Do you pride yourself on your multi-tasking abilities? Many of us do! It is a powerful time-management tool for many aspects of your life, including work. Additionally, it is common knowledge that multi-tasking has proven benefits, such as boosting creativity. But did you know multi-tasking isn’t the only way to become more efficient at ticking off all the items on your to-do list?
There’s also an art form that is much less known, and much less utilised: it’s called stacking. Stacking is the practice of piling various tasks that all share the same peripheral work that comes with each of those tasks. But what does this mean, exactly?
The good news is you already implement stacking in your everyday life: for example, when you’re running out to the supermarket, you may drop off clothes at the dry cleaners next door to the store, or stop off at the post office en route. The “peripheral work” around each of these tasks are things like putting on your shoes, getting in the car, driving to the location, parking, and driving back. It doesn’t make sense to not stack three return trips and make them one. Clearly, stacking is almost intuitive for us when it comes to organising our lives. Most people, however, do not think to stack their workday. But stacking could end up being one of your most powerful time-management and efficiency tools.
Here are a few ways you can stack at work:
1. If you’re female, you know all too well the time and effort that goes into doing your hair and make-up for important video calls. For remote workers, it may not make sense to go through all that effort five days a week. My advice is to “stack” client/prospect calls over one or two days, so you only have to go through the extra effort once or twice a week. If you need a new photo for your LinkedIn profile, take it that same day. Or if you need to record a video clip for your website or social media platforms, take advantage that you’re already fully styled.
2. The same applies for travel: if you need to have in-person meetings in the approximately the same area, stack them on the same day to ensure you’re getting bang for your buck on the time you spend commuting to and from those meetings. Bonus tip: if you have flexibility over where you meet, try to have them all within walking distance of each other so you’re not restricted by traffic.
3. You can apply stacking to presentations and demos. If you regularly need to present the same product or tool or PowerPoint, it often requires setting up your conferencing equipment and pulling up all the complementary collateral. If it’s not too tiring for you to present the same thing a few times in a row, stacking ensures you’ve got everything you need already there for your demos, one right after the other. Additionally, having just gone through a presentation once will also make the subsequent times easier and more natural. It flows better if you’ve already “rehearsed” it that day, and you can almost go into auto-pilot with your words. Consider having a weekly “presentation day” if presentations are something you do on a regular basis.
Stacking and multi-tasking are two important tools in your time-management toolbox. Each one has its specific benefits, but both aim to either make you more productive, or reduce the time and effort it takes to achieve the same level of productivity.
How do you use stacking in your workday or your everyday life? Please share in the comments below – we’re always looking for new ideas!