Do you have trouble focusing while you work? Boy, I know I do!! Sometimes I have so much on my plate that I don’t know what to do when. One of the best ways to save time while you work is through batch work!
What is Batch Work?
Batch work is when you do multiple tasks of the same type in one sitting. Let’s use a blog post as an example to show how batch work can save you time.
Let’s say that you want to write three blog posts to be released over the next couple weeks. If you write one whole post from start to finish, here’s what the steps might look like:
- Open document software
- Write post
- Close document software
- Open blog editor
- Copy & Paste text
- SEO tasks
- Open graphics software
- Create graphics
- Go back to blog editor
- Put in graphics
- Finish it up
That’s a lot of opening and closing of different programs and switching back and forth between left brain tasks and right brain tasks. It might seem like it’s not taking that much more time, but when you add up all of the lost time among the 3 blog posts you want to post, it starts to add up. A more efficient way would be to do all of the same types of work at once.
A Better Way
- Write all three posts in the document software
- Make all of the graphics for each post in the graphics software
- Input all three posts into the blog editor at the same time
For me, I’ve found that I’m also more productive when I focus on one task at a time. Jumping back and forth between things gives me more opportunity to get distracted by ads or different tabs or windows. Batch work helps me save time, yes, but it also helps me stay focused.
Some things that I do in my business in batches are writing podcast episodes. I write multiple lessons in one sitting, record episodes in one sitting, schedule and post in one sitting. I do the same thing with my lessons for my membership.
For social media, I also back schedule my social media posts. This saves me time because 1) I’m doing it on my computer, so my captions are faster. 2) Doing it all at once leaves me not as much time to overthink. I have to let go of my perfectionism because I know that I have multiple things to do during this block of time.
Is there anything that you can batch work in your business? I want you to try it out. Make a list of things you currently do in your business that contain multiple steps, or use multiple different softwares, and see if you can group them together by type or by software.
Learn More About Batch Work
If you want to learn more about batch work, check out these awesome posts from other experts!
- How to Batch Work (and Save Yourself Hours) from Jenna Kutcher
- Guide to Time Batching from Grace & Vine
