Batch working?

Good day!

Last week I tried introducing something new in my routine at work - batch working! I’ve of course heard of this countless of times but it never got my attention to try it out. I have always been good at multitasking and I enjoy to have many things going at once. It’s very rewarding. But, for the last few months I’ve had so many different tasks to do and I can feel a bit stressed bacause I don’t have more hours in the day. So, I decided to typ batch working. I have heard Elsie and Emma talk about it on their podcast “A Beautiful Mess” many times and they even have a dedicated episode to for the theme “Our secret weapon - batch working” - a very encouraging titel!

So I re-listened to that episode and decided to try it for a few weeks, a month maybe, just to give it a fair chance! Said and done, last week I tried batch working and I think it’s really beneficial to some. But I don’t know if my kind of work is cut out for it.
Well, some parts maybe are. I found it hard to do the same thing over and over until it was finished, you know? But I will try it out for another week and see if my view of it will change.

So, how my routine turned out when I tried to batch work more is like this. I schedule in my calendar batches of time where I intend to work on a specific task. So this week I’ve had typically 6 blocks every day. And all differ in time and so on.

So I start my day with a block of time to work on a knitting deadline project that I have to get done in the coming weeks. No, actually I now a days start my day by doing the “morning pages”! I love this routine. I hand write three pages every morning in bed when I wake up and I have one page for “dreams and goals” where I write down things I want to happen in my future. I have one page for “thankfulness” where I write about things I’m grateful for, and this can be 50 different things that I jot down, or it can be 1 thing I go more in depth about. And the last page is “brain dump”-page where I can write anything. Today I wrote about this week and what I expect from it. So very useful and rewarding. But then, I just go straight from bed, make tea, and start knitting on my project. And I allow myself to watch something on youtube or an episode of a show (the best thing is to save a nice podcast episode or video on youtube for this!)

After this I go for a walk with Idun, and this is great because then I don’t get caught in the whole “it’s fine I can work from the sofa the whole day”-mode! I get up, go out and take a walk. And then I get ready for the day and make some breakfast.
By the time my breakfast is ready it’s about 9.00 am and I sit down at my desk and I have an hour of checking my email, planning my day and maybe do some light tasks (like writing this blog post!).
At 10.00 am my first block starts. And this past week I have been attending a boot camp with Lalinda! And then I make my coffee for this and pick up another knitting project, so I can take notes and knit at the same time.

At 11.00 am I start my third block of the day and this has been working on the online course these last weeks. So for 2 hours I work at that and then it’s time for lunch!

So at 13.00 pm I go a walk with Idun and we have some fun on the walk, maybe jumping on stones and blocks, or maybe search for candy. Then home and make lunch (hopefully just warm something up) and eat while listening to podcasts or maybe reading if I have the energy and ease for it.

14.00 pm it’s time to get back to work again! So I sit down with a coffee (I usually get soooo tired at this point in the day) and start on my 4th block. This can be the online course, or filming a video or maybe writing patterns. Maybe some patreon work and such. But I usually have a list of things I want to achieve in this period.

This goes on until 17.30 pm and that’s when I need my dinner and Idun needs a walk. If Robin works late I usually whip something up, but I love to cook so if he’s home I usually make more of an effort. From this time until 19.00 pm I also make sure to get my workout in. It’s crucial for me to get this done every day because my body hates me otherwise. But the workout depends on the day. I vary between pilates, low impact cardio (because I’m pregnant right now), resistance band work out and kettle bells. This is a good mix for me and all of these gives you a good inner core strength and that’s important when you’re hyperflexible like me. And it’s good for your arms and neck and back when you’re knitting a lot!

19.00 pm-22.30 pm is my dedicated knitting time! I sit in the sofa usually and knit on some project that’s ongoing for the book or other freelance work. And sometimes I squeeze in some work there as well, like writing a blog post or making a guide on canva maybe.

I really enjoy this schedule and I feel like I get a lot of work done in a day! So this time blocking and clear schedule works great for me, but I usually jump between a few different tasks though, so maybe it’s not batch working?
And while this seams like a lot of hours of work in a day, I get really productive from this kind of schedule and after the online course is launched I will have a few more hours fot other things in the day. I also think it contributes to me being not so stressed, that I work from home and go on regular walks with Idun. And she demands cuddles all lot so that’s also great for my stress levels ;)

I hope you found this post interesting, I loved writing it! I will now go and make a latte for myself, because the boot camp starts in 15 min!

Have a woolly day, and happy knitting!