This past week I posted on my Instagram to see what y’all ACTUALLY want to hear, I LOVE making specific posts based on what you ask for(plus, I lol’d on the couch reading some of your responses).

Something that came up constantly?

“I am amazed at how much you can get done! I love hearing about your processes, schedule, how you got to where you are.”

“I struggle with my insane workload—and my inability to take a break.”

“How do I keep up with everything when I literally have only a few hours a day to do it all?!”

“You’ve talked about how you batch work, but what does that actually look like?”

You asked, I’m providing.

Today, I’m going to walk you through how I batch my work into theme days. 

Reminder: You don’t get paid for what you PLAN to do. You get paid for what you ACTUALLY DO.

If you’ve ever looked at someone else and wondered how they do it all, this is for you (and I’m not talking about Beyonce’s hours in a day, I hate that meme, honestly—that’s comparing apples to oranges!) I’m talking about those of us who have similar buckets of time, energy, finances, and resources … how do we normal people (working from home, homeschooling…all.the.things.) get more done in a day?

If it seems like you’re always busy and never making any progress … thus burnout happens quickly, this is for you, too.

You’ll learn:

• My own 7 batch day themes, and a few other ideas to get you started
• Why it’s not going to be a perfect system, and that’s ok
• What task switching is, and why it affects your work

Let’s go! Oh, and the tool I use to project manage my business is called Trello. We LOVE Trello and Asana around here— they are both fabulous project management tools. The trick? Find one you like, and don’t dip a toe in—dive headfirst.

If you are interested in snagging a sample board of mine, grab it here or down below.👇 👇 

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What is Task Switching?

So, distractions are actually a BIG reason our productivity gets shot and our time gets lost.

Captian Obvious, I know.

BUT, did you know this is due to something task switching—sometimes called context switching. This is when you flip from one activity to another, forgetting that your brain has to play catch-up and get itself re-aligned contextually every time.

You know when you’re working on something and it feels good, you’ve hit your stride … when all of a sudden you get distracted?

Maybe your phone goes off and you check it, or your child walks in (hello work from home/quaratine life) and needs something, or maybe you realize you haven’t put in the Instacart order for the day and you’re out of milk and bread.  

A study by Dr. Gloria Mark cited in Inc. magazine found that It takes an average of 25 minutes to resume a task after being interrupted and get back in that state of flow.

Crazy, right?

That same study showed we are usually working for about 1 minutes and 15 seconds before we get interrupted.  That feels about right considering we check our phones upwards of 100 times a day.

[bctt tweet=”We get interrupted—on average—once every 1 minute and 15 seconds. Source: https://www.inc.com/laura-montini/infographic/the-high-cost-of-multitasking.html” username=”via AshlynSCarter”]

I’m not immune. In fact, I really struggle with this. I get new ideas constantly, I love to chat. But (maybe more than all that!) I also love to be OFF the clock and done with work.

So I want to tell you about how I theme my days so I can stay focused, maintain my sanity, and get more done in less time(because we ALL have less time these days). Caution: this may lead to less burnout. 😉

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How to Batch Your Work into Days

What you do is pick one focus for the day, and do most—if not all—things that day. This helps you keep the main thing the main thing.

This concept isn’t new—I first learned it from high-performance coach Todd Herman. Turns out, there’s a lot of research out there on how batching tasks into themed days can reduce that context switching that’s going on in your brain, helping you focus and get more done.

I’m going to tell you what I do on my batch days, but I also want to give you a bunch of ideas—this will be unique to your business and what you do. 

• Sundays: Personal Growth
  • Church(online for now!), reading, setting goals for the week, reviewing last week’s goals, resting, rejuvenating time with friends/fam, usually digital detox day
• Mondays: Marketing
  • Do my #marketingmonday and editorial calendar workflow. Ex. Write the whole week’s Instagram posts, Facebook posts, and blogs; pitch new partnership ideas; record videos; think strategically about our marketing and sales plan
• Tuesdays: Client Work
  • Literally just client work. I don’t change out of my clothes or ponytail, and I write copy for clients all.livelong.day.
• Wednesdays: Product
  • Reviewing courses, listening to students/our audience, thinking through new programs and shop items/templates that people have asked for, creating new tools for our audience, tweaking 1:1 service workflows so they give a better client experience
• Thursdays: Meetings
  • All client calls, potential client calls, coffee dates (when those are a thing again), podcast interviews, etc.
• Fridays: Finances & Admin
  • My #financefriday workflow to check in on our PnL, make sure I’ve gotten payroll stuff to our bookkeeper, clean up any systems, finish up work that’s not been completed
• Saturdays: Rest
  • Workout, rejuvenating time with friends/fam, no work

Seriously, this will look different for everyone. Make SURE you have 1, maybe 2 days in your zone of genius—the thing you do best. For me, that’s writing and client work.

Here are some other ideas I’ve run across:

• Writing Day or Content Creation Day
• Coaching Call Days
• Money Day
• Management & Team Day
• Administrative Days
• Meeting Days
• Relationship Building/Networking Day
• Thinking Days

So, what does this look like in action?

Well, batching your work into theme days helps reduce decision fatigue—it takes the guesswork out of any task that comes on my plate … it just goes on the docket for whatever day it fits. For example, when I get a to-do from my bookkeeper, it goes on Friday. If there’s a new blog I have an idea about, I put it on next Monday’s list. If someone wants to meet, I throw out times for the next Thursday that I’m available.

Related: My Quarantine Routine: 4 Tips to Plan Your Week for Success & Be More Productive.

I hope that makes sense—it’s like having a bunch of buckets or bins on your desk, and you just drop off the task in the bucket instead of stopping everything to do it.

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3 Tips to Implement Your Own Batch Theme Days

First, it is not a perfect system—be okay with that!

Days are going to bleed into the next day. Client work won’t all fit neatly each week into the 4, 8, or 9 hours you’ve set aside each week. Calls—obviously—can’t be held by everyone everywhere on one day of the week, so you have to be flexible.

This is just a framework, albeit a really good one!

It does mean you say no more.

Another side effect of this: you can’t do everything, which you learn quickly. Once I really realized what all I needed to get done as I transitioned out of a corporate, 9-to-5 job and into being a small business owner, I realized I wore all the hats … which means I can’t do it all.

If I only have a certain amount of hours each month on the clock, that means I can only take on so many clients.

That means I can’t write a new blog post every day of the week (phew!).

That means I can’t meet for coffee with every single person who asks in our inbox.

You just learn better to see how much time you REALLY have, and how to prioritize that time.

Related: 10 Things I Don’t Do Every Day (& Why I Think That’s Okay)

Look for other ways to batch.

I have a friend that does client work one week, her own business work the next week, so on and so forth. I have another friend who batches her weeks—for example, she’ll record all her podcasts for a couple of months in 1 week’s time.

Batching into theme days doesn’t have to look like days—weeks may be better for you!

Also, maybe you’re better at looking at the morning vs. afternoon: You can spend the first 4 hours of the day focused on your BIG task, and post-lunch, do mindless things and admin work like hammer out your inbox (make DARN sure you’re using a template system so you only check your inbox and get in, get out in a tiny timeframe each day … answering emails isn’t the work you’re being paid to do for clients unless you’re a VA!), respond on social media, etc.

Related: The Best Automation Workflows for Your Business

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Our brain is built for focus, and just like perfectionism, multitasking isn’t a virtue. In fact, it doesn’t work! Let your brain stay in one lane at a time, and you’ll find you can focus better on one task at a time.

Here’s my challenge—see how you can implement batching and theme days. Make a list of the big buckets of tasks you do, and for the next week, try scheduling related activities ONLY for the specific days. (You may need to adjust as you go along, and that’s SO okay. You have to start somewhere!).

I would love to know some days that you use for themes and batching, I’m always looking for new pointers and love to hear how your business runs, so share that in the comments below

Don’t forget to grab your “How To Day-Batch Your Work” freebie below!

Looking for a bit more assistance with your schedule? I recently shared my “Quarantine Routine” on my YouTube channel, where I’m walking you through how I’ve adjusted my schedule to get the most done in these crazy times. Spoiler Alert: I couldn’t do it without batching my days!

Okay, now get out there and work form a place of rest—not hustle.

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