Simplify your workload with task batching techniques
Task batching is a powerful productivity technique that can help you maximize your time and accomplish more in less time.
Have you ever been in the middle of an important task, only to be interrupted by a distracting notification on your screen?
📩 Perhaps it's an email from your manager about a new course, and before you know it, you've spent an hour researching it instead of working on your presentation.
If this scenario sounds familiar, you're not alone. Interruptions like these happen to most of us and can be a major productivity spoiler — derailing even the most focused ones.
The good news is that there are ways to combat these distractions and stay on track.
What is Task Batching?
Task batching is a popular technique that many people use to avoid the pitfalls of multitasking.
Multitasking can be tempting, but it's also a major productivity drain. When your attention is divided among too many tasks, it can be difficult to make real progress on anything at all.
That's why task batching is such an effective approach — by grouping similar tasks together, you can stay focused and maximise your productivity.
According to a survey by Udemy, 70% of workers feel distracted while on the job, and 54% of employees say they're interrupted by their phone or instant messaging at least once a day, indicating that distractions are a significant productivity killer in the workplace.1
Let me give you a handy three-step sequence to help you get started.
How to use task batching
With all honesty, task batching is a simple two or three-step sequenced process.
1 | Categorise your tasks for the day
The first question you need to ask is: Looking at everything you need to do for the day, how can you categorise all these tasks into similar groups? Then, do it.
You can choose to organise your tasks by the level of effort, project, or type of actions needed to complete a task, the overall theme of the tasks, etc.
2 | Block off time in your calendar
Once you’ve identified your groups of similar tasks, it is time to schedule them in your calendar. Give yourself ample time to complete them all at once.
This is an estimation of time to start with. Your time estimation will improve as you use task batching as part of daily planning.
If you need to check your emails more often, consider scheduling 30-minute blocks of labelled emails three times during the workday.
If you work in an open-plan office, task batching might seem like a pipe dream rather than an effective method for increasing productivity.
As crazy as it sounds, there’s a way to make batching work for you; I will demonstrate this in the example for this article.
Suppose it is essential for you to always be available for your team. So, batch the block of times labelled ‘team meetings’. This will highlight to your team, colleagues and others the most optimal time to reach you.
3 | Colour code your blocks of time
You can draw your conclusion, but I think you can skip this step entirely and still make the most of task batching.
Colour coding your blocks of time is not a necessary step in this method, and it is merely a visual aid helping you better understand how you’re spending your day at a glance.
It won’t make or break this technique unless your preferred style is visual.
My example of task batching
As you can see from my example, I’ve used a mix of commitments and activities to batch my days. My full-time job takes up the majority of my day, yet there are other tasks I need to get done related to my site project here on Substack and the classes I was making for Skillshare. I need task batching to balance my commitments, or most of the tasks will not get completed.
I’ve also attempted to demonstrate how task batching works at my full-time job. As for many of you, checking emails once every 8 hours would not work— most of the information and instructions are passed down via emails, so I’ve created three batches titled ‘emails’, to ensure I don’t miss any critical information. I batched any work requiring me to sit down with team members in ‘Meetings’; on the other hand, ‘project work’ includes any project work of others and my own initiatives.
What makes task batching effective?
The little trick that makes task batching effective is that tackling similar tasks in a group will limit the amount of context-switching you have to do throughout your day.
That’s not all. By doing so, you are saving YOUR precious time and mental energy.
Using my short story above as an example, scheduling three 15-minute blocks to process email during the day would be more efficient than checking your inbox every time a notification pops up in the corner of your screen.
Physically and mentally, jumping back and forth between tasks is never a good productivity strategy. Period.
Time blocking vs task batching: which productivity strategy is right for you?
Time blocking pairs well with task batching because it saves you from scheduling every task on your calendar. Just block off chunks of time each day or week for when you want to complete a particular batch of activities, e.g., email, invoicing, workouts, meetings, writing, coding, deep work, errands, and meal prep.
Many people believe that keeping ‘busy’ and welcoming interruptions is productive—a mistake.
According to one study — “It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.”2
How often did you remind yourself where you were after being interrupted while reading an email or report? Studies don’t lie.
For more information on the cost of task switching, I’d recommend this article: It takes 23 mins to recover after an interruption from
To take full advantage of task batching, you must silence your notifications and use a calendar (whether it is a calendar on your phone or book style, that’s up to you).
Your task for this week is straightforward. Look at your workload and group as many tasks, commitments, and activities as possible into batches.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on how it worked for you. Did you find it helpful? Were there any parts that didn't work for you? Let me know in the comments!