A simple productivity hack for you today. Everyone wants to be more productive, and this strategy is one that I used in coaching many times to help people think about how they complete their tasks.
Everyone has their own systems for being more productive and completing their tasks. However, I feel this productivity hack (if you like – although I don’t really like that term), is simple and one that you are already employing in other areas of your life already I bet.
It’s simply this: BATCHING
BATCHING
What does batching mean? Simply put, putting like tasks together. When you do activities, you get into a certain rhythm, and if, for example, you have to create 5 new users for your IT system, it makes sense, to do them all at the same time. Not when you get asked to do them. This is because the brain will get into a certain flow with the task being done. Constantly breaking pace and ‘task-switching’ creates a drain on the energy and focus we have.
And you already batch tasks anyway. Think about your washing. You most likely don’t wash one shirt (or item of clothing) at a time. Rather, you wait until you have a load of washing to wash and do them all together.
It’s the same principle at play here. Wait until you have several ‘like’ tasks built up, schedule time to do those and not haphazardly when the mood takes you.
I find this to be a simple, but hyper-productive tactic. I simply write down all the tasks I have to do in my Super Journal (the journal I created to help me personally be more effective day-to-day and over the long term goals I set for myself. If interested, you can pick up a pre-release version here: www.thesuperjournal.com ). Once I have all the tasks down, I will do similar ones together. For example, if I have a bunch of printing to do, or filing of paperwork, I will leave it until I have a few things similar that I need to do.
I think I first came across this term (although I was already doing it to a large extent) in Tim Ferriss’s book – The 4-hr Workweek.
How do you currently use batching in your work or home life? Let me know below!
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