Why Ignore Most Problems, Plus the 5-Minute Unlock for Solving Any Problem Faster

Years ago, my friend Jordan and I were hanging out at Barista Parlor in Nashville, and the conversation turned toward how small problems can accumulate in a business over time.

“What would you improve about this space?” he asked.

I scanned the room and pointed out several things. He then added others to the list: straightening up books, cleaning several surfaces, rearranging products on a shelf to add more symmetry. Essentially, bringing order and a sharp intentionality to small details.

Barista Parlor’s owners obviously cared about such details. It is one of those coffee shops where the staff wear canvas aprons—and apply copious mustache wax!—and the tasting notes read like a line from an e.e. cummings poem: breath of peaches summer acid / no one stays young but you / who are we together / this cup now.

However, once you, the owner, spend enough time in your own space, the cracked glass and dusty corners stop registering. They’re just scenery. Familiarity breeds blindness.

Our businesses take on that lived-in appearance of a popular coffee shop. They have stains and scuffs that need sprucing up, but how do you justify solving coffee ring problems when you always have higher priorities? After all, smart freelancers and entrepreneurs ignore most problems because most problems aren’t important enough to solve.

Here’s what has worked for me:

1. Ignore most problems most of the time.
2. Keep a running list of coffee ring problems.
3. Fix one problem daily.
4. Find the five-minute unlock.

Yet, my business has more momentum, and I feel more momentum if I ignore coffee ring problems in favor of important ones until the right time and then use the “five-minute unlock.”

1. Ignore most problems most of the time.

Non-urgent problems are the knife that can turn in your hand and cut you. Crossing them off your list brings that oh so satisfying dopamine hit, but their individual importance is next to zero.

They only take on significance in aggregate, a mosaic of details carefully polished and assembled into a brand, reputation, or experience.

Like coffee shop patrons, your will clients will feel your intentionality as much as they notice it, but again, the coffee ring problems should wait.

The question becomes “How do I continually improve my business, my fulfillment and results, and my clients’ overall experience without letting unimportant problems, tasks, and details hijack my attention?”

And how do you do this if your mind works like mine and loves the resolution of a LinkedIn headline finally updated?

Every entrepreneur must recognize that resolution for what it is: a trap. The way out of the trap is swift, keen judgment that continually uses the same questions to divide available work into two categories, important and unimportant:

• More Important: “What’s more important right now?”
• Most Important: “What’s the one thing such that by doing it everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?”

Carve out what’s most important and ignore everything else, for now.

2. Keep a list of problems to solve.

Make no mistake: Some non-urgent, easy-to-ignore problems will keep rattling around in your gourd.

You’ll log into LinkedIn, and there it is again, your headline, your insipid old sock of a headline.

Problems are easier to ignore if you pay attention long enough to rehome them. You rehome them by capturing it in a list.

I have two Notion databases, Projects and Tasks, where I put problems. The databases are connected. I can add a “Rewrite LinkedIn headline” task underneath a “LinkedIn Revamp” project, or the task can be a free agent.

Once my mind knows it doesn’t have to hold onto a problem because it’s safely stowed somewhere else, it relaxes. Mental static decreases. I find it easier to focus on true priorities.

Don’t try to remember small problems. Make it easy to forget them.

3. Fix one problem daily.

While my wife and I were buying an investment property here in Knoxville, the onslaught of tasks (aka, coffee ring problems) didn’t let up for months. There was nothing to do about it except stay out in front of it by prioritizing and staying very proactive.

Meanwhile, at our house, the strangest thing happened: We unpaused little projects that had been on the list for months or years.

Proactive problem-solving at the investment property bled over into proactive problem-solving at home.

The habit deepened, and it spread. It was beneficial and satisfying, and yet still I don’t want to sacrifice the Important on the altar of Urgent.

My solution (again) was to fix one problem daily.

I plan out my whole week on Sunday afternoons, and that’s when I’ll revisit my Notion databases and pick a handful of coffee ring problems to address.

Then, I assign them to a day in my planner by writing them at the very bottom of the page.

Maybe I don’t get around to whatever it is until I break for lunch or I’m in the pickup line at my kids’ school or right before dinner, but I do give them a sliver of planning, attention, and time.

4. Find the five-minute unlock.

Most coffee ring problems aren’t really time or attention problems. They’re knowledge or decision problems.

If you were to gnaw at them with your mind, to think, you’d identify what you don’t know but need to and whom you could ask or you’d identify the decision and make it.

A mere five minutes of thinking unlocks progress.

For example, one of the burners on the stove wasn’t working at the investment property I mentioned above. Should I pay to have the burner fixed or just replace the stove? One call to a local appliance repair company—3 minutes total—and I had a repair estimate. Two ChatGPT prompts—90 seconds tops—and I had my decision made (replace, don’t repair, because the unit’s already so old and because a brand new stove will improve aesthetics and therefore guest experience and therefore reviews).

And what about your LinkedIn headline? Think about it. Do you simply need to copy the headline of a freelancer or consultant you admire? Or is your stuckness due to not knowing what you want to say about yourself? Do you need a template or boldness?

Many coffee ring problems come down to indecision, and when you use the “five-minute unlock” to find the source of your indecision, you’ll solve any problem faster. You’ll feel more momentum. Honestly, you’ll have fewer regrets and kick yourself less for procrastination and chronic hesitancy.

Solve problems faster by thinking about them first. Do you need an insight, person, or decision? Do you lack clarity because you haven’t asked why enough?

Sharpen the ax while you pick the tree. This is the five-minute unlock.

Conclusion

Coffee rings won’t kill your business, and yet they get in the way of excellence. The challenge is not becoming fixated on solving unimportant problems and not ignoring them forever.

What’s the middle way?

Ignore coffee ring problems until the right time, then use the five-minute unlock to pick them apart. Eventually, you’ll look up and realize that you’ve transformed your business.

When you’re ready, here are ways I can help you:

1. Free Money. A pricing and money mindset guide for freelance creatives. If you’re unsure about your freelance pricing, this is the book for you.
2. Morning Marketing Habit. This course will help you build an “always be marketing” practice, become less dependent on referrals, and proactively build the business you want with the clients you want. My own morning marketing habit has enabled me to consistently make 6 figures as a freelancer.
3. 1:1 Coaching. Gain clarity, confidence, and momentum in your freelance or consulting business.
4. Freelance Cake Community. Build the business you really want with people who really get it.
5. Clarity Session. It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle. I've done well over 100 of these 1:1 sessions with founders, solopreneurs, and freelancers who wanted guidance, a second opinion, or help creating a plan.