Do some of you work in "batches"?

Hi ymest. I think each of us needs to find our own rhythms with the work unless of course there are deadlines. It sounds like you have found a rhythm that works for you.

I have a day job still so my IM work is mostly done in the a.m. and on weekends. I do know I am not at my best for writing in the evenings because my job is pretty stressful. I guess as I'm writing this I realize that, again other than deadlines, I work from a list and do what I think I can do best in that moment. No specific rhythm has emerged.

I haven't thought of it as working in batches but yeah, this kind of method works best for me.

I have specific days that I do certain tasks. For example, I may spend all day Wednesday working on backlinks or that may be my article writing day for a specific product.

I always take Sunday evenings to determine how I would like for the rest of the week to play out.

I understand exactly what you mean, but I tend to do the opposite, and try to avoid the "batches" ... it just seems to work better for me, that way.

I have 8 different niches, and try to write one new article per week for each (8 articles per week or just over one per day). So I'm dividing the writing up equally over the week, really ... and then fitting everything else around it.

So on a Wednesday, I'll write an article for my desalination technology niche (which will take 3+ hours, maybe longer by the time I've stopped twice to make a few posts here ) and publish it on my site/blog in that niche, then I'll check that the cauliflower soup recipes article I published on that site on Tuesday has been indexed and I'll send it out by email to all my cookery syndication-network, then I'll submit to EZA (as its last step) the article from my Chinese horoscopes niche which was published and indexed on Monday and widely syndicated on Tuesday, and so on.

So I'm actually dividing everything up as equally as I can, rather than "batching".

And I don't really manage to write 8 articles per week: it actually works out at 6.5 on average, because I'm always falling behind ...

Ummmm don't know what happened with the multiquote bits, Alexa!!! It doesn't normally come out that way....Am i thick? Yes, probably, just tonight... :

Heehee.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm really unfocused, very undisciplined and totally sporadic.

But I'm getting better - slowly. Sort of. Maybe.

All I really have is a notepad with a list of "one-off" stuff I need to do, and I know in my head already that I need to write a syndication-worthy article each day, and when one needs publishing or submitting to directories or whatever.

I'll begin writing an article and next thing I know I'm scoffing junkfood, messing about with my guitar, reading my book, singing along to music and have been watching BBC Parliament or the news for the last hour and a bit, at which point it's 4pm and I have the urge to catch a bus to town for a gallon of beer. So I do. But not before stuffing my face again.

So next day I'll spend all morning being too hungover to open my eyes and sit up, but will eventually finish off that darned article - probably later in the afternoon - ready to polish and publish to my site. Then I'll find something to do that doesn't require so much thinking (other than evil drinking). Which probably just translates into "posting on WarriorForum" and chatting on MSN.

For the next few days I'll be a little more productive (thankfully ). Still nowhere near what I could be, and I'm ultimately out of action for at least a couple of days each week for one reason or another.

So that's really only 5 days a week when I'm productive at all, but it's not scheduled, it's not meticulously planned, and it's not consistent.

I'd love to say I was that organised, and I definitely could be - but I just don't have the motivation right now.

Even if I were to up my productivity levels significantly, I think I'd have to vary the tasks throughout the day, and day-to-day, because any single task would get boring very quickly.

Ach well, ... nobody's perfect. I'm just a little less so than the average person.

I get where you're coming from with the idea of "batches." Whatever gets you to focus on the task at hand. I have to schedule time for myself to dedicate to IM & then it also helps me to step away from the computer periodically and jot down on paper what my goals & plan of attack are. I do tend to be more productive like you when I focus on one thing for awhile - like writing rough articles - before moving on to the next thing. And with writing, it's always good to just do it and get the words out of your brain one day, step aside for a day, & then come back to edit/rewrite.

Well, I don't work in such way. What model I follow is: Probably write a few when I feel like doing so for a few days, even for a few weeks (I generally take off on Sundays anyway). Prepare at least a few articles that can be posted in my blog(s), then probably when I have some back up ready (Suppose, I publish in every 3 days and I have around 10 articles ready, so that's the backup for the entire month), I focus on other works like say, marketing my blog. I don't know if this is working in batches or not, but jut shared my thoughts.

Ymest, you seem to know everything, why do you have to ask then ? :confused:

My "batching technique" is fairly involved, but it works for me.

I normally work on 5 articles at a time (either for me or clients). I have all 5 open, then use Random.org to choose which article to work on (1-5). Once the article is selected, I have it choose a random number from 1 to 100; whatever that number is becomes the minimum number of words I will add to that article.

Once I reach my target (or go over it if I'm on a roll), I go back and randomly select which of the 5 articles to work on.

When an article is complete, I select a new article to work on and it automatically becomes #5. I then repeat the process.

I would never recommend this technique to anybody, as it's quite odd. However, it may be good for those who have a very good memories, but have a hard time focusing. The benefit of this method is that it is continuall revolving.

Hope that makes sense.

All the best,
Michael

In order to stay focused I need to have a to do list. I like to get the parts I dislike the most out of the way first when possible. That leaves the parts I do like to do as sort of a reward. Of course there are always those little things that crop up and throw the to do list out the window, but I can always go back to the list when those are taken care of.