How to Be More Efficient: Automate, Delegate, and Batch
By Warren Wong
My life was pretty chaotic a few years ago. I had laundry stacked up in a corner, to-do lists all over my desk and computer, and tons of homework from classes that I had to get done.
Needless to say, I was inefficient, so I took a new approach. The goal was to make my life more efficient. Here’s how I did it.
I used 3 primary methods: automate, delegate, and batch.
What can I automate?
The first and hardest part of making your life more efficient is by de-cluttering and automating. I took a hard look at everything I owned and decided what I was keeping and what had to go.
I broke it into 3 categories.
- Things that I absolutely need to have
- Things that I don’t need, but still want
- Things that either I never use and didn’t bring me any value
For example, I need my computer, but I don’t necessarily need my collection of books, but they bring me joy. Those I keep.
Things like extra cups, old mail, old clothes, and old high school momento all needed to be donated or thrown away.
Once I got rid of all the clutter in my life, I was able to really focus on the few things that brought me happiness.
Automate your bills!
Opt for paperless options for all of them and go create an online account. All of my bills and my parents bills are paid off automatically on a monthly basis. All you have to do is set up the date you want it paid off.
Automate going to the gym
If you’re like me and find it painful to go to the gym, then automate it. Have a bag with your gym clothes and workout gear all ready to go.
I prep all my gym clothes on Sunday so I can bring it with me to my office. This leaves less room for excuses.
Barack Obama and Steve Jobs wore the same clothes on a regular basis. That is strategic, that is efficient. It saves mental bandwidth for more important decisions to make everyday. Decision fatigue is a thing.
How can I apply batching?
Next, I evaluated all the household chores that needed to be done on a regular basis. They mainly included laundry, cooking, and cleaning.
Instead of doing laundry whenever I felt like it or couldn’t stand wearing the same shirts anymore, I decided to implement a weekly laundry day.
I do mine on the weekend. I’m lucky to have a washer and dryer where I live, but if you don’t, I would batch other errands together like getting gas, and buying groceries while you’re out doing laundry.
This will save you from multiple trips throughout the day and just getting it all done in shot. Bam, efficiency!
Make lists!
I love lists. I don’t know how I would ever get anything done without them. My desk and notebooks are littered with lists for everything you can think of.
Related post: 3 Productivity Hacks From Elite Performers
For example, I make lists of things I need to do whenever I go out and do my errands. That way I stay on track and know what I have to buy. It also helps me from impulse buying. Sometimes I cave in and get chocolate covered pretzels.
Batch your meals
I prep my week day lunches all in one sitting. Sundays are my meal prep days. I cook 5 lunches for Monday through Friday and then I have healthy snacks for in between meals, like apples, and Greek yogurt.
I also cook extra meat and vegetables and put them in tupperware so I can easily reheat dinner.
By batching my meals I don’t have to cook every night. Plus, I have to clean more dishes every time I cook.
When I come home from work, the last thing I want to do is to cook an elaborate meal. In the past, it would cause me to either get fast food or eat snacks, derailing my nutrition plan.
E-mails, notifications, and other annoying background noises
In this digital age, we’re flooded with emails and digital notifications.
One method that really helped me was to batch my emails. For my personal emails I check it twice a week and go through them fairly quickly. I do the 30 second method. I get 30 seconds to read and respond. If it takes longer, it might warrant a phone call.
For work purposes I try and check twice a day. Your job will dictate if you need to adjust.
Mute most, if not all notifications on your phone or put it on airplane mode when trying to write or work. The notification sound is meant to draw you to the phone, and then you’ll want to check your social media and then next thing you know you’re ordering Dominos pizza and having a beer when you wanted to write an article. Yes, that happened to me.
Developers have spent millions of dollars doing research and marketing to be efficient and refine the processes and the triggers to make us spend more and more time on their apps.
Delegate, delegate, delegate!
It seems like my to-do lists are getting longer and my email inbox always filled to the brim, with no end in sight.
This isn’t the way I want to live my life.
I found that the key to solving my headaches was to delegate. Anything that didn’t have to be done specifically by me needed to be delegated.
Outsource your cleaning!
For cleaning, I recently purchased a robot vacuum. No idea why I didn’t get this sooner. Delegating to a robot is a thing.
On a serious note, as the team manager, my team of 5 was responsible for servicing the administrative needs of 800 plus personnel, and I was personally responsible for the maintenance of over 10 different programs.
It was a lot. After learning the hard way and pushing burn out, I had to let go and trust that my team could handle the extra workload.
I had a hard time at first letting go and delegating important tasks, but once I taught my teammates how to do a task, they ran the show.
It freed me to do other things and focus on the big picture and focus on being efficient in other areas.
Not only did they maintain the programs, but they did them better than I could.
Teach, delegate, and trust.
Delegating can be applied to your personal life as well. Maybe there’s a leaky faucet or furniture to be installed. You can pay a couple of bucks for a friend to do it or find a qualified professional on Task Rabbit.
You can even hire someone to do your weekly laundry or meal prep.
Conclusion
Through the technique of automate, delagate, and batch, you can free your time, and do the things that are important to you.
Time that can be spent watching the sunset with your family, tucking in your kids at night, reading that book you’ve been dying to devour or that passion project you said you were always going to start.
If you’ve made it to the end, and want to dive even deeper into the weeds, I highly recommend The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris.
I’ve been a die-hard fan of Tim Ferris for the past 4 years and it was this book that started my journey on self development. I never say no to a good book.
It changed my life, I hope it does the same for you.
Happy reading.
Question for you
What is not efficient in your life right now, can you apply the automate, delegate, and batch technique?
