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How Batch Processing Made Me 10 Times More Productive

Today I want to share a technique that has increased my productivity levels incredibly.

stress.jpgimage by estherase

“How do you fit so much in?”

This is a question that I’m asked a lot.

Yesterday I kept track of the work that I did. It included:

  • Researched & Wrote 5 blog posts (2500 words) – Planned a future series – Edited 3 guest posts
  • Moderated 150 comments (Lara did the rest)
  • Read 300 emails – replied to and wrote 50 emails
  • Twittered 30+ times (including private messages) – Plurked 50+ times
  • Participated in a b5 training chat (1 hour)
  • Read (scanned) my RSS reader (600+ feeds)
  • Used StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, Digg and other social media sites
  • Took 4 Skype calls – IM’d around 8 others
  • Oversaw the upgrade of DPS forums
  • Did an email interview to promote the book – Arranged to do a radio interview later in the week

It was a reasonably busy day (on top of all that I did the normal dad/husband things as well as managing to go out for beer with a mate) – but not untypical at all. In fact last night I went to bed at 11pm – I often work for another hour or two.

So how do I get it all done day in day out?

The technique that I’ve been using more and more is what I call ‘batching’ or ‘batch processing‘.

It’s not a new concept by any means and I’m probably not using the terminology correctly – but it’s what I call it.

Batch Processing 101

In my understanding of the term ‘batch processing’ it was always used to describe systems (usually computerized ones) where data was collected together for a period of time before it was processed. Instead of doing every small ‘job’ as it arrived jobs were ‘queued’ or collected until the computer was ready to process them all at once. This meant that the computer could do these ‘batches’ of jobs all at once when it would otherwise be idle.

My First ‘Discovery’ of Batch Processing as a Blogger

My own ‘discovery’ of batch processing was quite intuitive. I’d not heard of the term until this last term but when I did I realized that I’d already been doing it to some level.

I’ve written numerous times before about how I apply the principle to writing blog posts.

batch-writing.jpgimage by Karsoe

I generally set aside Monday mornings (and usually Wednesdays also) for writing posts. I take my laptop – camp out in a cafe – spend most of the morning off-line (so there are no other distractions) and just write. My goal is to write at least 5 posts that I can then use later in the week. Quite often I’ll write as many as 10 posts in a 5-6 hour period.

Having these batches of posts in reserve means that during the week my time is freed up to engage in other blogging activities. Of course I supplement these batched posts with others during the week but having the bulk of my writing done in one go enables me to be more efficient. It also means that my posts quite often build on one another as one will spark another idea. If I get on a roll it’s amazing how much can be written in a short period of time.

This was my first taste of ‘batch processing’. As mentioned above – I started doing it intuitively (I think the first time I did it was when the internet went down at our house for a week and I had to go to the library to use the public computers to post for short periods of time).

My Messy Life

The problem was that while batching my post writing helped free up the rest of my week – that the rest of my week was a jumble of activities – I ran from one task to another and never seemed to get anything done. My life felt like a traffic jam with tasks coming from all directions.

traffic-jam.jpg

A typical day would see me checking email 30 times a day, moderating comments as they hit my inbox, being interrupted by IM throughout the day, reading RSS when I remembered to do it between using social media sites and writing extra blog posts. The result was that my inbox had over 10,000 unread emails, I never cleared my RSS Reader and that I would get to the end of most days feeling like a nervous wreck.

My mistake was feeling compelled to deal with things as they came to me.

This only worsened as my blogs became more successful and as I took on more commitments (writing a book, speaking engagements etc).

Batching Everything

Over the last six months I’ve taken batch processing to the next level and applied it to many aspects of my blogging.

I have discovered that most of the activities that I do in my work can be ‘batched’ in one way or another. I have discovered that many ‘urgent’ things can wait and in fact to make them ‘take a number’ and ‘get in line’ brings order to mess.

queues.jpgimage by BenJTsunami

Siphoning off time for bursts of focused activity around a certain task means that I’m less inclined to flip from one thing to another. It means that I finish tasks. It means that I free up more and more time for the things that are important to do – not just the things that seem urgent.

Different activities need to be ‘batched’ at different intervals. Some are weekly (like my Monday morning writing sessions), others are every other day (like reading the bulk of my RSS feeds), others are daily (checking vanity feeds) and others I do for short sharp bursts multiple times a day (reading my A-list of of RSS feeds for breaking news, checking email).

Some of the tasks that I Batch Process

By no means are my processes perfect. I’m still a fairly impulsive guy so don’t have a set routine that I follow every day. I’m also fairly flexible and shift things around a lot – but here’s a list of some of the activities that I batch process and a short description of how I do each one:

Writing Posts – I’ve already described my weekly rhythm for this (Mondays and Wednesday mornings) but I also set aside other shorter times to write on a daily basis. This usually happens late morning on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and in these times I aim to write a shorter post for the day (often more news related).

Email – I’ve written previously about how I overhauled my inbox using Gmail but batching my use of email has helped me even more than the systems I put in place to filter my inbox. I generally do a very quick scan of my inbox first thing in the morning to look for anything genuinely urgent – but then do most of my processing mid morning and then in the evenings. Of course I scan it a few other times a day in case there are urgent emails (or if I’m expecting something) but attempt to get it right down to 0 every day (I don’t always succeed).

RSS Reading – I have two rhythms of reading RSS. I check my A-list folder in Google reader numerous times a day (my A-list contains just a handful of blogs that often break news in my niches). The rest of my RSS reading happens in less frequent batches. I do try to do it every day in one ‘batch’ but quite often I’ll only get through half of it and so ill do the 2nd half the next day. I tend to do this in 30-60 minute batches.

Twitter/Plurk/FriendFeed – These social messaging sites can be a time sucker if you let them so I tend to only allow myself to do them in 5-10 minute batches. On an average day I probably have 4-5 such ‘batches’. The reason that I do this numerous times a day is that it helps me to connect with different groups of people in different time zones.

Social Bookmarking – other time sucking services including Digg, StumbleUpon (especially) etc – I tend to do these for short sharp bursts – usually at the end of the day.

Editing Posts – At DPS I have a great team of bloggers who write weekly posts for me. They have taken a lot of the load off considerably when it comes to writing posts – but I still edit them (formatting pages, checking spelling and grammar, layout etc). I tend to do this in the evenings – but lately have tried to do 2-3 days worth at a time. So I allow incoming posts to queue up and then process/edit them in a sitting.

Instant Messaging – my old habit was to leave IM clients on all day every day and to respond to people messaging me as the messages came in. As a result I was constantly being interrupted. These days I have stopped using most IM clients and focus upon Skype and Gmail chat but don’t leave them on at all times. And when I do have them on I don’t always respond to IM’s straight away (I turn the sound off). Instead I let a few IM chat requests come in at a time and then respond to then all at once every hour or so.

Comment Moderation – I now filter all of the comment moderation emails that come in to an email folder dedicated to capturing them so that they never hit my inbox. I then moderate them periodically in batches throughout the day. The frequency between moderation batches changes depending upon what else I’m doing but also what is happening on the blog. For example if I’ve done a reader question post where I get lots of answers I moderate more regularly to keep the conversation flowing.

Book Writing – while I was writing the book I found it very difficult to fit it in to what was already a full day. As a result to get my part done I put aside extended periods of time just for writing. This included a few mornings at cafes but also one weekend away where I booked myself into a bed and breakfast down the coast and did nothing but write for the whole weekend.

focus.jpgimage by margolove

The list could go on

There are very few (if any) tasks associated with my work that I don’t batch process (or at least attempt to). As I’ve mentioned above – my system isn’t perfect – I still have days when I’m less disciplined and return to old messy habits – but in general I find that batching my day into different activities means I’m being more focused and as a result more productive. As a result I tend to fit a lot more in than I used to and am able to achieve more.

A Word About Personality Types

Perhaps batching works best for me because of my personality type – I know some would resist it because they work best when they’re able to be very impulsive and have freedom to jump from one thing to another.

I used to think that I was this way – I thought I could be more creative if I approached each day like a ‘choose your own adventure’ book and flitted from one thing to another as my impulses led me. However I found that this kind of approach only worked for me when I didn’t have as many things to do.

When life gets busy I need systems and structure to keep on track. In fact putting boundaries in place around different activities allows me to be quite impulsive and creative in those times rather than getting stressed because of all the ‘urgent’ things that I need to do distracting me.

What about You?

Do you batch process tasks in your blogging (intuitively or strategically)? What would you add to my list of tasks? What ‘urgent’ things take up your time that might not be that important (candidates for batch processing)?

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About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Great Post. I might give batching a try. I’ve been using “Things” a Mac program based on the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. Which has helped me to get a lot of information out of my head and into a system. That has made my multidiscipline life a little more bearable. You can use the program without the book (they dont acyually go together) but reading the book puts everything in perspective. Save a couple of “new agey” passages. Thanks again.

  2. So when you’re “off-line” and in the cafe writing posts, what application are you using? Are you using notepad, etc.? What about the “links” from your research? Are you placing a filler, ie LINK LINK LINK where the a href is to be? Thanks.

  3. I like it, it’s a great idea. Again I probably do it already on some level but not in an organised way.

    I’m British we love queues!

    But honestly Darren even with batch processing how many hours do you have in the day down in Australia?

  4. I tend to shoot from the hip, rather than batch process. But I want to change my ways!

  5. Well I have just started up my blog recently (mostly after reading yours) and I have yet to have to batch process anything. Although I used to run a successful online virtual item store which I would sort of do a batch process, for instance I would check my email and deliver all the orders lined up, then I would go to the support and answer/fix all the problems and from there I would do my finances and monitor traffic/advertising. So I guess I have some experience with batch processing which should provide to be useful in the coming future.

  6. The biggest advantage for batch processing is probably the cut-down of context-switching time… which is true for describing computer systems, and also accurate for this metaphor.

    Batch processing wasn’t that much of an issue at my day job, because there’s a workflow that has a good rhythm already going on. As for the emailing, I tend to process them as I go, since I don’t get massive number of emails like you do. I do have a lot of blogs to go through though. That I do batch process.

  7. You seems to do alot in a short time. This batch thing seems to really work out for you. Even grabbing a beer with your mate, that is incredible, that you have a social life next to making money online. Since I started to mange 3 blogs I have no social life, but I have fun and a life online. The batch thing seems to increase me my productivity too. anyway thanks. for sharing. Since I have become making money online I have become a really geek. I am rather a geek with a lots of money than social failure. Great post. I am impressed that you wrote 2500 words within three posts. This inspired me lot I am challenging my self to come up with more unique content. Time seems to eat me up these days, anyway you set the new standard to keep up with the time. Thanks again and have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. I have experimented with batching before its a great way to up the productivity. It forces you to decide what is important and what is urgent. I waste so much time on a daily basis treating things as urgent that really are not.
    Email is a great example of non-urgent communication. I had an older boss had a very simple take on “urgent emails” “If it was really that important why didn’t you call me?”
    The only problem with batching is if you have a boss it makes it a lot more difficult to look busy.

  9. Advice that couldn’t come at a better time for me. Twitter has, for the time being, become my quai-RSS feed and it really can be time-sucker (but it’s fun for now).

    I used to use batch processing and looking back at that time I was a lot more productive, more relaxed and had more time left for living it up. Now that my work load has sky-rocketed, I’ve been relying too much on real-time GTD. That’s not working our very well.

    Your tips are useful (my past experience bears that out (in my case at least)).

    I like the idea of setting aside 1 or 2 time-slots per week to write posts. It forces you to get out your posts, keep a stream of posts going and leaves away time to ensure that the posts are quality.

  10. thanks everyone for your really encouraging feedback – looks like I’m not the only one to stumble onto this technique (or to need it). Thanks for everyone’s stories and tips – you’ve made the post a lot better!

  11. This is perfect timing. I’m about to start batch doing my posts and then woke up and read this! I needed this post!

  12. I love your blog soo much!

    This post is really great. The tips are really good for whatever you do, not only blogging. Although I agree with your ‘personality type’ section. For me, personally, I dont’ like to batch process my blog posts. Maybe because my blog is more like a personal journal where you can’t really write ahead of time.
    But when I write other then journal entries, I also use the same technique.
    Thanks for sharing.

  13. Batching might work for me with some things – but with comment moderation I’d rather do those as soon as they come in. I don’t get that many people commenting, so I want to make sure they get approved as quickly as possible.

  14. Love this post. I have tried to batch my writing time but the email and message related stuff is a struggle since its always in front of me. Maybe turning it off until I’m ready will be a better approach.

    Thanks for all you do,

    Daryl

  15. Great post yet again Darren, I especially like the idea of sitting down somewhere and just writing posts and not getting distracted by other things.

    We can spend so much time just fluffing around and not really achieving anything. Batching seems like a great way to get on top of things. I tend to call it goal setting, achieve one goal then the next and set goals both daily weekly and even hourly before you let yourself get distracted.

  16. Darren, thank you so much for this post! I’m 2 days away from being a full time freelancer, and have been thinking about how I should best organize my time to be most productive.

    I’m really looking forward to spending a full 8 hours a day working on updating my web site and blog, marketing (esp through social media) and of course doing the actual work for my clients. The fact that I’ll have so much time to spend on my own work (as opposed to an hour here, half an hour there, between my full time job) means that I get to create a whole new set of habits and structure, etc.

    You’ve definitely given me some great ideas to think about. I find there are certain times that I like to write blog posts (early morning) – but I also like to get all of the “quick” client jobs out of the way early in the morning as well. I like your idea to have a couple days a week where you specifically write, etc.

    I’m also addicted to Twitter / Plurk – and while they are very useful, they can also suck you in (as does IM, etc.) so having a set number of times to check these each day is a very smart idea, as well.

    I believe I’ll be spending a bit of time this weekend re-reading this post and putting together a tentative work schedule for myself. Thanks for such perfect timing on this post! :)

  17. I’ve tried this in bits & spurts, but never across the board. I will have to do that, especially for the sites that need daily posts. I think it will free up my time to do them in batches. Sometimes we just need someone else to point these things out before we have the “aha! that will work for me!” moment.

  18. Excellent system that you have Darren.
    I should start to apply what you have written to my daily chores so I can be more time efficient

  19. I think “batch processing” as you call it will save me loads of time. I’ve batted around the idea of getting my posting out of the way in just an evening or two during the week. This would leave me time for all of my promotion/marketing activities throughout the week. Since I work a 9-5 outside of blogging, batch processing is particularly attractive.

  20. I’ve set up a sort of batch processing routine for household management; it draws on ideas from flylady and Getting Things Done.

    Every Thursday I get up early, and instead of heading to the gym, I make some coffee and work at my desk, processing my inbox.

    Flylady recommends a weekly “desk day” and David Allen recommends one central place to collect to do’s – aka an inbox, and together, they works well for me.

  21. Great post and tips. Hopefully I can combine and apply these tips and many of your others into my regular routine.

  22. i think this post may have given me more concerns than fixing the ones i have.

    i’m impressed! you are a very well organized and productive person. congrats!

    shedding light on how much you do in a single day makes me (and i’m sure others) feel pretty far behind.

  23. i think my blog has not yet taken me to that stage of busy schedule. Of course i am doing something similar in quite a miniature way.

  24. What about me!? I don’t need to worry about things you do, I only write an article or two a month, sometimes months past by with no posts, not exactly the active type I am, although last month I wrote quite a few.
    Good tips, thanks for sharing, hope will need them some time!

  25. Wow! This is one of the best posts I’ve read on Problogger in awhile… I honestly think this technique/subject could be expanded on into a book or perhaps another blog.

    I suppose one reason this technique works well is you build momentum for each task at hand and you work more efficiently/get more done once up to speed on each task.

    I’ve used this batch processing technique but never conciously thought about it…. I’m going to re-read this article and try to apply this to my daily life as well!

  26. I recall reading about this practise a while back, very likely on this blog too, because…

    After reading that I too have started “storing” posts waiting to click “publish” in a later date, mainly to avoid posting too frequently as well as for dry days of writer’s block.

    In fact, I have gone as far as creating blank posts with only photos, ready for content when they come to mind! I do this because I want a personalised blog using photos that are really of my kids or are related the actual content of the post.

    Which means, I have a bookmark of my draft-posts in the admin area for quick access!

  27. Nice tips Darren, normally i don’t do work step by step and then
    i have two much to finish at same time!

  28. Excellent post Darren! I am applying your ideas. I stumbled you and gave you a very positive comment. :)

  29. At “The Secret” website they have a blank check that can be downloaded. I made the check out to my company with a date 2 years from now.

    It’s pasted on my wall where I can see it all day. When I become distracted and unproductive I look at that check and reorganize. I want that check. Then I clean my desk, get back to my plan and produce.

    I’ve developed my best content when I hit the wall. Then I use my brain and think. Then I come up with something valuable and get back to producing.

    Thanks for the post. I know I’m going to have a productive few days.

  30. Personally, I have set work blocks throughout the day. 8-11 , 3-8 if need be, then if I’m up, I’ll even go from 11 – 2 and start all over again the next day.

    I don’t necessarily focus as well as I could during these blocks. I try to get most administrative stuff done in the mornings, then dig into clients in the afternoons. At night I’m working on my own projects.

  31. I’m loving this. I’d already heard of batch processing for housework and have been trying that out. Applying this idea to my blogging is just brilliant. My whole life will end up batch-processed! Very exciting.

  32. I don’t know why but I can hardly stick to batch here and there throughout the day like you. I only have about 4 hours after 8 to work on my blog so I have to use the time wisely.

    I imagine my blog is like a bowl. If I put in all of the big rocks in first, then if I have time I can put in some small rocks.

    My big rocks are:
    1. Writing posts
    2. Social networking

    My small rocks are the rest of list above.

    I often wrote 20 posts if I have time and then schedule each of them for 20 days. That way I don’t be stressed out about the post and has more time on other things to promote the blog. This works for me so far. But writing 20 high quality posts really drain the energy out of you.

  33. Darren, well done and thank you. Thank you because your day sounds very much like mine and I don’t feel like such a fool for having so much to do.

    I had to laugh at the “How do you fit it all in?” We receive that same question a LOT. I guess people like you and I make this type of work level look like magic, but the truth is, it takes some infrastructure behind the scenes to pull it all off.

  34. I really want to be able to do this and I will when running my own business. Too bad it’s hard to do when working for someone else and client issues or “emergencies” come up. This is how I want to structure building my own business clientèle and writing schedule. Thanks for the detailed post.

  35. Great post! I completely agree and, in fact, have had an inclination to do this very thing as of late, as I, too, have been hype-aware lately that my days are little more than diving headfirst into a traffic jam first thing and busily leaping from task to task, only to arrive at the end of the day feeling spent. This post solidifies my inclination to batch process my day that much more.

    I think this batching method is certainly a way of working that I’m already wired to incorporate easily and intuitively, and, in fact, as I’m sitting here thinking about it, I would say I do this for personal tasks already. In my workday, the “act, don’t react” phrase would be one well worth taking deeply to heart that I suspect would bring fairly immediate results.

    I would add, for my own workday that not batch processing is a likely culprit of my occasional unnecessary fretting, too, so shifting to this sort of work style will, I image, do much to lift my spirits at times, as well.

    Off the top of my head here, I’m thinking my batches will look very similar to yours listed, with the addition of batching my editing projects, writing my articles and essays, writing my next book manuscript, as well as batching my daily and weekly interactions with magazine/journal editors for future work, my publisher for the odds and ends he and I toss back and forth during the week, as well as the email exchanges needed to book events, readings and the like. It’s the solidifying of future work and events that will likely benefit the most, as an even slightly unproductive day in that regard can send most of us authors into fret-mode.

    Thank you for all your wonderful and insightful work!

  36. Having only just entered the blogging arena, one of the things that had put me off was the prospect of ever-increasing task lists just getting longer and longer.

    I’ve been self-employed for a couple of years and have probably always worked on a scatter-gun approach, but on the days when I’ve been disciplined enough to ‘batch process’ then it’s definitely been worthwhile.

    I’m going to make a genuine effort to conduct all my blogging activities using the ‘batch processing’ method… if I get into a regular pattern from the beginning then that can only help – surely? :)

  37. Darren — I congratulate you on conquering a vast array of tasks and getting your time in order! I often wondered if you worked 22/7 to get it all done.

    I’ve left my regular writing job at Midwest Airlines (well, the job actually left me due to cutbacks in the industry) so I must organize my time more efficiently in my home office. I was able to contract with the airline to take my travel blogs with me. Plus I’m starting an Alzheimer’s Web site. Plus I need freelance writing gigs. So my schedule is getting jammed up. I travel…I blog…I research…I write…I look for clients…I have a home life, too. Your tips have inspired me to make a greater effort to organize. Batch processing is a great idea. I’m going to get it started for myself and hope it works as well as it does for you.

    Thanks for this helpful post.

  38. What a coincidence! We JUST had a meeting about this yesterday. Everyone in our tiny team has been feeling stressed and pulled in many directions.

    “My mistake was feeling compelled to deal with things as they came to me.”

    We were all making this mistake – answering emails in real time, always on top of IM, etc. I was feeling totally out of control, nervous and unproductive. Then, finally realized that we needed some organization and infrastructure to maximize our output and minimize the running around like our hair was on fire.

    I am working this week and weekend to come up with my own batching system.

    We have an added layer of complexity. In addition to our blog, we are building out a network for our users.
    That development process needs to be highly organized and has a batching system all its own which I intend to borrow from for my own daily task management.

    I would add phone calls to this list. I used to answer the phone everytime it rang, but now I schedule a time to listen to voicemail and return calls. Once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. I also prepare a quick agenda for the calls to make sure that questions get answered and everyone is clear.

    Thanks for this excellent (and timely!) post.

  39. Another great post!

    I already use so many of your techniques and any way to mix and match to better my use of time will be done. I added a yahoo pipes to my twitter feed to catch any tweet with a url. That lets me read everything at my pace on my schedule in google reader and have everything saved ad searchable.

    thanks!

    Dave Weinberg
    Marketing Manager
    GeniusRocket

  40. What a well-timed post. I was just about three hours away from a complete and irreversible brain implosion because of this exact problem. You’ve inspired me to plan my days better.

    But how does eveyone deal with this: You open a very important newsletter and half way thru it you follow a great link to some handy information and half way thru that you follow a great link to a seriously cool blog and….next thing you know it’s lunch time! THIS is my biggest time guzzler!

  41. Great post Darren.

    I first learned about batch processing after reading Tim Ferriss’ 4HWW book. Started tinkering with it a bit here and there, but haven’t really executed fully. Your post is good example of what happens when you actually take action on it!

    Motivating for sure…think I’ll actually give it a go this time.

  42. This is a great tip and SO helpful. Another thing I’ve become aware of is not stacking too many “energy-zapping” batches back-to-back. Sometimes I can be really efficient with time, but be neglectful of energy (as spelled out in the book “The Power of Full Engagement.”) If I don’t have anything left to give when I move on to the next task, it doesn’t matter how well I’ve organized my day…

  43. Another great post over there. I used batch processing more many other things but not checking email, replying blogs and etc. However, I’m trying to do batch processing with it, cause it really takes time and I don’t have much time because of my work and study.

    —————————————————————————-
    Regards,
    Jeffery
    http://www.mysuperbrand.com (Advertising)
    http://www.mybaby.com.my (Baby Shop)

  44. Working full-time and trying to start a web business, this is exactly what I need to do. I do some blog writing, etc during my lunch breaks and other breaks that I set aside from work, but I really need to implement this at home where I have less time and more distractions.

  45. Darren,
    Good post that highlights a huge issue for the digital economy – how do we all keep up with all the incoming stimuli and still get any work done?
    Delivery rules on your inbox, RSS readers, and segmenting your days into task-specific “batch” periods are good starts. But the larger issue is that everyone today has a megaphone (including me at http://www.ScottFoxBlog.com).
    I think the future really belongs to quality content providers that earn the trust of their audiences as original thinkers and/or reliable filters. We’re all likely to be forced into choosing just a few key info providers to rely upon while we get the rest of our work done. This “flight to quality” is a good sign for you at Problogger.net!
    Scott Fox

  46. The batching concepts work for non-IT work too. The Lean consultants out there cringe at the word batch, but reducing the number of times you change between different kinds of tasks in a day increases the amount of time available.

    I did some consulting work with a large architectural firm and we created a name for the wasted time switching between projects and tasks – TRANSITION TIME. We measured it and found “busy” people were only productive about 1-2 hours a day. The rest was transition time.

    Great post, great concept Darren.

  47. Fantastic post.

    I read about the same idea in “The Four Hour Work Week” recently. I’m new to blogging but last night I wrote 9 blog posts – 3 which I posted yesterday, 3 which I posted today, and 3 which I’ll post tomorrow. So I’m done for this week!

    I’ve impressed myself with how much I’ve been able to accomplish when I focus intensely and don’t allow interruptions.

  48. Thank you for these tips. I have problem with wasting my time with icq, emails, comments etc…

  49. Guess I batch already – & all my twits are in a lump – also only plurk in a lump – but my blog entries tend to be more or less spontaneous, easier for me to write that way. I also like to have some days in the week when I don’t GO anywhere, but can just sit home & catch up. Writing a book, too, &do find that blogging can be a way to avoid writing – but luckily the are both on the same topic – so feed into each other!

  50. I have tried it at times to somewhat chunk up my blogging load in a similar fashion as this and it works good within holidays and such, but other than that fact remains that blogging isn’t my full-time job making it hard to fit in an efficient schedule as it always depends on how much time I have available free.

    The best I can manage on the average day is to go through some feeds in the morning and take out some more time for it in the evening, quickly manage comments when opening up my browser and directly afterward interact with the reader by replying to the given comments if any and write posts usually in the evening or days off.

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