Coffee Talk #222: Get stuff done with Batch Work

Grab your cup and join me for a chat.

If we were having coffee together this week, I’d tell you that I’m thinking a lot about priorities. Especially as I’m moving into the 1:1 coach sphere, I’m hearing the words ‘time’ and ‘priorities’ a lot.

“I don’t have enough time.”

This is probably the BIGGEST reason I hear from people related to not working out. And listen – I’m not here to shame you into working out. Not at all. I’m here to help you recognize whether working out is a PRIORITY for you. Not having enough time is the same as ‘that’s not a priority for me.’ And look – your priorities are going to be different from everyone else’s.

But once you choose the things that are meaningful to you – the things that MUST get done in order for you to do your job, work in your flow—you have to own them. And FOCUS on them.

Let me introduce my favorite way to tackle some of my projects: BATCH WORK.

Batch working is highly-focused, topic-specific forms of working. What do I mean by this? It is dividing your workflow into different days/hours of ONE TOPIC instead of jumping around from task to task.

Batching your work allows you to focus in for a day or two, create crazy amounts of content, and then take it out of your mind for WEEKS at a time! Think: no more half-finished projects. Think: crossing off items on that to do list! With just a few hours of focused work, you can be DONE with one task and not have to think about it again.

Here’s how batch work helps my life. As an example, I host virtual groups where I post a 5 or 10 minute video every day. If I spent every day creating a video for the next day, the work might be choppy or rushed. Instead, I set aside an hour at the beginning of each week to create ALL of the videos. I’m in the zone. I’m in a flow. I’m able to approach the task with all hands on deck.

Another example: meal prep. Instead of thinking about what fuel to have for breakfast or lunch each day, I spend about an hour on Sundays prepping those meals for the week. I can concentrate, focus, and I’m saving myself from decision making and making not so great fuel choices later int the week.

Here’s how I approach this and how I’m able to get so many things crossed off my list:

Identify priorities. Not a priority? Don’t waste your time. Batch work or not, this is taking up space in your universe and it doesn’t pay rent.

List your process. Within each priority, list the tasks you need to complete to make the things happen. Do you notice any repetitive tasks? These might be perfect candidates for batch work!

Make a schedule. Even if you can only dedicate 15 minutes to a task, that’s 15 minutes of focused energy, focused time. It makes a DIFFERENCE. Bonus: create ‘meetings’ on your schedule for those tasks that require some real dedicated, uninterrupted time.

Focus on a task and complete it. Don’t move on to the next task until you’ve completed the previous task.

Batch work saves my life so much. I can’t imagine starting a week without meal prepping and I can’t imagine not having all of my week’s videos completed and scheduled in my groups. It gives me the flexibility to handle any potential interruptions or unplanned activities that pop up during the week.