Batch low-intensity tasks together

It is much easier to try one’s hand at many things than to concentrate one’s powers on one thing. — Quintilian

The tasks one is faced with in work can be broadly divided into two categories:

“High-intensity” tasks, which are complex and require your full concentration and focus (e.g. writing a research paper; preparing for a class or talk; writing a lengthy, detailed, and careful email; thinking about a mathematical problem; reading a research paper or text), and

“Low-intensity” tasks, which are routine (but can be time-consuming) and do not require much mental energy (e.g. filling out paperwork; teaching a class or giving a talk that you have already prepared; writing a short email response; errands and appointments; reading email or browsing the web).

Working with high-intensity requires a rather different “mode” of thought than with low-intensity tasks. (For instance, I find it can take a good half-hour or so of uninterrupted thinking before I am fully focused on a maths problem, with all the relevant background at my fingertips.) To reduce the mental fatigue of transitioning from one “mode” to another, I find it useful to batch similar low-intensity tasks together, and to separate them in time (or space) from the high-intensity ones.

Time-based Batching

For example, you can devote a block of time to clearing a lot of “trivial” tasks off of your plate. Schedule all the “distracting” tasks (e.g. office hours and other appointments) in a single day; try to bunch up teaching days; etc. (I found, for instance, that teaching two sections of a large calculus class back to back (e.g. at 9am and then at 10am) led to significant time savings in class preparation (as well as savings in mental energy), when compared to teaching two different classes, or the same class at very different times.)

Space-based Batching

One can also do this blocking off in space as well as in time. For instance, with regards to keeping track of paperwork, I have one small area of my office for “important” forms and records that I am likely to need to deal with again in the future, and a larger area in another part of my office for “mundane” paperwork which have a low (but non-zero) probability of being needed again in the future. I don’t organise or file the latter set of papers very much, given how rarely I need to retrieve files from it; it tends to accumulate in a pile, which I sort through (and mostly discard) every few months or so. (But I do make an effort to keep the “important” forms relatively organised, and to not have them be cluttered by the much larger set of “mundane” forms.)

In a somewhat analogous fashion, one can have an “out” tray for low-priority physical mail, and send them all out at once, rather than making multiple trips to the office mail room in one day. (While doing so, of course, that would be a good time to check one’s mailbox, or any other task that requires walking around the department.)

The “Five Minute Tasks” List

In another similar fashion, I have found it useful to keep on my blackboard a standing list of “five minute tasks” that are low-priority, but do not take much time or mental energy to carry out (though some may strictly speaking exceed the five minute threshold), and are good to perform when one has a short break in one’s schedule and has only a moderate amount of mental energy and motivation. Examples include:

• Checking a secondary email account, folder, or physical mailbox that is not so time-sensitive that it must be monitored constantly
• Updating one’s CV, a web page of yours, or some aspect of your social media profile
• Organising some aspect of your office, computer, phone, or online organisational tools
• Performing minor administrative tasks such as scheduling a meeting or uploading a form

I have found that once I have such a standing list, it can also be used as a “dumping ground” for short tasks that one suddenly realises one has to do at some point, but for some reason or another it would not be preferable to do it immediately. These tasks can then be crossed off from the list when one finally has an appropriate moment to spare, which I personally find to be a satisfying experience.

Email and Web Batching Strategies

With regards to email, an assembly line approach seems to be efficient: wait until it builds up, and then:

1. Pass through deleting spam
2. Pass through again dealing with easily dealt with emails (ones that need to be read once and discarded or filed, or require a very brief response, or pushed into some sort of “pending” folder)
3. Deal with one or more of the emails that demand a longer response, if you feel that this is an appropriate time to do so

If you like to browse multiple web sites during the course of the day, I recommend using a feed aggregator (I used to use Google Reader for this, until it was discontinued) so that you can do all your browsing at once, so that they do not distract you from your other tasks.

Using Low-Intensity Tasks as Breaks

If one has a batch of tasks that are both low-intensity and low-priority, then it is probably a good idea to set it aside until one really needs a break from more high-intensity work; for instance, if I get too frustrated on an obstacle in my research, I find this to be a good time to go do some accumulated errands or paperwork, or even just to catch up on my email and web browsing. Having some easy tasks of this nature lying around is then handy for killing time in a reasonably productive fashion until one’s creative energies return.

Important Caveat

Note that batching only works well for low-intensity tasks. A high-intensity task requires so much focus, and exhausts so much of one’s mental stamina, that it can be counterproductive or distracting to mix this activity with other low or high intensity tasks.