Task Batching

Batching tasks based their type or energy level can be a very effective way to get things done in
less time. This is commonly referred to as “theming”.

Theming helps to craft a group of to-dos together based on either the type of activity (e.g.
filming, emailing, writing) or by the energy level you have (low, medium or high energy). It’s
really simple.

Theming doesn’t have to solely be focused on the task context. You can correlate theming based

on the days of the week, helping you to build a better picture of the week ahead.

“I’m not wasting as much energy going through my day because I’ve categorized it with a specific

focus and then I bookend the day with my morning and evening routines. The only part of the day

that is essentially “different” is the middle.

The themes minimize that by pulling me towards an overarching focus instead of bouncing all over

the place.”

Easy, all you’ll need is your calendar.

Begin by choosing what days you’ll use for specific tasks and items. This could be batching all of
your filming or designing into a 3-hr slot for the week, or all of your document creating into your
4hr afternoon, whatever suits you.

The second thing would be to base your batching around your energy, if you are a morning
person, put some more intense tasks to start your day, then some lighter ones in the afternoons.

Remember to continually adapt task batching to best support your efforts.

Reduce Meetings

Meetings tend to be messy, unorganised and for the sake of attendance and discussion versus the
“doing” element of the work. A long continued tradition continued in an effort to promote team
engagement. But this doesn’t have to be the case, you can have effective meetings or no meeting
at all. Meetings can be easy refined and controlled even by your own efforts, as part of a company
or not.
Begin by adopting a goal-orientated focus around meetings, for your next 10 meetings ask those
who are running the agenda a simple question “What is the aim of this meeting?”, if they can’t
answer directly and simply show you a long agenda list, suggest a desirable outcome for the
meeting for all parties.

Avoid unnecessary meetings going onwards, if it doesn’t seem to drive your work forward, ask to
be kept updated on the meeting notes and that you can’t attend due to workload concerns. Tim has
some effective and more proactive ways to work this to help you get out of all future meetings.

We recommend reading Tim Ferris’s content on how to actively approach meeting etiquette to
avoid any offence caused by poking structural values of your company. Here’s a great article
where Tim dives into how he works.

Pomodoro Timing

Now you’ve analysed your meetings and day theming, it’s time to get specific with your time.

Pomodoro timers are one of the best way to increase the quality of your work sessions and save

yourself time in the long run.

Set a timer for 25-minutes, focus intensely on a task that will take no longer than 25-minutes, then

take a 5-minute break. Repeat the cycle up to 4 times, then take a 30-minute break. Here’s how it

works:

Working in short bursts of time can help to improve your attention on a set task and provide you
with a workflow you can apply across your workday.

The best thing about the Pomodoro timer is it integrates breaks into your routine, providing you
with bursts of relaxation to help keep your flow state of productivity across the day.

These planned breaks tend to have positive effect on your productivity by helping you to mentally
break away from intense, labour intense tasks.

Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980’s, the technique has been expanded and developed
over time to cater to today’s modern world with hundreds of pomodoro apps ready for you to get
started!

Downsize Email Time

Email is one of our most used tools of the day.

This can be damaging. Just checking your inbox 20 times across your day can distract you from
an important task or project. Aim to reduce this to a more respectable amount of say 4–5 times
per day, to help reduce stress levels.

Checking your email tends to waste time and pressure your time doing focused work. This is a
theory that Cal Newport supports in his book Deep Work, suggested that focusing on smaller,
less important tasks can distract from the more intense projects that need your keen eye.

Once you can get into the workflow of “deep work” you’ll be able to avoid nudges and pressures
of work, getting into the most important pieces of your day. So, try avoiding the inbox every 5-
minutes.

Check it every 1–2 hours instead to allow yourself dedicated focus time with no disruptions. This
is one of the hardest things to adopt and will take time to manage email once again and take
control of this bad habit.

Cal extends further about how long emails can improve the quality of your interactions, a 2016
post that will get you thinking even more.