How many weeks ahead do you work? Are you ahead a week, or are you planning the next day the day before? Either way is fine, but if you want to change from everyday to being a week ahead, it may take some extra work on your part to get it going. Here’s how using task batching might be used in your small business as a time management technique.
Task Batching as a Small Business Owner
There are many different time management techniques to choose from. Using them can save you time in your day to day , which can add up.
What is Task Batching?
Task batching is a grouping of work tasks that are similar and they’re all done on the same day. You give each day a “theme” or a board category that you can work within, and you get every task you need for that category on that day. So all of social media content is researched, planned, written, made and scheduled all on Sunday. Anything that had to do with a video camera – stills, or actual video – gets done on Monday, and its according to your content plan that you made on Sunday.
To get ahead, it will cause you to double up on days, or once you get better at the whole new schedule, you may find that you’re able to do 2 weeks instead of just one in planning and implementing.
I used this time management technique a lot, as I was working in the my direct sales business. All of my content got planned on Sunday night, and I worked on the still graphics that didn’t need my face in them, and got them scheduled on one channel. Monday was the day I did video camera stuff – pictures of actual items, props etc. I also filmed content Monday. Tuesday was look through Instagram and get audios for the videos, and write out the captions, and got them completely ready to post through the week. Wednesday was shipping and customer follow up day, together because they’re something I had to do several times a week. Thursday was for blogging, either writing, researching or both. Friday was shipping and customer follow up.
I posted the pictures I took, and the videos I took the rest of the week as well. This worked for me, since I was able to plan and run with the plan the same week. Whenever I fell off the wagon (because I would I’m only human), I would start by planning the week after the one I started working on. That way I could start ahead as best I could.
When Task Batching, are you Doing Multiple Tasks?
No, not at the same time. I’m a big believer in working on one task at a time. So if you’re in Canva, you’re in Canva until you’ve downloaded every graphic you need. You wouldn’t believe how much time you lose as you jump from task to task, dropping one in the middle of doing it. The start and stop of your brain alone saves on minutes.
How do I Decide what goes where in the Week?
Don’t overthink it. You can actually put them anywhere in the week, and use the act of doing it to adjust the schedule for the way that works well with your brain. If you find that you’re not creative on Sunday, (it happens) then its totally okay to change it to another day to try. If you find you’d rather be inspired by the pictures you took for your social media content, then move the tasks around so the pictures get done before the planning.
You want your daily work day to work for you and your brain, and the way it works. Forcing anything to much can lead to burnout, and a general dislike for the tasks you have to in your small business. That’s a point that no one wants to get too.