The #TipTuesday posts took a little hiatus but this week, we’ve got long time article writer and recent author with a brand new Love Inspired Suspense book coming soon, (be sure to check out more about that on Friday Features, but today, Author Sarah Hamaker, shares a little bit about her own time management (my favorite) tips and tricks to get the many JOBS done! Enjoy. And over the next six weeks and into the new year, it’s a perfect time to find out about a not-so-new but constantly trending, time management method that is all the range and can help you with your guargantuan to-do list.

“Batching” by Sarah Hamaker

This year, I’ve fallen in love with batching. No, I’m not talking about making large quantities of chocolate chip cookies (although I always triple the recipe when I do make them!), but about bunching like tasks together in order to use my time more efficiently. For me, it’s meant I have more dedicated time to write than I’ve had in the past.

Here are my top four tips on how to batch effectively.

1. Put your most creative tasks at the front end of your day. I start most weekdays at my computer working on my current work-in-progress (WIP) before checking email or any other item on my to-do list. This way, my mind is fresh and ready to put words on paper.

2. Only open the program you’re working in and keep other programs closed. In other words, if it’s not time to check email, don’t leave Outlook or Thunderbird open on your desktop—you will be more tempted to check when you should be doing something else.

3. Customize your schedule on a daily basis. Most batching experts recommend coming up with a weekly schedule, which is very helpful. But give yourself the freedom to personalize each day, keeping to the weekly schedule as much as possible.

4. Give yourself grace when you fall off the batching wagon…but get back in the harness as quickly as possible. Don’t beat yourself up when you fail to batch well. We all get off track because, well, life happens. Get back into the swing of things as fast as you can, and don’t dwell on the misses.

About Sarah

A busy freelance writer and editor, Sarah Hamaker has written four nonfiction books, including: Ending Sibling Rivalry: Moving Your Kids From War to Peace (Beacon Hill Press, 2014) and Hired@Home (DPL Press, 2008). Her stories have appeared in several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, including Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers. She is a certified Leadership Parenting Coach™ and a biblical parenting coach through the National Center for Biblical Parenting. Her articles on parenting have appeared on the Washington Post’s On Parenting blog, and on her Patheos blog, Some Assembly Required. She has a weekly podcast for parents called “You’ve Got This.”

She won the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for romantic suspense, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Sarah is a member of ACFW and ACFW Virginia Chapter, as well as the president of Capital Christian Writers Fellowship. Sarah lives in Virginia with her husband, four children, and three cats. Visit her online at sarahamaker.com and sarahhamakerfiction.com.

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