Unlock peak productivity with our guide on time batching – a powerful strategy to streamline tasks, boost focus, and supercharge efficiency.
IE 376: Mastering Productivity: The Art of Time Batching for Enhanced Efficiency
What is time batching?
Time batching is a time management strategy where you group together similar tasks by task batching within a specific time frame.
We’ve spoken about personal time management that is based on income producing activities as well as anti-time management which focuses on prioritizing your attention on what you want in life rather than on the essence of managing your time.
Benefits of Time Batching
Time batching forces you to stop multi-tasking.
Many of you will tell me that you can multi-task with the best of them.
I actually used to brag about the fact that I was a great multi-tasker.
I could be writing something and then answering social media and then on email, and then trying to do a video all while making sure that my 2-year-old at that time was down for a nap or was doing her artwork, or my five-year-old at the time was cooking in the kitchen.
We as moms like to try to do all the things and have this multi-tasking personality.
But when you actually time batch instead of feeling like you are being pulled in 18 different directions, because let’s be honest, that’s what multitasking does. It makes you feel like you’re spinning 18 different plates and one of them is bound to drop and something usually does.
You may start to feel like you’ve got brain fog or you may start to notice that you’re forgetting certain things.
I was at that point in my life as well and it was because I was trying to multi-task and when you multi-task it makes you less productive because you’re focused in 18 different directions and you’re not really paying attention to the main thing.
How to Use Time Batching
1.Determine the pockets of time that you have in a day
Start by taking a look at your calendars.
Look and see what your day looks like.
Are you having to do live trainings?
Are you having to work one on one with clients?
Are you having to make sure that your daughter gets picked up from preschool or dropped off from preschool or are you needing to run the kids after school so your day has to end at 2 30 so that you can bring them to their after school activities?
Or are you having to travel to go and speak at certain conferences?
Or have to travel to bring your kids to volleyball tournaments or dance competitions?
Yes, I’m speaking from experience here.
I want you though to look at your calendar and see the pockets of time that you do have no matter the age of your children or the number of things that you put on your plate.
2. Identify your tasks that need to be completed
You need to identify the tasks that need to get completed in order for your business to move forward.
For many of you this is consistently creating content, which also will entail keyword research and proper SEO post structure.
Once you know the tasks that are essential to the growth of your business you can then move on to the next step.
3. Batch your tasks together that are similar
In other words if you’re working on keyword research then you are doing the keyword research for multiple blog posts that should be about similar topics.
This way you’re not wasting time jumping into the keyword research, and then trying to outline, and then trying to write it, or trying to do the YouTube video that’s going to go along with it.
You always want to stay on a similar task.
4. Evaluate whether the process is working for you
You need to determine if the amount of time you allotted for the particular task is realistic.
Tips for Effective Time Batching
Eliminate distractions
You can’t have 85 windows open on your computer.
You need to be focused on the one.
Be realistic about how long your tasks will take you
We know that we can say that it’s going to take us 15 minutes, but in reality, how long is it actually taking you to write that content, to do the research, to go through and actually shoot the photos?
You can’t tell me that a photo shoot is going to take you an hour when you know that normally a shoot takes you three hours.
You have to be realistic about it.
Leave room in your calendar for uncompleted tasks
I try to leave my Friday for anything that I had already mapped out and said I was going to get done, but didn’t have enough time within that time frame that I gave myself to batch those tasks.
This way if it’s something that needs to be done by the end of the week, I can make sure that I have time in my calendar to get it done.
Use tools that will speed up your process
If you’re a blogger, using AI or chat GPT, or using keyword research tools that you’re familiar with can speed up your process.
If you need to actually time yourself to know how long tasks take so that you can be realistic about that time, use tools that are going to help you do that.
Outsource tasks that don’t need to be done by you
If it doesn’t need to be your voice that is speaking or on video or creating and doing the keyword research, think about potentially handing that off.
If there’s content, you might be able to get a writer.
Maybe you do the keyword research, but someone else writes it for you or shoots the photos.
Look at what you could potentially hand off if you are finding that the time batching isn’t getting you enough time in the day to get everything done that you need to be done.
You have to be able to determine if it’s something that absolutely needs to be done by you or if it can potentially be handed off.
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