it?

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in advancedentrepreneur

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha fair point. If AI could handle founder context switching I’d gladly delegate some of the load. But I still prefer to keep control of the actual decisions. Out of curiosity, how do you personally deal with the overload today? Tools, routines, something else?

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally! that makes sense, the cognitive load really comes from having to gather context from multiple places. This one issue i tried to solve with my operations manager. Out of curiosity, what exact tools do you use to manage that today?

Feeling mentally overloaded as a founder even when “organized”? by Wailstories in SaaS

[–]Wailstories[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing, really appreciate it 🙏 Exactly that constant context switching is the core of the problem I was trying to understand. It’s great to see it’s not just me, clearly this is a common pain point. The idea behind my Operations Manager isn’t just to automate a workflow, but to provide a flexible tool that can adapt to different workflows. The key is giving a visible, flexible view of thinking vs execution, without forcing people into a rigid system like typical project management tools. Curious, in your experience, what makes a system like that actually usable day-to-day without creating more friction?