Batching is a popular technique for increasing productivity. However, you can use it for more than increasing the amount of work you get done. It’s a great strategy for optimizing your life.
The fast-paced world we live in pushes us toward multitasking and adding to already heavy workloads. But creating or maintaining work-life balance requires using strategies that allow productivity without crowding out personal growth and balance.
Finding ways to prioritize and get more done is good for your sense of accomplishment and sanity. It lets you work smart and play.
Batching means grouping similar tasks together within your day or week.
How does batching apply to optimizing your life?
Have you ever rushed around all day without feeling like you got the important things on your to-do list done?
If so, you’re not alone. You probably jumped from task to task, thinking that moving quickly would let you get more done.
However, neuroscientists state that the human brain can’t focus on several tasks at once. In other words, you’re not working on all of your tasks at once; you’re simply switching between them quickly. However, repeatedly shifting focus results in lost productivity.
So, if your phone beeps that you have a text or you decide that you want to check in on a Facebook conversation, your focus shifts and time is stolen from your life-optimizing goals.
How to use batching effectively for an optimized life
Traditional batching applies only to work and means limiting email and social media checks to specific times of the day and blocking similar items together so that your focus is uninterrupted.
If you apply the above strategy to your work, you’ll notice productivity increases. However, if you take it a step further and apply it to personal growth and life balance, you’ll see an increased return on your efforts.
For example:
If you read Same Shit Different Day and decided that you have a fear program, a lack program, and issues with self-worth, working on all of them at once is tempting. However, you’ll make more progress if you focus on one area at a time.
You can do that by working through the exercises for fear on specific days of the week or specific weeks during the month. You can do the exercises for lack on different days of the week or during a different week of the month. Either way, you’ll allow yourself to fully focus on one area at a time, enabling greater progress.
If you’d like more information about creating life balance, you might enjoy some of these blogs: Creating balance with mindfulness. If your life feels out of control to the point that you think it sucks, this article is for you: What to do when your life sucks
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