The Batching way to get stuff done!
Written by Julia Bickerstaff // November 4, 2014 // Daily Juice // No comments
If you’re just TOO busy, batching can be a lifesaver! And it’s super-simple to do. Hurrah!
Batching!
I’ve found batching to be a fabulous way of getting stuff done in my time s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d home based business!
Batching is just saving up similar tasks to do in one big batch. Simple! And we do it often, yes?! Maybe you batch ironing or trips to the Post Office?
The magic of batching for your business is when you batch tasks that you don’t normally batch! Like what? Well like emails, or blog posts or invoicing or phone calls…..or anything that you do in bits and bobs which could be done in one fell swoop!
The thing about those tasks (email, phone calls etc) is that each time you stop what you are doing to, say, send an email you lose time moving out of the task that you’re doing and into the new one. Why? Well there’s a kind of ‘warm up’ time whenever you change task. It’s that feeling of having to ‘get into it’ when you switch to something new (like writing that quick email) and then ‘get-back-into-it’ when you finish the email and get back to what you were doing. I read somewhere that that ‘warm up’ time takes about 15 minutes! Crazy huh!
Crazy, but that’s why batching works……Because when you save your similar tasks up and do them once a day (replying to emails, say) you save time by doing the ‘warm up’ just the once! Ta-da!
But wait, there’s more!
Batching is also ace because it can help you get in the flow. The ‘flow’ is that feeling you get when you’re so immersed in a task you don’t notice time passing. That in itself is very good but what’s truly fabulous is that when you are in the flow you are mega-efficient! Hurrah!
We often don’t get into the flow with stuff that we like doing (such as writing or sewing or cake decorating or reading or crafting or designing) because we are TOO BUSY stopping our good work to do the ‘other tasks’ like phone calls, email, invoicing etc. SIGH!
But if we batch our ‘other tasks” and put them off until later we can get a nice clear run at our favourite work and give ourselves the chance to getting in the FLOW! YAY!
Fancy giving batching a go?! Pick something that you usually do in bits and bobs (like emails or phone calls) and batch them so you do them all in one sitting!
Do you like batching? What do you batch?!
PSHere’s another tip in the How-I-Make-Time series! It’s stuff I’ve been practising to get more out of my day! I think you’ll love if if you’re a busy solo or home based business owner TOO! If you don’t want to miss a tip you can get them all in our weekly FREE Snacks email!
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