The Power of Batching: How Time Blocking will Transform Your Agency

Hey everybody, Let me start by asking you a question. Do you constantly feel overwhelmed and buried under a never ending to do list? Does your day consist of frantically jumping between answering emails, client demands, squeezing in some marketing of your agency if you get a spare moment, and admin tasks? Well, if all of that sounds familiar, trust me, you're not alone. The life of an agency entrepreneur is a juggling act. Our work comes with lots of complexity and constant, constant context. Switching this type of fragmented work takes a major toll on your productivity and focus. In fact, research shows that an average office worker is interrupted every three minutes. Just take that in. And not only that, but then it can take over 20 minutes to fully refocus after each interruption. By the end of the day, you're feeling exhausted, you struggle to remember what you even accomplished, and you don't feel particularly motivated or a sense of satisfaction that you've done everything you needed to. So is the solution. Well, the solution is batching. Batching is a simple yet powerful productivity method that allows you to take back control of your time and of your focus. Batching means by grouping similar tasks together and then setting aside a dedicated blocks of time to focus on those tasks. And by doing this, you can work with greater efficiency, greater focus and greater intensity. So in today's episode we'll dive into the specifics of how batching works and why it's an essential strategy for you and your agency. With some tweaks to your schedule, you can get more high quality work done in less time. And don't we all want to do that? I'll share example batching frameworks that have allowed me to improve my own productivity as both an agency leader and now an agency coach. So if you're ready to step out of the frantic, distracted whirlwind, then today's episode is for you. So let's get started. I'm Rob Da Costa and this is the Agency Accelerator Podcast. As someone who has stood in your shoes and having started, grown and sold my own agency, I know just how it feels in the ups and downs of agency life. So this podcast aims to ease your journey just a little by sharing mine and my guests experiences and advice as you navigate your way to growing a profitable, sustainable and enjoyable business. Now before we jump into today's podcast on batching, I just want to tell you a little about my Agency Accelerator Live workshops that I run every Saturday, second Wednesday at 09:00 UK time. These are all value, no sales, 45 minute sessions where we cover everything to do with running an agency from how to break free from over servicing, how to use email marketing as a lead generation strategy, how to convert those leads, how to be more profitable, how to attract more clients, how to consistently grow your agency, how to get work off your plate, and many other topics. So if you head over to dacostacoaching.co.uk agency accelerator live events, then you will see a list of forthcoming events and you can register for whichever ones you want. So please do join me. We've been running these this year. I've received fantastic feedback from people who have joined the workshops telling me how much value they got from them. So do make sure you have a look and register to come along okay, let's jump back in today's podcast on batching. So let's kick today's episode off by giving a definition of what exactly batching is. Batching in itself is quite a simple concept, but often it's not that easy to implement. So basically batching is scheduling blocks of time to focus on one particular type of task, such as administrative work or content creation, or client work or client reports, and so on. So for example, you might spend Monday morning doing all of your content writing for the week. You might spend Wednesday afternoon day dedicated to tackling some of your admin tasks like invoicing or expense reports. You might block out three hours to solely focus on writing that client proposal, and so on. Now, I totally appreciate that we can't always be regimented to say every Monday morning I'm always going to do my content writing for the week because obviously clients might say I need to meet you Monday morning. But the secret here is that you move the block of time so that you still keep that block of time even if you can't do it on a Monday morning. And the other secret to this is is the fact that you are solely going to focus on this and you're going to block out all of the other distractions. So that's the concept. Pretty simple. As I said, not always so easy to implement. But let's just talk a little bit about some of the benefits of batching. And I've alluded to some of those benefits already in the introduction. But there are definitely many benefits to you as the agency owner. And the first one is that, well, it allows you to focus on one thing at a time. So having an extended period dedicated just one activity minimizes distractions and it really lets you get into that state of flow, which means you're going to do your best creative work when you're just singularly focused on that task at hand. Secondly, it saves time because less time is wasted switching between different tasks and then reorienting yourself and trying to get back in the flow, which means that you can work faster. And according to studies, it can take up to 20 minutes to fully refocus when context switching between tasks happen. So that's really profound. Then you can Google this, and it will give you various things in 20 minutes, 23 minutes. But if you get distracted from writing that client proposal, then it can take you up to 20 minutes to fully get back in the flow and refocus back into that proposal. When you've been interrupted by a client call or an email that you saw pinging up or a staff member asking for your time, the next benefit is that it leads fundamentally to better work because your work will be high quality since you can devote your full attention to it and let your creative ju run free. Another benefit is it reduces stress because you're able to focus on one set of related tasks before moving to the next. And therefore it keeps you really organized. Now, this is a big one, and I really challenge your mindset here. Rather than thinking, I couldn't possibly do that, Rob, I want you to think about how you can do it. And that is by turning off notifications like email and social media during these batching blocks, it can help you maintain focused because you won't lose time to these intermittent disruptions and distractions. Now, realistically, you can stay focused on a cognitively demanding task for around 50 to 90 minutes before you need a break. So take short breaks between batching blocks to recharge, and in those breaks, you know, obviously check your email and look at those other notifications. But the key is, in those focus blocks of time, you're only focusing on the task at hand. Now, batching allows you to work with much greater intensity and minimize distraction. And of course, this leads for greater productivity in less time. And that's the key here. Greater productivity in less time and a better sense of accomplishment. Because you have scheduled a bunch of tasks, you're actually getting them done, rather than just firefighting and dealing with he who shouts loudest. So that's all very well and good, but how can you start implementing batching in your agency? So let me share with you some tips to consider. So, first of all, obviously group similar tasks. So assess all of your responsibilities and tasks you have to do today and this week, and then group them into logical batches, such as admin, content creation, client work, proposal writing, marketing, sales, team management, and so on. Then you want to schedule set batching blocks. So dedicate chunks of your time in your calendar to each of these batches and try to be consistent from week to week. Now, I'm not saying that your whole diary should be full of these chunks of batch time, but you certainly want to think, how can I get the most out of my day? And therefore what parts of my day can I block out to do this particularly challenging thinking work or even a task that I don't want to do? Now, when you're doing that, you need to absolutely minimise distractions. So during your batching blocks, work in offline mode. So turn off all your notifications, close your email, avoid multitasking, say you're out so that people don't disrupt you. You could even look at using a tool like Freedom, which actually stops you for a set period of time accessing certain apps and emails. If you, if you're not good at doing yourself, then a tool like that will definitely help. And turn your phone on to silent. I just want to challenge you there because I know people think, oh my God, I can't possibly do that. But it's partly. We are addicted to all of these notifications and technology such as phones is winning that battle for our attention. So we need to kind of reverse engineer this and go back to a more simplified life like we had back in the 90s. Now, the next tip is that you need to stick to the allocated time. So I really want you to resist the urge to keep working once that batch of time has finished. So stop when the time is up to retain effectiveness and almost set yourself a challenge to see how much can you get done in that period of time. Now, obviously, the more you do this, the better you're going to get at estimating how long something will take. And of course, something might take two batches of time to get done. But the point is, when you're in the batching mode, that's the only thing you are focused on. And as you learn, adjust as needed, refine your batching schedule over time as your tasks change and you get better at this. And I think this is a really important point. Adapt it to suit your energy levels. You know, we've all got our sort of daily biorhythms where we're really great at doing that thinking stuff and other times of the day where we kind of want to do something a little bit more mindless. So just adapt your time to suit your energy levels so that you do the hardest stuff when you're at your best. So for me, that's first thing in the morning, that's when I do my really hard, not hard, but, you know, thinking stuff. And that after lunch phase is where I do some less thinking things like doing my invoicing or just more admin tasks. So adapt your own unique biorhythm. And the next tip is to utilize buffers. So schedule breaks between batches to clear your mind, check your emails, do all of that stuff before you go into the next batch of time and batching task. Now I want to share a few examples with you of how effective batching can be. I'm going to start with some of my own examples. So one thing I do once a month, typically on a Thursday afternoon, is I record for podcast. So this is a Thursday now when I'm recording this. And this is podcast number three that I've recorded. Now it's so much quicker if I've outlined and scripted the podcast in advance and then I just get everything set up so I can record four podcasts. And let's face it, once I've recorded four podcasts, that's it for the month. Yes, I've got to do the show notes and everything else, but I've done all the recordings. That's one activity once a month that produces all my podcasts. Another thing I do that again typically takes a morning or an afternoon is I write all my emails for the month. So I use AI tools to help me outline them, and then I will write that email and I will do four of them in one session so that I've got my month's worth of weekly broadcasts that I send out to my list and then that's a task that's done and dusted. I guarantee that if I were to write those emails randomly or record the podcast one at a time, it would take me way longer than a morning or afternoon to get it done. So there is huge benefits in batching significant tasks like that. So you might want to schedule a couple of hours a week to write your content for the week. You might schedule a couple of hours a week to get all your admin tasks done. It might be that you need to script a bunch of YouTube videos that you're going to put into your channel. So again, if you can batch all of that into one session, you can turn off all your distractions and so on. Then you're going to be not only more efficient, but you're also head is going to be in the game. So you're probably going to do a better job and ultimately you're going to save yourself time and you are going to maximize your productivity. So that's my advice today, which is all about batching. I hope you agree that grouping similar tasks together and setting aside blocks of time can work wonders for your efficiency and focus. Yes, it takes some discipline. Yes, you need to be determined to turn off all your distractions and just focus on the task at hand. But I guarantee you that this will make you more efficient, more productive, and give you a better sense of accomplishment. Now, I hope these tips have been really useful. If you want to learn more time management tips, then do download my free guide and I'll put a link to that in the show notes. And of course, make sure you sign up for the Agency Accelerator Live workshops. And if you found this episode useful, then please do share it with your colleagues and your friends. And make sure you consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, because that helps me reach a wider audience. So other than that, thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next Thursday for the next episode of the Agency Accelerator Podcast.