1: Entrepreneur and author Dan Martell has gathered several dozen high-performing entrepreneurs in Boston for one of his “in-person intensives.”
Dale, one of Australia’s top entrepreneurs, takes the stage, Dan writes in his book Buy Back Your Time.
He begins by taking out his stopwatch and then instructs everyone in the room to write down a simple sentence: “Multitasking doesn’t work.”
He clicks on the stopwatch. It takes the entire room about seven seconds to write the sentence.
Then, Dale tells everyone to write down two sentences:
“Multitasking doesn’t work.”
And: “Now I really understand.”
But now, Dale adds another instruction to the assignment: “Write down only the first letter of the first sentence,” he tells them.
“Then, write down the first letter of the second sentence.
“Then, write down the next letter in the first sentence, then, write down the next letter in the second sentence. Continue switching sentences after every letter.”
Once again, he starts his timer.
“Immediately, the room is abuzz,” Dan writes, “as frustrated people keep trying to write m, then n, then u, then o.”
Thirty seconds pass. Sixty seconds pass. Ninety seconds pass. Still, only half the room is finished. Dale tells them to put their pens down.
“He then offers the moral of his exercise,” Dan writes. “He explains that if one sentence took seven seconds to write, two should have taken about fourteen. But by bouncing between sentences, it took everyone at least six times longer than it should have, if they even finished at all.”
The key takeaway? Dale is a big believer in batching like tasks together. Because doing so allows him to drop into a flow state.
“Simply put, when we batch similar tasks,” Dan observes, we’re “able to capitalize on the fact that we’re already in the right state of mind for that type of task. On a practical level, we’re also in the right place, with the right set of programs and tools we’ll need.”
2: This insight around the importance of batching similar tasks together should drive how we plan our week.
At the most basic level, we “put all our sales calls on certain days and certain times, back-to-back,” Dan writes. We “do the same thing with our staff coaching calls, staff meetings, content creation, et cetera.
For each task, we gather the necessary tools (iPad, notebook) and put ourselves in the right environment (office space, quiet room, or coffee shop). Doing so allows us to avoid constantly switching between tools and locations.
“When possible, I take batching to another level,” Dan writes, “not just on a daily or weekly rhythm, but by planning all of one task on one day per month. For instance, I recently did fourteen podcast interviews in one day. This allowed me to prepare a few minutes beforehand, get in a quiet space with all the necessary tech, then proceed with one interview after another.”
When we batch similar tasks together, we enter a flow state in which our mind focuses on the task at hand, allowing us to work with elevated productivity.
3: Dan provides several suggestions:
“The next time we need to approve an ad campaign, ask that all ad campaigns for the next quarter get sent to us at once.
“If we need to do weekly sales calls, plan to do them all, say, every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.
“If we write a weekly blog, why not set aside one afternoon each month and write four or five posts?
A bonus? Dan suggests we also batch items on certain days that we don’t enjoy, but that are highly necessary. Which means we know we won’t have to deal with these items outside of those times.
“I know some entrepreneurs who hate dealing with finances,” Dan notes, “by batching all finance-related tasks and confining them to one day, they free up their time and energy for the for the rest of the week or month, thus buying back their time for the high-value activities that they love.”
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: How often am I losing time and focus by switching between tasks, and what could I gain by intentionally batching similar activities together?
Action: Identify one area this week where I can batch similar tasks—such as calls, meetings, or writing—and schedule them back-to-back to experience the benefits of deeper focus and flow.
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