# Eat That Frog! ![rw-book-cover](https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Publication111/v4/65/76/4e/65764e33-0460-b91d-ee97-fb5493ab7d48/9781626569430.jpg/1400x2162bb.jpeg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Brian Tracy]] - Full Title: Eat That Frog! - Category: #books ## Highlights - Future intent influences and often determines present actions. - The clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what you do in the moment - Successful people are those who are willing to delay gratification and make sacrifices in the short term so that they can enjoy far greater rewards in the long term - Unsuccessful people, on the other hand, think more about short-term pleasure and immediate gratification while giving little thought to the long-term future. - “Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension-relieving. Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.” - Motivation requires motive. The greater the potential positive impact that an action or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly, the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly. - Thinking continually about the potential consequences of your choices, decisions, and behaviors is one of the very best ways to determine your true priorities in your work and personal life. - There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” - Obey the Law of Forced Efficiency - There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. - Many people have hundreds of hours of reading and projects backlogged at home and at the office - Deadlines Are an Excuse - Many people say that they work better under the pressure of deadlines. Unfortunately, years of research indicate that this is seldom true.1 - Under the pressure of deadlines, often self-created through procrastination, people suffer greater stress, make more mistakes, and have to redo more tasks than under any other conditions. - Sometimes a job actually takes much longer to complete when people rush to get it done at the last minute and then have to redo it. - However much time you think a task will take, add on another 20 percent or more as insurance. Or make a game of getting the job done well in advance of the deadline. You will be amazed at how much more relaxed you are and how much better a job you do when you are on top of your most important tasks. - “What are my highest-value activities?” - Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest-value activities before you begin work. - What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?” - It is one of the most important of all questions for achieving personal effectiveness. What can you and only you do that if done well can make a real difference? - do. If you don’t do it, it won’t be done by someone else - The third question you can ask is, “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?” - Do first things first and second things not at all. As Goethe said, “The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.” - 1. Review your list of tasks, activities, and projects regularly - 2. Determine the most important thing you could be doing every hour of every day, and then discipline yourself to work continually on the most valuable use of your time. What is this for you right now? - “Only engage, and the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed.” - 5 Practice Creative Procrastination - The fact is that you can’t do everything that you have to do. You have to procrastinate on something. - Creative procrastination is one of the most effective of all personal performance techniques. It can change your life - deliberately and consciously procrastinate on small tasks. Put off eating smaller or less ugly frogs. Eat the biggest and ugliest frogs before anything else. Do the worst first! - Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on - Priorities versus Posteriorities - priority is something that you do more of and sooner, while a posteriority is something that you do less of and later, if at all. - most powerful of all words in time management is the word no! Say it politely. Say it clearly so that there are no misunderstandings. Say it regularly as a normal part of your time management vocabulary. - Simple. I just say no to everything that is not absolutely vital to me at the moment.” - Say no to anything that is not a high-value use of your time and your life. Say no graciously but firmly to avoid agreeing to something against your will. Say it early and say it often. Remember that you have no spare time. As we say, “Your dance card is full - Set Posteriorities on Time-Consuming Activities - 1. Practice “zero-based thinking” in every part of your life. Ask yourself continually, “If I were not doing this already, knowing what I now know, would I start doing it again today - 2. Examine each of your personal and work activities and evaluate it based on your current situation. Select at least one activity to abandon immediately or at least deliberately put off until your more important goals have been achieved. - The first law of success is concentration—to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor to the left. WILLIAM MATHEWS - The more thought you invest in planning and setting priorities before you begin, the more important things you will do and the faster you will get them done once you get started. - Think on Paper - This technique is so simple and effective that it can, all by itself, make you one of the most efficient and effective people in your field. - An “A” item is defined as something that is very important, something that you must do - If you have more than one A task, you prioritize these tasks by writing “A-1,” “A-2,” “A-3,” and so on in front of each item. Your A-1 task is your biggest, ugliest frog of all. - ”Shoulds” versus “Musts” - A “B” item is defined as a task that you should do - A “C” task is defined as something that would be nice to do but for which there are no consequences at all, whether you do it or not. C tasks include phoning a friend, having coffee or lunch with a coworker, and completing some personal business during work hours - A “D” task is defined as something you can delegate to someone else - An “E” task is defined as something that you can eliminate altogether - Take Action Immediately - Use your willpower to get going and stay going on this one job, the most important single task you could possibly be doing. Eat the whole frog and don’t stop until it’s finished completely. - EAT THAT FROG! - 1. Review your work list right now and put an A, B, C, D, or E next to each task or activity. Select your A-1 job or project and begin on it immediately. Discipline yourself to do nothing else until this one job is complete. 2. Practice this ABCDE Method every day for the next month on every work or project list before you begin work. After a month, you will have developed the habit of setting and working on your highest-priority tasks, and your future will be assured! - 7 Focus on Key Result Areas - The Big Seven in Management and Sales - key result area is defined as something for which you are completely responsible. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. A key result area is an activity that is under your control. It produces an output that becomes an input or a contributing factor to the work of others. - Clarity Is Essential - The starting point of high performance is for you to identify the key result areas of your work - Whatever you do, you must have certain essential skills for you to do your job in an excellent fashion - Give Yourself a Grade - This rule says that although you could be exceptional in six out of your seven key result areas, poor performance in the seventh area will hold you back and determine how much you achieve with all your other ski - Poor Performance Produces Procrastination - past. Instead of setting a goal and making a plan to improve in a particular area, most people avoid that area altogether, which just makes the situation worse. - The reverse of this is that the better you become in a particular skill area, the more motivated you will be to perform that function, the less you will procrastinate, and the more determined you will be to get the job finished. - The Great Question - What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?” - 1. Identify the key result areas of your work. What are they? Write down the key results you have to get to do your job in an excellent fashion. Give yourself a grade from one to ten on each one. And then determine the one key skill that, if you did it in an excellent manner, would help you the most in your work. - 2. Take this list to your boss and discuss it with him or her. Invite honest feedback and appraisal. You can only get better when you are open to the constructive input of other people. Discuss your conclusions with your staff and coworkers. Talk them over with your spouse. Make a habit of doing this analysis regularly for the rest of your career. Never stop improving. This decision alone can change your life. - 8 Apply the Law of Three - One Thing All Day Long - ‘If you could do only one thing on this list all day long, which one task would contribute the greatest value to your company?’ - Once I had identified the second most important task, you asked me the same question with regard to the third most important task - You then said something that shocked me at the time. - You said that fully 90 percent of the value that you contribute to your company is contained in those three tasks, whatever they are. Everything else you do is either a support task or a complementary task that could probably be delegated, downsized, outsourced, or eliminated.” - Transform Your Life - 1.  What are your three most important business or career goals right now? 2.  What are your three most important family or relationship goals right now? 3.  What are your three most important financial goals right now? 4.  What are your three most important health goals right now? 5.  What are your three most important personal and professional development goals right now? 6.  What are your three most important social and community goals right now? 7.  What are your three biggest problems or concerns in life right now? - While you are setting goals and priorities, getting organized, concentrating single-mindedly on one task at a time, and disciplining yourself to complete your most important tasks, you must never forget that your ultimate goal is to live a long, happy, and healthy life. - The purpose of time management—of eating that frog—and getting more done in less time is to enable you to spend more “face time” with the people you care about, doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life. - It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters. - Work All the Time You Work - When you go to work, put your head down and work the whole time. Start a little earlier, stay a little later, and work a little harder. Don’t waste time. Every minute that you spend in idle chitchat with coworkers is time taken away from the work that you must accomplish if you want to do well at your job. - Your goal should be to perform at your very best at work—to get the very most done and enjoy the very highest level of rewards possible for you in your career - Never lose sight of the real reasons why you work as hard as you do and why you are so determined to accomplish the very most with the time that you invest. The more time you spend face-to-face with the people you love, the happier you will be. - 1. Determine the three most important tasks that you do in your work. Ask yourself, “If I could do only one thing all day long, which one task would contribute the greatest value to my career?” Do this exercise two more times. Once you have identified your “big three,” concentrate on them single-mindedly all day long. 2. Identify your three most important goals in each area of your life. Organize them by priority. Make plans for their accomplishment, and work on your plans every single day. You will be amazed at what you achieve in the months and years ahead. - 9 Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin - have everything you need at hand before you begin. When you are fully prepared, you are like a cocked gun or an archer with an arrow pulled back taut in the bow - You just need one small mental push to get started on your highest-value tasks. - Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you have only one task in front of you. If necessary, put everything else on the floor or on a table behind you - Set up your work area so that it is comfortable, attractive, and conducive to working for long periods. Especially, make sure that you have a comfortable chair that supports your back and allows your feet to rest flat on the floor. - The cleaner and neater you organize your work area before you begin, the easier it will be for you to get started and keep going. - Create a Comfortable Workspace - When everything is laid out neatly and in sequence, you will feel much more like getting on with the job. - Launch toward Your Dreams - people fail to take the first step of preparing everything in advance - Get it 80 percent right and then correct it later. - You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” On - Take the First Step - When you sit down with everything in front of you, ready to go, assume the body language of high performance. Sit up straight; sit forward and away from the back of the chair. Carry yourself as though you were an efficient, effective, high-performing personality. Then, pick up the first item and say to yourself, “Let’s get to work!” and plunge in. And once you’ve started, keep going until the job is finished. - 1. Take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at work. Ask yourself, “What kind of a person works in an environment like this?” The cleaner and neater your work environment, the more positive, productive, and confident you will feel. 2. Resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient, and ready to get going each time you sit down to work. - by the yard it’s hard; but inch by inch, anything’s a cinch - One of the best ways to eat a large frog is for you to take it one bite at a time. - Crossing a Great Desert - To accomplish a great task, you must step out in faith and have complete confidence that your next step will soon become clear to you. - A great life or a great career is built by performing one task at a time, quickly and well, and then going on to the next task. - You can overcome procrastination and accomplish extraordinary things by taking just the first step, getting started toward your goal, and then taking it one step, one oil barrel, at a time. - 1. Select any goal, task, or project in your life on which you have been procrastinating and make a list of all the steps you will need to take to eventually complete the task. 2. Then take just one step immediately. Sometimes all you need to do to get started is to sit down and complete one item on the list. And then do one more, and so on. You will be amazed at what you eventually accomplish. - Learn what you need to learn so that you can do your work in an excellent fashion - The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be. - you can accomplish the biggest task in your life by disciplining yourself to take it just one step at a time. - Never Stop Learning - Identify the most important things you do, and then make a plan to continually upgrade your skills in those areas - The best news is that you can learn whatever skills you need to be more productive and more effective. You can become a touch typist if necessary. You can become proficient with a computer. You can become a terrific negotiator or a super salesperson. You can learn to speak in public. You can learn to write effectively and well. These are all skills you can acquire as soon as you decide to and make them a priority. - Three Steps to Mastery - Second, take every course and seminar available on the key skills that can help you. - First, read in your field for at least one hour every day. Get up a little earlier in the morning and read for thirty to sixty minutes in a book or magazine that contains information that can help you be more effective and productive at what you do. - Dedicate yourself to becoming one of the most knowledgeable and competent people in your field. - The more you learn and know, the more confident and motivated you feel. The better you become, the more capable you will be of doing even more in your field. - Turn driving time into learning time. You can become one of the smartest, most capable, and highest paid people in your field simply by listening to educational audio programs as you drive from place to place. - you can build your mental muscles with mental exercises. And there is no limit to how far or how fast you can advance except for the limits you place on your own imagination. - 1. Identify the key skills that can help you the most to achieve better and faster results. Determine the core competencies that you will need to have in the future to lead your field. Whatever they are, set a goal, make a plan, and begin developing and increasing your ability in those areas. Decide to be the very best at what you do! 2. Develop a personal plan to prepare yourself to do your most important tasks in an excellent fashion. Focus on those areas where you have special talents and that you most enjoy. This is the key to unlocking your personal potential. - Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus - Between where you are today and any goal or objective that you want to accomplish, there is one major constraint that must be overcome before you can achieve that major goal. Your job is to identify it clearly - Identify the Limiting Factor - The 80/20 Rule Applied to Constraints - Look into Yourself - Successful people always begin the analysis of constraints by asking the question, “What is it in me that is holding me back?” They accept complete responsibility for their lives and look to themselves for both the cause and cure of their problems. - Strive for Accuracy - 1. Identify your most important goal in life today. What is it? What one goal, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive effect on your life? What one career accomplishment would have the greatest positive impact on your work life? 2. Determine the one constraint, internal or external, that sets the speed at which you accomplish this goal. Ask, “Why haven’t I reached it already? What is it in me that is holding me back?” Whatever your answers, take action immediately. Do something. Do anything, but get started - Starting off your day with the removal of a key bottleneck or constraint fills you with energy and personal power. It propels you into following through and completing the job. Often, alleviating a key constraint or limiting factor is the most important frog you could eat at that moment. - The 80/20 Rule also applies to the constraints in your life and in your work. This means that 80 percent of the constraints, the factors that are holding you back from achieving your goals, are internal. - The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary - The world is full of people who are waiting for someone to come along and motivate them to be the kind of people they wish they could be. The problem is that no one is coming to the rescue. - These people are waiting for a bus on a street where no buses pass. If they don’t take charge of their lives and put the pressure on themselves, they can end up waiting forever. And that is what most people do. - Only about 2 percent of people can work entirely without supervision. We call these people “leaders.” This is the kind of person you are meant to be and that you can be, if you decide to be. - Create Imaginary Deadlines - One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is by working as though you had only one day to get your most important jobs done. - Another way to put pressure on yourself is to imagine that you just received an all-expenses-paid vacation at a beautiful resort as a prize, but you will have to leave tomorrow morning on the vacation or it will be given to someone else. - Successful people continually put the pressure on themselves to perform at high levels. Unsuccessful people have to be instructed and pressured by others. - EAT THAT FROG! 1. Set deadlines and subdeadlines on every task and activity. Create your own “forcing system.” Raise the bar on yourself and don’t let yourself off the hook. Once you’ve set yourself a deadline, stick to it and even try to beat it. 2. Write out every step of a major job or project before you begin. Determine how many minutes and hours you will require to complete each phase. Then race against your own clock. Beat your own deadlines. Make it a game and resolve to win! - EAT THAT FROG! 1. Resolve today to create zones of silence during your day-to-day activities. Turn off your computer and your smartphone for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. You will be amazed at what happens: nothing. 2. Resolve to unplug from technology for one full day each week. By the end of your digital detox, your mind will be calm and clear. When your mental batteries - Technology is just a tool. - You must discipline yourself to treat technology as a servant, not as a master - The purpose of technology is to make your life smoother and easier, not to create complexity, confusion, and stress. - Take Control of Your Communication - Clear your digital workspace as you would your physical desk; close every program not needed for the task at hand - Block the websites that distract you the most. - But What about Emergencies? - Take Control of Your Time - Your calendar makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master. Never automatically click Accept on a digital invitation. Ask yourself if the invitation really fits your priorities before pressing the button. - Take Control of Your Emotions Using Technology - Many people fail to make technology their servant because they fear learning new skills. This fear can be mastered: refuse to let it hold you back. - Everything is learnable, and what others have learned, you can learn as well - Technology is no longer optional; it is just as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic. - the idea that only certain kinds of people are good at technology is a myth. No matter your age, race, or gender, you have the power to master technology - When you make technology your servant, it can be a source of positive, motivating emotions and increased productivity. - Post your most important stretch goal on social media and promise your followers you will achieve that goal. Update them daily on your progress so that if you skip a day or slack off, everyone will know. - many novelists like to share their daily word counts on Twitter so they can see who in their social circle is the fastest and most productive writer—and who gives in to procrastination. - Stop being enslaved by social media, and make it work for you instead. It’s simple: instead of posting something trite, post about your life goals and seek the social support to conquer them. - 1. Resolve today to turn off all notifications, except for your emergency channels. Create special areas in your digital life for your most important tasks. 2. Resolve to research and install one piece of software or one app that will help you be more efficient and focused - All of life is the study of attention; where your attention goes, your life follows - The “attraction of distraction,” the lure of electronic and other interruptions, leads to diffused attention, a wandering mind, a lack of focus, and, ultimately, under-achievement and failure. - Developing an Addiction - When you check your e-mail first thing in the morning or when you respond to the bell or other sound that indicates an incoming e-mail or message, your brain releases a tiny shot of dopamine. This shot gives you a pleasant “buzz.” It stimulates your curiosity and causes you to react and respond immediately. You instantly forget whatever else you were doing and turn your full attention to the new message. - The Multitasking Illusion - When you start your day with a few shots of dopamine triggered by your e-mail or IM bell going off, you find it extremely difficult to pay close attention to your important tasks for the rest of the day - Some people believe that they can engage in multitasking, going back and forth between e-mails and important tasks. But people can focus only on one thing at a time - What they are really doing is called “task shifting.” They are shifting their attention back and forth, like swinging a searchlight from one object to another. - After an Internet interruption, it takes about seventeen minutes for you to shift your total attention back to your task and continue working - The Proven Solutions - The solutions are simple and are being adopted by the most productive people in every industry - Here is a simple way to double your productivity - Double Your Productivity - First, plan each day in advance, select your most important task, and then start on that task first thing, before you do anything else. Second, work nonstop for ninety minutes with no diversion or distraction, and then give yourself a fifteen-minute break. - Finally, after this three-hour work period, you can then reward yourself with a shot of dopamine by checking your e-mail. - Third, start again and work another ninety minutes flat out - When you develop the habit of completing three hours of important work each morning, first thing, you will both double your productivity and break yourself of the habit of checking your e-mail all day long. You will regain full control of your life. - EAT THAT FROG! 1. Keep your goals of success and high productivity in mind. Before you do anything, ask yourself, “Is this helping me achieve one of my most important goals, or is this just a distraction?” 2. Refuse to become a slave to the bells and whistles that distract you from completing those tasks that can make a real difference in your life. Leave your devices off. - The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, in thought and act. - you lay out the task in detail, writing down every step in order, and then resolve to do just one slice of the job for the time being, like eating a roll of salami one slice at a time—or like eating an elephant one bite at a time. - Psychologically, you will find it easier to do a single, small piece of a large project than to start on the whole job. - Develop a Compulsion to Closure - An important point to remember is that you have deep within you an “urge to completion,” - what is often referred to as a “compulsion to closure - you actually feel happier and more powerful when you start and complete a task of any kind. You satisfy a deep subconscious need to bring finality to a job or project - I have several friends who have become bestselling authors by simply resolving to write one page or even one paragraph per day until the book was completed. And you can do the same - 1. Put the “salami slice” or “Swiss cheese” technique into action immediately to get started on a large, complex, multitask job that you’ve been putting off. 2. Become action oriented. A common quality of high performers is that when they hear a good idea, they take action on it immediately. Don’t delay. Try it today! - Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all of your energies on a limited set of targets. - Most of the really important work you do requires large chunks of unbroken time to complete - Many people read great books fifteen minutes each night before retiring. In this way, over time, they eventually read dozens of the best books ever written. - Schedule Blocks of Time - The key to the success of this method of working in specific time segments is for you to plan your day in advance and schedule a fixed time period for a particular activity or task. - Set aside thirty-, sixty-, and ninety-minute time segments that you use to work on and complete important tasks. - Use a Time Planner - time planner, broken down by day, hour, and minute and organized in advance, can be one of the most powerful personal productivity tools of all. - It enables you to see where you can consolidate and create blocks of time for concentrated work. - Make Every Minute Count - One of the keys to high levels of performance and productivity is to make every minute count. Use travel and transition times, what are often called “gifts of time,” to complete small chunks of larger tasks. - Develop a Sense of Urgency - 1. Think continually of different ways that you can save, schedule, and consolidate large chunks of time. Use these times to work on important tasks with the most significant long-term consequences. 2. Make every minute count. Work steadily and continuously without diversion or distraction by planning and preparing your work in advance. Most of all, keep focused on the most important results for which you are responsible. - Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. - Highly productive people take the time to think, plan, and set priorities. They then launch quickly and strongly toward their goals and objectives. - Getting into “Flow” - When you work on your most important tasks at a high and continuous level of activity, you can actually enter into an amazing mental state called “flow.” - Trigger High Performance in Yourself - In the state of flow, identified and talked about over the centuries, you actually function on a higher plane of clarity, creativity, and competence. You are more sensitive and aware. Your insight and intuition guide you and direct you to do and say exactly the right things at the right time. - One of the ways you can trigger this state of flow is by developing a sense of urgency. This is an inner drive and desire to get on with the job quickly and get it done fast. - It is an impatience that motivates you to get going and to keep going. A sense of urgency feels very much like racing against yourself. - A fast tempo seems to go hand in hand with all great success. Developing this tempo requires that you start moving and keep moving at a steady rate - Build Up a Sense of Momentum - Do It Now! - repeat the words “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!” over and over to yourself. - nothing will help you more in your career than for you to get the reputation for being the kind of person who gets important work done quickly and well - ncy in everything you do. Select one area where you have a tendency to procrastinate, and make a decision to develop the habit of fast action in that area. 2. When you see an opportunity or a problem, take action on it immediately. When you are given a task or responsibility, take care of it quickly and report back fast. Move rapidly in every important area of your life. You will be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more you get done. - Single Handle Every Task - Every great achievement of humankind has been preceded by a long period of hard, concentrated work until the job was done. Your ability to select your most important task, to begin it, and then to concentrate on it single-mindedly until it is complete is the key to high levels of performance and personal productivity. - Don’t Waste Time - The more you discipline yourself to working nonstop on a single task, the more you progress along the “efficiency curve.” You get more and more high-quality work done in less and less time. - Self-Discipline Is the - success in any area requires tons of discipline. Self-discipline, self-mastery, and self-control are the basic building blocks of both character and high performance. - Starting a high-priority task and persisting with that task until it is 100 percent complete is the true test of your character, your willpower, and your resolve. - By focusing clearly on your most valuable task and concentrating single-mindedly until it is 100 percent complete, you actually shape and mold your own character. You become a superior person. - EAT THAT FROG! 1. Take action! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately. 2. Once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to persevere without diversion or distraction until it is 100 percent complete. See it as a test to determine whether you are the kind of person who can make a decision to complete something and then carry it out. Once you begin, refuse to stop until the job is finished. - The key to happiness, satisfaction, great success, and a wonderful feeling of personal power and effectiveness is for you to develop the habit of eating your frog first thing every day when you start work. - Make a decision to practice these principles every day until they become second nature to you. With these habits of personal management as a permanent part of your personality, your future success will be unlimited.