What is Task Batching?  Will it work for you?  Let’s dig in to see if it’s a fit! ​

We get distracted, which kills our productivity.  Being unproductive is stressful. Multi-tasking and context switching leaves us feeling more frustrated than ever. Task batching really helps us concentrate and stay focused on producing more and have less stress and overwhelm.

Can you say winning?!

Have you ever wondered if you could clone yourself, take a magic pill, or wish your way to getting more done in a quicker amount of time?  I know I have!  Welp, I don’t have any of that for you.  

I do have a technique to help you crush your tasks like an empty soda can! Let me tell you the ins and outs of Task Batching. 

FYI: I love bringing you value. Unfortunately, value alone doesn’t work at the bank. Therefore, I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you when you purchase through an affiliate link, which I’ll totally blow on art supplies! 😉

What is Task Batching?

Task Batching, Task Chunking, or Batch Work is a time management technique that lets you arrange similar activities to improve your concentration and productivity. Task batching is an excellent time management technique to enhance your time management skills. By batching similar tasks together, you will be more productive throughout the day, and you will save loads of time!

Computer scientist and psychologist Gerald Weinberg says taking on additional tasks can destroy up to 80% of your productive time.

Using this time management technique, you can categorize your entire day into different types of tasks (by pairing similar tasks together) that you need to complete and strive to achieve them in the time you have allotted.

Examples of How You Can Task Batch:

Task Batching based on tools  

• Batch creative tasks in Canva, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. 
• Batch email-related tasks in Convertkit, Flodesk (my favs), or any email provider.
• Website-related tasks 

Batch based on the type of work

• Video recording
• Phone calls
• Content writing
• Researching

Batch based on your mood or occasion

• On days you go out or have meetings.
  • Take pictures
  • Create videos
  • Have video calls
• Tasks that allow for unfocused work – i.e., Cooking while listening to a podcast.

Batch by theme

Theme your days for tasks.  Such as Creative Friday’s, Blogging Wednesday, or Recording Mondays.  

Can Batch Working Really Save Me Time?

Entrepreneur Gillian Perkins swears by task batching to run her $20k+ net earning business. Now get this, she only works 16 hours a week!  Wowza!  

Here’s how Gillian does it.  She looks at the month and breaks it down as follows:

• Four blog posts written: 6 hours
• Five video tutorials filmed: 3 hours
• Two training courses created: 30 hours
• Social media networking: 7 hours
• Paid advertising: 4 hours
• Email marketing: 4 hours
• Email correspondence: 6 hours
• Group coaching calls: 4 hours
  Total: 64 hours/month

Here’s the math
64 hours month / 4 weeks = 16 hours a week
16 hours a week / 5 days = 3.2 hours on average per day

Here’s what Gillian outsources:

• Editing and posting blog articles: 2 hours
• Editing & posting video tutorials: 4 hours
• Daily social posts on Facebook & Instagram: 6 hours
• Pinterest management: 3 hours 

Gillian admits she may mix it up a bit and double down on the days, so she has more days off; either way, it’s about the same amount of time spent. 

You don’t have to be a master at task batching. Just look at what task you can group and make it work for you!

9 Amazing Benefits of Task Batching

According to research conducted by the University of California, Irvine, the human brain takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back into the deep focus mode once it gets distracted. So by reducing multitasking from your schedule, you’ll be promoting deeper focused work.

1. Improves Focus and Concentration

If you’re a multitasking master, but you still have tons of tasks.  Batch working is for you! It reduces the time you spend on switching your attention from one task to another and reduces the fatigue and distraction when we switch between tasks, known as context switching or multitasking. Task Batching gives your brain directions Stress Levels

2. Reduces Stress

By categorizing similar tasks together, you made your time schedule more manageable and simplified, helping you reduce your overall stress. Think how frantic you’d be if you constantly washed one towel at a time instead of an entire load?

 3. Get More Done in Less Time

By arranging your day in a proper well-planned schedule that prioritizes your task, you’ll be able to get more done in less time—spending less mental aptitude on switching between tasks. You will be dedicating your profitable hours to the high-priority work that needs it most. Also, maintaining a timetable also keeps you away from the pressure of time to take care of business and conceivably miss a deadline.

4. Planning Made Easy

Plan your days and time blocks by your mood and productivity.  Batch all of your creative work when you are most creative, batch your analytical work when you are focused, batch your training and research when you feel least inspired.   

5. Make Large Projects Happen

Look at the entire project, take all the similar aspects, and do them at the time.

6. More Efficient Process

The more you work on the same task, the faster you become.  You know what you are doing; therefore, your time in the planning mode decreases, and you become more efficient.

7. Promotes Automation

When you work in the same area, you find ways to automate tasks that you wouldn’t have thought to automate previously.  Think about McDonald’s automation to fast food.  

 8. Greater Chance of Completion

When you are working efficiently, with less stress, more focused, with a schedule and a plan, the likelihood of completion drastically increases.  

 9. Less Errors

When you are less distracted and more focused, you produce fewer errors.  Chunking your tasks allows you to see the project in the moment and pivot from common mistakes made while multitasking. 

How to Batch Tasks For Your Business? 

Okay, So you see the benefits from batching your work, and now you want to know how to batch your task, right?  No worries, I gotcha covered!

1. List and Prioritize Your Tasks

Start by creating a list of your typical tasks and prioritize what is most important for the week. If it’s difficult to create a list and figure out what has the highest priority.  Grab this freebie. Notice I mentioned typical tasks because every week may vary slightly but think of your most common requirements.  One-off duties will, of course, be included, but it’s good to establish your core.  

Here’s what that looks like; Say, you have a month where you want to have four blog posts, four podcasts, and four videos.

You can batch these tasks by days.  One day you can write your blog, another podcast, and another day record your videos.  

Breaking the task down into smaller specific action steps before the task itself helps you glide like honey!  For example, schedule time to research your topics for the blog, the purpose, of you if you were to break those larger tasks into smaller specific action steps, it would look like one blog post a 

Break the Big Tasks into smaller specific and more specific action steps. 

Try to group similar tasks together.

2. Make a Plan

Have a simple 1-page business plan that you can easily refer back to.  Plan out what you want to accomplish.  Where are your people hanging out?  What platforms are they on?  Do they read blogs, listen to podcasts, or watch videos?  Based on your audience, plan out how you will reach them, how many times a week.  

3. Allot Specific Time slot to each Group

Now you have an idea of your tasks according to their priority. So it’s time to allot a specific time slot to each group. You can decide the duration of the time slot all by yourself, but usually, I prefer to allow at least 90 minutes for each slot. 

4. Avoid Distractions

Keep your phone away from you, set boundaries with others, and guard your work time as well as your break times.

5. Don’t Forget to Take Breaks

Allot 15-20 min of breaks in between before jumping onto the next group. Remember, “Productivity is all about Balance.” This will give a much-required rest to your brain so that you can perform even better. Take a walk, read something inspiring, have a chat.  Just be sure to take a break.

What is The Difference Between Time Blocking and Time Batching?

Time Blocking and Time Batching are two separate time management techniques that are used to increase productivity and promote deep focus work without getting distracted. Although one should not get confused between the two, they may seem similar to each other, but there’s a slight difference between the two.

In Time batching, we try to combine similar tasks together rather than distributing them throughout the day or week. This will help you save the mental energy you lose while jumping from one task to another.

But In Time Blocking, you dedicated a specific amount of time on your schedule to a particular task or project. This actually saves your mental energy to decide what to do and when to do.

How to Combine Time Blocking and Task Batching Together?

The Best thing about these two time management techniques is that you can combine these two together and get the most out of your schedule. By combining both strategies together, you can easily design your own Personal Productivity Calendar. You can start by combining similar tasks and creating a group and then allocating a specific time for all the groups. As a result, you can significantly improve your productivity.  Yep! Still winning! 😉 

9 Easy Steps to Batch and Time Block Large Tasks

1. Look at the project and its purpose.
2. Prioritize the task
3. Break it down into smaller chunks or blocks that can be completed within two hours.  
4. Schedule each task in a time blocking calendar.
5. Schedule breaks
6. Remove distractions and set boundaries
7. Set a timer
8. Focus on the one before moving on
9. Complete the task and reward yourself!

Does Task-Batching Always Work?

Does Time batching always work?  Is it a cure-all?  To some, it’s a lifesaver to all tasks however, to others, it’s overwhelming.  For instance, here are some reasons why batch working fails. 

Batch working doesn’t work well when:

• You have to force it. 
• You don’t have a plan
• Your tasks are not prioritized
• If you have lost creativity, energy, interest, or if you notice a lack of efficiency or productivity.
• You fail to schedule the tasks.
• You haven’t set boundaries and removed distractions.

Is Task Batching Right for You?

Now you see what batch work or task batching is all about.  Is it right for you?  I’d love to know your thoughts because it’s been a game-changer for me!  What tasks will you batch first?