Batch Your Tasks

Description

Task batching is the process of grouping similar tasks together in order to improve productivity and focus. Most people work hard for 8 hours a day and get little to nothing done because their tasks are interrupted with checking email or moving on to another task briefly. Task batching allows you to focus on a specific task for a set amount of time before moving on to the next.

Time Commitment

Organizing your schedule for the week can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on your work.

Suggested Frequency

Work days.

Time of Day

The whole work day.

How to Do It

1. Make a to-do list and prioritize your tasks for the day/week.
2. Breakdown big projects into smaller tasks.
3. Label each task by difficulty and concentration required. Try color coding your tasks. This will make it easy to visualize.
4. Organize your schedule. Group your similar tasks together and block off time to do them throughout the day.

Required Equipment

• Daily Planner (optional)
• Timer/Alarm (optional)

Benefits

• May improve focus
• May improve productivity
• May reduce stress

Why it works

Task batching is extremely effective because it eliminates multi-tasking, which promotes better focus and productivity. This method also works because it allows you to separate tasks which require deep concentration from those that require moderate to low concentration. When big tasks are separated from smaller tasks, you work more efficiently and can get more done in a shorter amount of time.

Possible Side Effects

None.

Tips

• Color code your tasks so you can visualize and identify what kind of work you will be doing.
• Turn off notifications that will distract you while doing your work as this could interrupt your workflow.
• The time of day when you are most productive is when you should schedule your higher priority tasks.
• Use alarms and timers so you know when to move on to a new task.

Supporting Studies and Articles

1. https://mint.intuit.com/blog/relationships/task-batching-5996/#:~:text=Task%20batching%20is%20a%20planning,to%20improve%20focus%20and%20productivity.&text=Whether%20you're%20working%20full,your%20productivity%20while%20reducing%20mistakes
2. https://monday.com/blog/productivity/how-to-improve-productivity-with-time-batching/