How to Refocus Your Energy as a Solopreneur with Amy Traugh

TL;DR

How can I stop feeling so overwhelmed and refocus my energy as a solopreneur?

You can stop feeling overwhelmed by technology by doing a tech detox, auditing your time with curiosity, and replacing reactive scrolling with intentional work. When you silence the constant digital noise, you recalibrate your focus, reset your nervous system, and start operating from internal purpose instead of external validation. That shift helps you work with more clarity and build a business that supports your well-being instead of draining it.

How to Refocus Your Energy as a Solopreneur

Start With a Time Audit

A time audit is not about judging yourself. It is about approaching your daily routines with curiosity. For entrepreneurs, this practice reveals surprising habits.

Discovering how much time you spend on social media can be startling but enlightening. The time audit acts like a mirror, showing you patterns that usually stay hidden. That awareness is the first step toward change.

Why a Tech Detox Matters

Day 2 of the Unplugged Challenge introduces the tech detox. It may feel daunting, especially when your business seems to depend on constant connectivity. But unplugging does not mean neglecting your responsibilities.

The goal is simple: silence external noise so you can reconnect with yourself. Stepping away from digital distractions lets you recalibrate your focus, prioritize effectively, and rejuvenate your mental and emotional well-being.

How to Do a Tech Detox

Here are clear, actionable steps:

1. Delete social media apps. Remove Facebook, Instagram, and X from your phone for a complete detox.

2. Remove work email. Take work-related email apps off your phone too.

3. Move apps to another screen. If deletion feels too extreme, move apps to a different screen to create a physical barrier that builds awareness.

These actions break habitual behaviors and help you make conscious choices about when and how to use technology.

Connectivity Is a Habit

Disconnecting is easier to say than to do. Many people find themselves instinctively reaching for their phone during a first detox weekend. Digital behaviors are deeply ingrained. But with consistent practice, the impulse to grab your phone diminishes. You start using technology more intentionally instead of reactively.

Reclaim the Present Moment

The core goal of a tech detox is to reclaim the present moment. When you quiet the noise around you, you reset your nervous system and focus on what truly matters. This mindfulness helps you stop chasing external validation—likes, comments, and engagement—and start building self-worth from internal validation. That shift changes how you work and how you feel.

Uncover Your Why

To deepen the experience, use the introspective exercise on page eight of the challenge workbook to uncover your why. Inspired by Dr. Jordan Peterson, this exercise asks you to keep asking "why" until you reach your core values and passions.

Understanding your motivation helps you stay grounded during tough times. It gives you a clear reason to keep going when challenges arise.

Flexibility Has a Double Edge

Entrepreneurship gives you flexibility, but it can also make consistency harder. Without the structure of a nine-to-five job, showing up consistently becomes a choice you must make daily.

In a traditional job, showing up is non-negotiable. As a solopreneur, you need to create that same discipline for yourself.

What Comes Next

Day 3 introduces the daily power hour—a strategy to regain control of your business through focused use of time and energy. This approach emphasizes strategic work instead of scattershot effort.

That structure helps you turn insights from the tech detox into real productivity.

Reset Your Focus and Energy

The journey to unplugging is not easy, but it is worthwhile. Through a tech detox, time audits, and introspective exercises, you can reset your focus, prioritize your well-being, and build a life and business aligned with your values. That is how you refocus your energy as a solopreneur and create sustainable momentum.

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Transcript for Episode 347. The Unplugged Challenge Day Two: Refocus

How is your time audit going? Have you been surprised by some of the things that you're starting to see? The key with the time audit is approaching it from a mindset of curiosity. Your job is not to judge yourself. I don't want you beating yourself up when you see, oh, my gosh, I'm spending that much time on social media. This can be very triggering for so many entrepreneurs. But your job is to approach it from a lens of curiosity, because curiosity will help you gain that clarity. And if you are just hearing this for the first time, welcome in. Today is day two of the unplugged challenge, a three day challenge for entrepreneurs to help you reset, refocus, and regain control of your business. If you have not joined us already, make sure you head over to amytraw.com unplugged to join so that you get access to our course workbook and all of our awesome emails that come along with this material.

Amy [00:01:17]:

Today is day two, and I think that this day is one of the most challenging, yet most powerful resources that I am going to teach you. And it's not easy, but this one thing, this one thing has changed my life, and I know it will change your life as well. And do you want to know what it is? It's taking the time to unplug. It is taking the time to unplug from all of the noise around us. And I get it. You're thinking, I can't do that. How in the heck can I do that? I run my business from my phone. How can I unplug, friend, I get it.

Amy [00:02:01]:

I was there, too. But here's the thing. You're not a surgeon. This is not an emergency. We're forgetting our priorities in life. Yes, our business is important. Yes, we want to serve our clients to the best of our ability. But at the end of the day, you need to be okay.

Amy [00:02:22]:

Remember the saying, you can't pour from an empty cup? Well, it's true. It is so true. But we need to quiet the noise around us. And we do this through a tech detox. We unplug. We disconnect. In order to quiet the noise and reconnect with ourselves, I encourage you, over the next weekend, do this during the weekend, not during the week. I want you to unplug from social media.

Amy [00:02:51]:

I want you to delete those apps off your phone. Delete Facebook, Instagram x, whatever platforms you're listening on, whatever platforms you're using for your business. Delete the email, delete it all. Remove that temptation. And if you're like I can't do that. No, that's too much. What I want you to do is move those apps to another screen on your phone so that you intentionally have to swipe over multiple times to trigger that awareness. Because what is going to happen is when you go to do this tech detox, you are going to find yourself habitually picking up your phone.

Amy [00:03:30]:

It happens, and it still happens to me. This is something I've actually gotten into the habit of doing every single weekend. Now because of the power of it. That first weekend, I cannot tell you how many times I picked up my phone. I'm like, I'm an unplugged from social. And what would I do? I'd pick up my phone without even realizing it, go, oh, no. And I have to put it back down real quick. So if that starts to happen to you, please know that you're not alone.

Amy [00:03:57]:

Like this is going to happen. It's not a matter of if it will, it will happen. But the more you do it, the easier it will get. Because you realize that the most important thing in life is being where your feet are, being where you're at in this present moment, right here, right now. And what this does is it just allows you to calm down your nervous system, to reset and refocus and figure out what it is that you want to end this vicious cycle of external validation, chasing these hits of dopamine by seeing how many likes, comments, engagements, all of the things that we're searching for. Because at the end of the day, it comes down to deeming ourselves worthy, not judging ourselves for those goals that we have. No big matter how big or audacious they feel. Giving ourselves permission to live a life that we love because we only get one shot, one shot at this life.

Amy [00:05:09]:

And to take it a step farther, I encourage you to do an exercise while you're unplugged. And this can be found on page eight of your workbook. And this is uncovering your why we know what you want, but why do you want this? And this can be tricky to figure out. A this exercise. I talk about it in my book, the CEO method, an entrepreneur's guide to business success. This exercise was developed originally by doctor Jordan Peterson. And what we're doing is we're unpacking why. A lot of times as entrepreneurs, we say, you know, I want this.

Amy [00:05:50]:

I want a life of freedom and flexibility. Okay, that's awesome, but why do you want it? Okay, I want this life of freedom and flexibility because I want to be present for my kids. Okay, well, why is that important to you? And what you do is keep asking yourself, why be like a toddler? You know how they're constantly going, why, why, why? That's what we're doing here. We're getting down to those core desires deep down in our soul. Because your why is what is going to propel you forward on those days where you're tempted to quit? Because they happen. They happen to every single one of us. I don't care how successful that someone is. If someone has told you, oh, I've never been tempted to quit.

Amy [00:06:42]:

I call b's on that because we've all been there. Being an entrepreneur is challenging, but you have the solution to someone's problem, so it is your responsibility to share it. And in order to stand out in the sea of sameness, you need to release yourself from the pressures to do things a certain way. We need you and your solution. The flexibility that we have as entrepreneurs is such a blessing and such a curse at the same time. It really, truly is. It's hard to stay consistent when life is lifeing. But think about it this way, if you were still in your nine to five, you would be expected to show up.

Amy [00:07:26]:

You would be expected to show up on the days where you didn't feel like it. On the days where life was life and things were hard. This is hard. Let's not sugarcoat it. But when you know why, that will help you stay disciplined. That will help you keep moving forward. And tomorrow, I'm going to share with you how to design a daily power hour, 1 hour a day, to help you regain control of your business through focused use of time and energy. You don't need to be doing all of the things all of the time, friend.

Amy [00:08:13]:

We need a strategic approach to it. So this weekend, I want you to schedule it on your calendar. Take the time to do a tech detox to unplug. Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely, it will. And until next time, cheers to making the money you want so you can create the impact you desire.