Get More Free Time By Batching
Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
Even when exhausted, do you tell yourself you can do one more thing that’s on your list?
Always doing more is a good way to eat up all your free time and turn into a crispy critter. By applying batching techniques to your days, you can free yourself and your time up.
What Is Batching?
In productivity circles, batching is grouping similar tasks together to minimize transition time. For instance, returning a bunch of emails at once, then making phone calls in a group, rather than alternating between email and phone.
Batching saves you the time it takes to physically and (more importantly) mentally switch between tasks.
Applying Batching To Days
If we apply this concept to our days, we can accomplish more while we are in the mode. I have recently set up batching themes and I find it allows me to get things done quickly because I am not running all over the house!
My Batching Themes
To set up my themes, I looked at my general weekly schedule and slotted tasks in.
- Monday: computer. There are few days when I don’t touch my computer at home, but Monday has always been the day that I do local backups and maintenance work. I have added all other computer tasks to this day, such as backing up the blog, checking review sites, and sending reminder emails.
- Tuesday: learning and reading. Tuesday was one of my open days, and I was trying to find time to work on some online courses. By moving other tasks around, I was able to free up Tuesdays for coursework.
- Wednesday: music. Wednesday is my choir night, so the evening is given over to musical tasks. Given the creativity theme, I also work on craft projects.
- Thursday: home. This was the day I always did my weekly cleaning, and I added menus and grocery lists to the mix. I also added 45 minutes of deep cleaning onto the day, rather than trying to drag it out all week.
- Friday: errands. Friday is my day to grocery shop and run any other errands.
- Saturday (morning): catchup. Before my family gets up, I used to spend the morning doing blog tasks. Now I use the time to catch up on whatever might not have gotten done throughout the week.
- Sunday: no tech/planning. I make each Sunday a tech-free day (not an easy task for me!). I spend the time planning the next week, planning blog projects, and working on “re-creation” activities, such as reading, crafting and gardening.
By putting these batch formats in place, I am spending less of my evenings frantically doing, and more getting things done, with plenty of time left over!
Have you tried batching, either with tasks or with days? Share your experience below.
Photo by Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake
