Task Batching: How to Use It to Maximize Productivity
A disorganized solopreneur is a stressed solopreneur. Who wants to scramble in doing office work because their energy doesn’t match with the kind of work they’re doing? By doing task batching, you’ll be able to finish your duties everyday with efficiency and ease.
What is Task Batching?
Task Batching is a type of planning on performing work that improves focus and productivity in the office. This is done by identifying tasks that are similar in nature and difficulty level. Then, similar tasks are grouped together in a schedule.
Sometimes, they aren’t grouped together but a difficult task will follow after a schedule of another hard task. Part of task batching is also identifying which part of the day you’re more focused so you can schedule the complex work there.
How to Use Task Batching to Boost Productivity While Running a Business
1. List your to-do’s
First of all, write down all the tasks you need to perform in the day. Examples of these to-dos are:
- Checking emails
- Attending meetings
- Calling clients
- Lunch and breaks
- Working on spreadsheet
- Creating marketing strategies
- Preparation for the next day
2. Group similar tasks and organize a schedule
The next part is to identify which tasks are similar in nature or level of complexity. Let’s take an example from above. Since checking emails and calling clients are both communication tasks and are relatively easy, they should be done together in a single schedule like from 8 am to 9:30 am.
Then follow it up with harder tasks like working on spreadsheets for inventories and creating market strategies. These tasks are totally different in nature but they’re both hard because they need focus and critical thinking.
However, you don’t need to schedule them one after another for you have to consider lunch as well. Speaking of lunch, you can have lunch meetings together with the business partners you intend to meet with.
Then, have the second hard task after it. If you’ve decided to have your marketing strategies brainstorming sesh in the morning, you can have the spreadsheet work after the lunch meeting.
3. Label each task by function
To make task batching easier to follow, make it look cool and organized by using labels. One prime example is to use a color-coding scheme. The color orange should be reserved for hard tasks and lighter colors such as sky blue should be used for easier tasks.
4. Track how long you spend on tasks
Now, the question is, “How will I know if the task is hard?” It’s easy, just track yourself on how long you take on a task. If you take 15 minutes to read and respond to emails, then that’s considered easy. But, if you take hours to work on spreadsheets, then that’s a hard task.
5. Put hard tasks during peak hours
Since we’ve found out what task it is that you consider hard, the next step is to determine when it should be done. Try to remember which hour of the day you feel focused and immune to distractions.
That’s when you should schedule the hard tasks. Why, do you ask? It’s because you’ll be able to do a hard task with maximum efficiency in a short period of time if you’re more focused.
These tips are very easy to follow and you’d be doing yourself a huge favor by taking a screenshot now. Or, you can have this entire page printed or the main ideas written. And the most important tips - Put your phone away and set it on silent while you work. Close the email and social media tab on your computer. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted.
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