Batching Projects for Efficiency

image from open clipart.org provided by J4p4n

I read "How Can I build My Platform and Still Have Time to Freelance Write?" bt Elna Cain.  If her article had been "and Still Have Time to Creatively Write?" she'd have written a post just for me.  As it is, I found one insight interesting.

Cain  batches her tasks to maximize efficiency.  Batching, according to Cane is about putting similar tasks together to save time.  Like she writers all her articles for her clients and her own blogs, then after that's done she goes ahead and finds the graphics for those posts.

On reflection, when I retroactively added pictures to older posts, instead of adding photos as I went, it was faster.  So right away, I'm stoked to try batching to improve efficiency!   The next obvious question: what can I batch?

Like Cain, I can write blog posts for my personal blog and The North Alabama Writers' Group together and then go look for pictures.  I could also throw in my book reviews for Goodreads (long backlog).  I've already written a list of all the posts I need to write and a tentative schedule for them.

Also like Cain I could find the pictures AFTER I write all the posts.

In my creative writing, I can batch edit complete stories.  Likewise, the research for my creative writing, my social media links, and my blogs could all happen together.

I'm always trying to batch my social media presence.  First, I check the North Alabama Writers' Blog and tackle the comments waiting approval, then I swing here and see if there are comments, then I go to twitter and check on my notifications, see if I need to do anything with those.  Afterward I jump to Hootsuite and post schedule.  Then I go to Commun.it and see if there's anything popular I need to respond to and then I jump to ManageFlitter and unfollow about 50 people. After that, I try not to look at social media again at all until the evening because while it's a powerful tool to reach an audience it's also a notorious time waster--mixed results there.  I',m going to have a ton of difficulty batching Social Media when I expand out to something beyond Twitter, and Goodreads.  For my sanity I will wait at least a month and hope some "check now" compulsion goes away.


Does anyone else batch tasks?  If so, what do you throw together?  Is there anything else I could combine to help my efficiency?