How To Get More Done

Today let’s talk about how to get more done.

We thoughtlessly waste time, then complain we are out of time, or that there is never enough time.

There are easy ways to combat some of this waste with an easy trick you already do.

The preparation work it takes (physically or mentally) to do a task can take more time than you think. If you can stack up several of the same or similar items and batch them – getting them all done together – you save all the time you would have taken to prep each task separately.

Batching any activity will make your time more powerful and make you feel like you have more of it.

TWEET IT!

Imagine making a couple cookies each evening after dinner when you are feeling like a sweet snack.

Drag out all of the ingredients, measure enough from three cookies, mix and put on a cookie sheet. Bake, cool and enjoy. Oh, and don’t forget to clean up all the dishes for your three cookies.

Then in the morning when you are making lunches for the kids, you want one for each lunch box. Repeat the entire process for your three cookies.

That evening, a couple cookies sounds great. Pull out the flour.

While this may be great for your waistline it is ridiculous for your time. The same prep and clean up time can be used to make a couple dozen cookies that you can store and enjoy day after day.

You are already a batch master

Think about other tasks we routinely batch, like washing or drying clothes, running the dishwasher or grocery shopping. We are already batching and saving tons of time.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” 

― William Penn

Obviously, this one-at-a-time choir sounds silly with dishes or groceries, but it is what many business owners, office administrators, and entrepreneurs do with day-to-day tasks, wasting hours each week.

Invoicing one client, filing two folders, answering emails one by one when they drip in…all huge wastes of time.

Find ways you can batch more of your day-to-day tasks to turbocharge your productivity.

How I batch to save time

Being a long time entrepreneur I have worn my fair share of hats around the office, and still do! I like to know what is happening with my businesses financially all this time and love statistics and reporting, but I batch all my business financial items on Wednesdays. I can reconcile what’s needed, check on past due invoices and run needed reports. I try to keep all financials off limits until Wednesday and hit it all at once.

I pay all bills on Wednesdays. When I receive a bill I strip it down to payment voucher and envelop, marking the date of the Wednesday I need to pay it, drop it in my file and I don’t look at it again until that Wednesday. I pick up only the envelopes with that date a pay all that is needed. It keeps me organized and takes out the second-guessing of when something should be paid or if it got paid. It’s so far, a foolproof method.

A basket is my batching sanity saver at home. I feel like I am picking up kid stuff constantly, or asking them to. So I bought a basket that I have at the bottom of the stairs that catches the days stuff. Shoes, stuffed animals, toys and clothes galore all pile over the top by the end of the day. I take one trip up and sort it as needed. Beats the multiple trips throughout the day I took before, now I just drop it and forget it until that night or until someone can’t find their hoodie. I know where it’s at.

TAKE ACTION

What about you? What do you already batch, maybe things you didn’t realize you batched? Do you see some tasks at home and work that you can pile up and deal with at once? Try at least one thing this week that you can batch either at home or at work. Let me know how you did.