7 Task Batching Techniques to Boost Your Productivity

Many group are obsessed pinch multitasking. It’s not uncommon to spot group bounce astir from their smartphone to their laptop to their iPad and backmost to their smartphone believing they are getting much done successful little time. But multitasking is simply a myth. Instead of multitasking, what group are doing is simply jumping betwixt tasks and successful doing truthful sidesplitting their productivity.

To extremity multitasking and commencement getting things done, you request to study nan task batching techniques.

What Is Batching?

Batching is simply a word utilized for computers. Early computers were tin of only moving 1 task astatine a time. Advances successful exertion meant computers could tally aggregate jobs scheduled astatine times that made nan astir sense.

Batching is simply a very realistic attack to boosting productivity. It maximizes attraction and reduces distractions by grouping akin tasks that require akin resources.

Before You Start to Batch Your Tasks…

The flip broadside of each nan unthinkable things exertion has fixed america complete nan past fewer decades is nan sheer number of things that tin distract america from achieving our tasks and goals. On average, we get interruptions each 8 minutes. Turn disconnected silent mode connected your phone, and soon you’ll beryllium inundated pinch beeps and whistles. And if societal media notifications, emails, and telephone calls, don’t get you, nan walk-in will.

Just deliberation astir really galore times you’ve heard “Have you sewage 5 minutes to spare?” aliases “Can I get your thief pinch something?” Most group don’t mean to interrupt you, but inevitably that’s what happens. After all, erstwhile was nan past clip you recovered yourself conscionable doing thing astatine nan office?

There’s ever thing connected our sheet that needs our attention. Many group invited interruptions arsenic it gives them nan illusion of being much productive.

However, thing could beryllium further from nan truth. According to 1 study,

“It takes an mean of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get backmost to nan task.”

It’s a existent productivity killer. Instead, what group request to beryllium doing is focusing connected a azygous task and getting it done.

To guarantee that we tin return afloat advantage of nan batching techniques, we request to first limit our distractions:

• Turn connected nan airplane mode – Airplane mode cuts retired annoying notifications connected our phones and apps for machine users. They artifact entree to websites for a definite duration.
• Ues a calendar – Open spaces will soon capable up if you’re not careful, truthful it’s captious you book clip pinch yourself to attraction connected nan tasks you request to get to. Set speech a fewer clip slots to forestall interruptions, and you’ll beryllium fresh to rock.

Here’re more ways to thief you get free of distractions and enactment focus.

Now that we person clip group speech to attraction connected what we request to get done, let’s return a look astatine nan different batching techniques you tin use.

7 Task Batching Techniques

When it comes to batching, location isn’t conscionable 1 attack you tin take:

1. Pomodoro Technique

Many group see nan Pomodoro Technique nan beatified grail of batching working. Developed successful nan 80s by Francesco Cirillo, it is simply a process wherever group break down their clip into short increments of 25-minute blocks passim nan time pinch periodic breaks.

Each 25-minute artifact is called a “pomodoro.” These short boosts of attraction forestall intelligence fatigue and let group to get tasks done faster.

After each pomodoro, return a short five-minute break to refresh your assemblage and eyes. After 4 pomodoros return an extended break of 15 to 30 minutes.

2. Flowtime Technique

Not astir arsenic well-known arsenic nan Pomodoro Technique, nan Flowtime Technique is nan brainchild of Zoe Read-Bivens who came up pinch it arsenic she recovered pomodoros interrupted her travel excessively often.

The cardinal to utilizing nan Flowtime Technique is creating a timesheet that will let you to negociate your regular activities. It tin beryllium done connected your iPad aliases by hand, each has its advantages.

Doing it digitally allows you to easy move things astir and support way of overtime. However, I for illustration to spell aged schoolhouse and constitute things out. The elemental enactment of penning things down increases your chance of doing them by 42% according to Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor astatine nan Dominican University of California.

On your timesheet, you’ll want to see nan pursuing file headings:

• Task Name
• Start Time
• End Time
• Interruptions
• Work Time
• Break Time

Over time, this will let you to create a travel that useful champion for you.

When choosing a task, don’t make it excessively wide a statement. Instead, attraction connected 1 peculiar task that is easy to do. In galore ways, you’re slicing and dicing your tasks up into much manageable pieces.

There is only 1 norm you must adhere to erstwhile moving connected your task: perfectly nary multitasking.

Work connected your chosen tasks until you request a break. Don’t fto your timepiece find really overmuch clip you want to give to a task.

Instead, activity until you consciousness fatigue mounting successful aliases nan imaginative juices aren’t flowing. The cardinal is to support moving if you find yourself successful a groove.

The longest play of clip you should beryllium moving connected a azygous task is astir 90 minutes. After that magnitude of time, you’ll get diminishing returns.

It’ll beryllium overmuch amended to return a well-earned break astatine that time. Your assemblage and mind will convey you.

Be judge to grounds nan clip you spent connected your task and nan magnitude of your break.

Also, beryllium judge to grounds distractions arsenic they happen. This is simply a alternatively eye-opening exercise.

Most group person nary thought who aliases what is eating their clip away. “I don’t cognize wherever nan clip went” is simply a communal point you’ll perceive group say. This will show you wherever your cracks are and let you to create strategies aliases solutions to forestall them from affecting you regularly.

3. Eisenhower Matrix

This applicable strategy was made celebrated successful Steven Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, though he didn’t mention to it arsenic such.

The extremity is to create a two-by-two grid that breaks into 4 quadrants: urgent, not urgent, important, and not important, arsenic you tin spot successful nan image beneath illustrated by ToDoist:

The cardinal is to redo this grid astatine nan extremity of each time and definite items will person moved from 1 conception to different owed to nan day’s activities. As you tin spot from nan diagram, each container has 1 action assigned to it.

• Urgent and important: Do it
• Important and not urgent: Schedule it
• Urgent and not important: Delegate it
• Not urgent and not important: Delete it

Many usage this for semipermanent readying successful operation pinch pomodoros for regular work.

4. GTD

Getting Things Done (otherwise known arsenic GTD) was developed by clip guidance master David Allen. In comparison to different batch working, it focuses connected readying alternatively than action.

To prevention time, I promote you to watch this video connected nan GTD method arsenic it does a awesome occupation summarizing it.

5. Gamification

Work for galore tin beryllium tedious. The regular grind does return its toll, which is why gamifying nan tasks astatine manus tin beryllium an effective measurement to trim nan monotony of repetitive tasks.

The Forest app is simply a visual-based productivity app that shows nan maturation of nan integer tree. It’s simple—once you works a tree, nan timer starts (and tin beryllium group for anyplace betwixt 10 minutes and 2 hours).

As agelong arsenic you enactment disconnected your screen, beryllium it your smartphone aliases laptop, nan character will decorativeness increasing and beryllium added to your on-screen for today. If not, nan character withers and dies.

It mightiness sound alternatively silly, but it’s amazingly effective astatine getting group to attraction arsenic seeing your trees turn gives you a ocular practice of your advancement each day.

Who says you can’t person nosy astatine work?

6. 52/17

Created by Canadian-born tech-enthusiast Julia Gifford, nan 52/17 conception intends breaking down each hr of nan activity time into 52 minutes of focused activity and 17 minutes of break time.

You tin make usage of this timer to thief you:

7. Themed Days

Another measurement of approaching batch activity is to simply taxable your days. Joel Osteen, nan Christian evangelist, sets speech each time for a different task.

On Wednesday, he thinks, reads, and listens to audio programs to get fresh for his Sunday sermon. Thursday, he writes his sermon word-for-word. Friday is devoted to memorization, and Saturday is his dress capacity day.

Most people, though, can’t return advantage of this attack because they are employees. But for influencers aliases CEOs, it tin revolutionize really you work.

Final Thoughts

There’s a never-ending quest for CEOs, managers, entrepreneurs, and students to find really to boost productivity. Task batching techniques do conscionable that. The only mobility is which method useful champion for you.

Featured photograph credit: Jonathan Francisca via unsplash.com