Ever looked back at your day and thought, “How much did I actually accomplish on my to-do list”?
As a business owner, it’s no surprise that you are sometimes overwhelmed with all the tasks on your to-do-list. I can totally relate. Back when I was a publisher of the magazine, I recall my endless to-do-list and the even longer list of wishful projects I really wanted to implement but never got to.
It took me a few years to figure out how to incorporate Batching into my daily schedule. Talk about a huge game changer! I soon realized how the process could help streamline my workflow and provide a manageable way to organize each task. I increased productivity, stayed focused, and removed countless distractions.
What is Batching?
The simple explanation of Batching is doing similar tasks at the same time or as I call it, Creating your ST Workflows. By organizing similar tasks in one manageable chunk of time, it can help you to track your progress and manage your time efficiently. This is achievable by focusing on one specific area of your work at a time.
In many ways batching your tasks is similar to preparing to bake. When you decide to bake something you plan ahead. You check to determine the ingredients you need and those you have on hand. Your sole purpose is to make one trip to the grocery store with an itemized list to get all the baking ingredients so you don’t have to make multiple trips to the same store. Batching return phone calls for example works in a similar way. You get well prepared to make all those calls successively. In doing so, similar tasks are expedited in an efficient way.
Batching your tasks is a process of carving out specific times to do similar functions thus eliminating the countless bouncing around from task to task throughout your day. The bonus for you is a more smoother and productive day. What’s not to like?
How I use Batching?
As a Virtual Assistant, I have multiple tasks to complete for multiple clients so tracking my time is important. Setting a time in my day to focus on my client’s tasks is the most effective use of my time.
To keep things organized, I batch my client’s tasks in intervals of one-hour. My day is blocked off with six to seven one-hour blocks (number depends on when I start my day). Each block is dedicated to one client. This allows me to focus on one client’s tasks for that set period of time. I even schedule one block of time per day to focus on specific tasks for my business.
Benjamin Franklin has famously said: “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned”.
See my example of a schedule I use when setting up my ST Workflow. I prefer to organize my Daily Batching in one-hour sessions with a 15-minute break.
Since I’ve been doing this for a number of years, I discovered that I work well with one-hour blocks, but you can figure out what length of time works best for you. You may find you are better focused on shorter batching time and more frequent breaks. I recommend customizing your system for you.
How to Batch Certain Tasks
Checking Emails: Instead of checking emails as they come in, set two times during the day to check and respond to emails. Many studies have found that continually checking your email is the number one distractor for most business owners.
Making Cold Calls: If your day involves a substantial amount of calls, try batching them together and do them all at once. This will provide you with a set time to make those calls when you won’t have interruptions and feeling confident about your well-prepared sales message.
Creating Social Media: Some of my clients have shared their struggles in creating social media posts captions on the fly. Coming up with original content that is brilliant and timely is definitely challenging, but so worth it. So when creating posts for my clients I work two weeks to one month in advance. To be well-prepared, I must maintain a full understanding of how my client’s business is evolving.
For DIY caption-creation, I recommend Batching two to three one-hour sessions per week. This will give you time to draft your social media captions with a clear planning schedule in mind. You’ll also be able to organize your captions, create images, and research good-quality hashtags without being rushed to meet your posting deadline.
Organizing Market Research: Ever go down the rabbit hole of Googling something only to get trapped in endless links and pop-up windows? When you finally come up for air, you might have 10 pages or more open on your browser and might forget what you were originally searching for. It is a common dilemma for business owners.
To avoid this time-consuming trap, I suggest developing a solid plan for research. Keep in mind these key questions: “What information am I looking for?” “And will this information actually help me solve the problem?”
Tip Writing Blog Posts: When it comes to blog creation, Batching content will be your new best friend. I know some professional bloggers who batch 10-15 blogs for their clients in one month. Understandably this new trend in blog creation is gaining in popularity.
To get started in Batching your blog posts, I recommend breaking it all down into manageable sections. Start by Batching a number of blog topics potential clients would be interested in. The next step is creating blog titles based on those topics. Though nothing is final at this point, you will definitely get the creative juices flowing and that’s when the brilliance happens!
Research your topics then write the first draft of blog posts. Continue with editing and tweaking until you are totally satisfied with the finished product. Repeat this process for each additional blog post.
Of the many things Batching has taught me, I realize how much smoother my workday goes when I organize similar tasks. Benjamin Franklin’s quote was right on. Every minute I have spent organizing has gained me hours of productivity. I am confident this practice will work for you too.
Cheers,