How to Have the Most Productive Content Batching Work Date Ever!
Chavi and I working together on Team Diva’s marketing!
Folks. I am not exaggerating with this title!
There is a lot of information out there about the idea of “batching” your content as a way to get it done. But how do you ACTUALLY have a successful “batching” session?
If you’re unfamiliar, “batching” is basically creating a bunch of content at once that you can release over time. There is a ton of information out there about this (including this video with my 5 hacks for batching content, which has some excellent tips if I may say so myself!)
But really, does batching even work?
Of course, batching works. But ultimately, you have to sit down, focus, and put in the work. And this is the hard part for many real estate agents who want to create their own content.
The most important thing when it comes to batching content is to know thyself.
As in, know what you need to be most productive and actually DO the batching. There is no one-size-fits-all batching rule.
Personally, one of my favorite ways to get content creation checked off of my to-do list is via work dates.
So what exactly is a “work date” and how does it… work?
A work date is just a time you’ll plan with your work date buddy where you both agree to dedicate a set amount of time to focus + productivity. Having a work buddy adds a layer of accountability. I know people will say to “make an unbreakable date with yourself” to batch your content, but as we all know, these “unbreakable dates” are indeed rather breakable.
In this blog I’m sharing my hard-earned tips for how to have the most productive content batching work date you’ve ever had. Let’s get into it!
Find your co-conspirator, aka your work date buddy.
You need to find a like-minded colleague who is just as serious about creating content as you are. Seriously. This person needs to be someone you can count on (and you need to be someone they can count on!).
Location, location, location!
It’s a cliche for a reason! Where can you really FOCUS? Where do you feel fabulous and ready to kick a$$? Where do you feel inspired to hunker down and get work done?
I have a fantasy where I work by the pool in Palm Springs, decked out in my finest 1960s-inspired kaftan, but realistically I am not one to hide from the sun, and sun + computer screens don’t mix. In actuality, I love a coffee shop that ticks a few important boxes. It’s gotta have good parking, abundant seating, tables with enough room for our computers and drinks, a solid beverage menu, and snackies. Bonus points if it’s cute and cozy!
Your location might be a reserved conference room in your office (you don’t want distractions), a coworking space you get a day pass for, a hotel lobby where there’s plenty of comfy seating and a giant fireplace, or even an Airbnb you and your work date buddy have rented for an entire weekend of content creation.
Choose the timing of your work date wisely.
This is so, so important. And I’m going to really get into the weeds here because I think it’s worth it. Maybe I am overthinking this, but in my experience, the timing of your work date matters. Here are some things to consider:
What day and time are YOU able to focus best? For me, IF I’m with a work buddy, anytime is honestly good. Early morning. Afternoon. Late at night. I can do it. But some folks are useless after 3pm and others don’t hit their stride until 8pm. For some real estate agents, Fridays and weekends are off limits, for example.
How long can you be productive for? If I’m in a groove, I can create for like 4+ hours straight. Honestly longer, really. (I thank my long hours of intensive studying and writing in college for this stamina.) In my opinion 2-3 hours is the sweet spot; it’s enough time to make some great progress, but not so long that you start to become restless. But if you are really serious and want to do something like a Content Hurricane, plan out your day in advance. Agree you’ll start work at 9:30am, break for lunch at noon, work again from 1-4:30pm, and call it a day (for example).
What is on your schedule BEFORE and AFTER your work date? This is important. If you have a listing presentation before your work date, and you’re usually exhausted after those, scheduling your work date right after this is not a good idea. But if you have a morning pilates class and you always feel energized right after, be my guest to schedule your work date. For myself, I know that after having a particularly social day of meetings and maybe lunch, I’m going to be spent and no good at sitting down to focus on writing. I’ll need a nap and some time to shift my energy.
Create a note on your phone that is a running list of your marketing ideas.
These might be blog post topics, IG Reels you want to make (and need to write scripts for), content you need to finally upload and write captions for, etc. Keeping a running list of your ideas over time will make it that much easier when you finally sit down and start to create. For me personally, I know that I must write down ideas as they come to me. Sometimes I catch myself thinking, “This idea is awesome, there is no way I’ll forget this.” And then guess what, I forget it. So make things easy on yourself and keep a note on your phone.
Before you even show up to the work date, have a plan.
Have your to-do list ready. Prepping your to-do list should only take a few minutes, because you’ve already been keeping a list of your ideas in a note on your phone.
At the beginning of your work date, share your plan with your buddy.
Once you’re all settled, you and your work buddy should share what your goals are for the work date. Share tangible goals, like “Write 3 blog post drafts,” or “Write blog post drafts for [insert working titles of each post].”
Set a time for a work sprint.
After you’ve shared your goals for the work date, agree on a set amount of time that you’re both going to put your heads down and WORK. It might be 20 minutes, or 45 minutes, but probably no more than 1 hour. There are many studies out there that have analyzed how long a person can actually focus for (there seem to be many different answers for this), but again, just know yourself and what works for you. Basically you want the sprint to be long enough that you can really sink your teeth into what you’re working on, but not so long that you start to check your email.
At the end of the sprint, share your progress with your work date buddy.
What did you accomplish during your sprint? Where did you get stuck? Do you need to shift gears during your next sprint? Use this time to also get up and refill your caffeinated beverage of choice. Use the restroom. Move your body and get your blood flowing. Then sit down, set the parameters for your next work sprint, and repeat as necessary!
End your work date with a recap of what you accomplished.
Share with your work buddy all you accomplished. Is there anything remaining on your list that you didn’t accomplish? Were there things you started to work on but hit a roadblock? Discuss what worked well and what didn’t. Was there something about the locale that didn’t work for you? Are you realizing you needed to do a little more prepwork? Take some time to reflect so you can optimize your next work date.
Schedule your next work date.
Don’t leave the work date without scheduling another work date, or even a few.
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And there you have it! If you do end up having a work date with your work date buddy, take a pic and post it on the socials. (And tag me at @homescribecreative on Instagram + Facebook, I wanna see!)
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