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Have you ever heard the phrase “eat that frog?” I never did until I read the book Eat That Frog, 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, by Brian Tracy. According to Brian, eating your frog is when it comes to tackling your most important, daunting tasks, and getting them done. The conception is similar to how you eat an elephant…one bite at a time. Brian’s main point is that you eat your most ugliest frog first, the next ugliest, and so on, until all your frogs are done. When you “eat your frog,” you feel empowered, happier, energized, and are more productive, i.e., you get more done. The principles Brian shares in his book are principles he has picked up from 30 years of studying time management and has integrated into his own life. Brain says that time management is life management, so these principles implement to any aspect of your life, specially your business when you’re just getting started and working on it percentage time. The idea is to take control over what you do and choose the primary tasks over the unimportant. This is a key determinate of success. Here is a summary of each principle Brian covers in his book. Principle 1: Set the Table This principle is when it comes to determining what you want to accomplish. It’s in regards to getting clarity when it comes to your goals and objectives. One of the greatest reasons people procrastinate is vagueness and confusedness in regards to what they want to do. Brian introduces his original Rule of Success: Think on paper. Do you recognise that people who have clear written goals accomplish 5 to 10 times more than humans who don’t? Brian has a seven step formula for setting and achieving goals: 1. Decide precisely what you want to do (one of the worst time wasters is doing something well that doesn’t need to be at all). 2. Write your goal down. Writing your goal down crystallizes and put energy behind it because it becomes real. 3. Set a deadline on you goal. This gives you a sense of urgency with a beginning and end. 4. Make a list of everything you think you need to do to achieve the goal. A visual picture give you a path to follow and increments the likelihood of success. 5. Organize the list into a plan by priority and sequence. You may draw a map of your plan like a flow chart to aid you visualize the steps. 6. Take action immediately. “Execution is everything.” 7. Resolve to do something each day that takes you closer to your goal. Schedule your actions and never miss a day. Having clear written goals affects your thinking and motivates and drives you into action. Written goals stimulate creativity, release energy, aid you get over procrastination, and give you enthusiasm. Think when it comes to your goals and review them each day and take action. Principle 2: Plan Each Day in Advance This is fundamentally making a to-do list. Just like eating an elephant, you eat a frog one bite at a time. Break you task down into steps. “Thinking and planning unlock your mental powers, trigger you creativity, and increase your mental and physical energies.” The better you plan, the more comfortable to get over procrastination, to get started, and to keep going. Brian claims that each minute you spend planning will save as much as ten minutes in execution. So if you spend 10 to 12 minutes planning, you’ll save at least 2 hours (100-120 minutes) in wasted time and effort – very impressive. Brian’s introduces the Six P Formula for this principle: Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. His tips are: All you need is paper and pen. Always work from a list – if something new comes up, add it to the list. Keep a master list of everything. Make a list for dissimilar purposes. Keep a per month list, which you make at the end of each month for the following month. Keep a weekly list, which you make at the end of the week for the following week. Keep a daily list, which you make as the end of the day for the following day. The lists feed off each other. Check off items as you finish them. Checking the items off gives you a visual record of accomplishment and motivates you to keep going. Follow the 10/90 Rule of personal effectiveness, which says if you spend the firstborn 10% of your time planning and organizing your work before you begin, you’ll save 90% of time getting the work done when you start. Principle 3: Apply the 80/20 Rule This principle says that 20% of your activenesses will account for 80% of your results, even when all your activenesses take the same amount of time to do. The activenesses that give you the most return on your investment are your frogs. Where you focus your time is the divergence among being busy and achieving something. You want to eliminate or spend less time on your low-value tasks. Your most valuable tasks are the most unmanageable and most complex, but give you the most bang for you time, so ask yourself if the task is a 20% task. Brian’s rule here is “Resist the temptation to clear up little thing first.” Once you commence working on your most difficult task, you become motivated to finish it. “A share of you mind loves to be busy working on substantial tasks that may genuinely make a difference. Your occupation is to feed this percentage of your mind continually.” Thinking of starting and finishing an necessary task motivates and helps you get over procrastination. An important fact to do not forget is that “The amount of time required to finish an crucial occupation is the same time it takes to do an not significant job.” Principle 4: Consider the Consequences “The mark of a superior thinker is his or her capacity to accurately predict the aftermaths of doing or not doing anything.” Thinking through the aftermaths gives you an idea if an action is crucial and is a way to determine the significance of a task. Any essential task will have long-term potential consequences. Dr Edward Banfield, from Harvard University, concluded that “the long-time perspective is the most precise single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in America” (a rare trait in our instant gratification world). Your attitude towards time has an affect on your conduct and choices. Thinking in regards to the long-term affect will aid you make better decisions, thus, one of Brian’s rules: “Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making.” Having a future orientation (5, 10, 20 years out) will concede you to make an analyzation of selections and will make your behavings consistent with the future you want. Ask yourself, “What are the potential aftermaths of doing or not doing this task?” Brian’s follow-on rule is “Future aim influences and many times determines present actions.” The clearer you are on your future intentions, the better clarity on what to do at the present moment. Having a clear understanding of your future aim helps you evaluate a task, delay gratification, and make the necessary sacrifices in the future. Be more than willing to do what others aren’t so you may have what others want later…greater rewards are in the long-term. Dennis Waitley, a motivational speaker says, “Failures do what is tension-relieving while winners do what is goal achieving.” Make crucial tasks a top priority and get started them now. Time is passing anyway, so determine how you will spend it and where you want to end up. Thinking when it comes to the aftermaths of your choices, decisions, and behavings is the best way to determine your priorities. Principle 5: Practice the ABCDE Method Continually The ABCDE method is a priority setting technique to support you be more effective and effective. The premise behind the technique is that the more you invest in planning and setting priorities, the more necessary things you will do and do more immediate once you start. You begin by listing everything you have to do for the day and categorize everything into A, B, C, D, or E. An “A” is something that is very indispensable that you must do or there will be severe aftermaths (this is your frog.) A “B” is something you ought to do that has mild aftermaths (Brian calls these your tadpoles). A “C” is something that would be nice to do but there are no consequences. A “D” is something that you may delegate to someone, which frees up time for you to work your A. An “E” is something you may eliminate because it makes not divergence at all. Discipline yourself to work your A and stay on it until it is complete. If you have more than one task in each category, label the most essential A1, the next A2, etc., and do the same for the other categories. Never do a B before an A, or a C before a B. Principle 6: Focus on Key Result Areas This principle is in regards to focusing on what you are working towards. Every occupation may be broken down into “key result areas,” which are results you must achieve and for which you are responsible. For example, the key result areas for management are planning, organizing, staffing, delegating, supervising, measuring, and reporting. Identify your key result areas and list your responsibilities for each. Then grade yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each result area. Where are you strong? Where are you weak? Are you getting results or underneath performing? Brian’s rule for this area is “Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you may use all your other achievements and abilities.” Essentially, your weakest area limits your overall performance. This leads to another reason humans procrastinate-they keep out of the way of things where they have performed poorly in the past. Procrastination doesn’t commonly take place in an area you’re good in. Ask yourself, “What one skill, if I developed and did in an magnificent fashion, would have the biggest positive affect in my career” (or life, or business)? Ask those around you. Then set a goal to improve in that weak area. Principle 7: Obey the Law of Forced Efficiency “There is never sufficient time to do everything, but there is always sufficient time to do the most necessary thing.” Brian’s rule that applies here is “There will never be sufficient time to do everything you have to do.” (That’s a hard pill to swallow and something we probably subconsciously recognise but don’t accept.) A fact Brian states in his book is that the intermediate person is working at 110-130% of capacity, which means you will never get caught up. So that means you need to stay on top of your most indispensable responsibilities. People invent more stress for themselves when they procrastinate and put themselves beneath the pressure of a deadline. When you’re up versus a deadline, you tend to make more mistakes. The questions to ask yourself on a regular basis are: 1. What are my most eminent value activities? The answers to these questions will tell apart your biggest frog at the moment. “Do primary things firstborn and second things not at all.” Principle 8: Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin This principle means preparing and having everything you need ready before you get started your task. Have everything you need readily available in front of you. Remove everything that’s not going to aid you. Create a workspace you’ll receive pleasure from working in. Principle 9: Do Your Homework “Learn what you need to learn so that you may do your work in an splendid fashion.” Other reasons for procrastination are sensations of inadequacy, lack of confidence, and lack of competence in a key area of a task. To win a victory over these issues, work on your development. Professional development is one of the best time savers there is. Brian’s rule here is “Continuous learning is the minimum requisite for success in any field.” Keep on bettering your skills. Principle 10: Leverage Your Special Talents Identify your distinctive achievements and commit yourself to getting good in these areas, then apply your cognition and attainments (no one may ever take those away). Ask yourself, “What am I genuinely good at?” “What do I get enjoyment from the most regarding my work?” “What has been most responsible for my success in the past?” “If I could do any occupation at all, what occupation would it be?” Focus on your best energies and abilities. Principle 11: Identify Your Key Constraints Limiting constituents affect how speedily and how well you get your task done. They are the critical path or choke point to achieving your goal. Identify your limiting elements by asking yourself what is keeping you back, then focus on extenuating those elements as much as possible. Getting rid of those limiting components ordinarily brings more progress in a shorter time than anything else. The 80/20 Rule applies here too-80% of the constraints are internal, only 20% are external. Those constraints may be as simple as a thought or belief. Accept obligation and get rid of your constraint. Principle 12: Take it One Oil Barrel at a Time A saying regarding tackling anything is “by the yard, it’s hard, but inch by inch, it’s a cinch.” Taking an “one oil barrel at a time” is the same concept. Brian talks with regards to a trip in Algeria through the Sahara Desert. Because of the vastness of the desert and the lack of landmarks, the French had placed empty oil barrels on the road as markers. The barrels were placed 5 kilometers apart, so you could always see the next barrel. So the meaning of this principle is to go as far as you may see, and when you get there, you may see farther. Step out on faith, have confidence, and the next step will become clear. Principle 13: Put Pressure on Yourself The intent behind this principle is to take charge of you life before you end up waiting for a rescue that will never come. Be a leader, someone who may work without supervision, which according to Brian is only in regards to 2% of people. Set standards for yourself higher than you would for others and go the extra mile. This is all when it comes to self-esteem, which is your reputation of yourself, as specified by psychologist Nathaniel Brandon. Everything you do affects your self esteem. Push yourself and you’ll feel better in regards to you. Principle 14: Maximize Your Personal Powers Physical, mental, and aroused energies make up your personal performance and productivity. So guard and nurture your energy level. Rest when you need to. When you’re rested, you get much more done. A standard rule is that productivity have a tendancy to decline after in regards to 8-9 hours. Identify the times you are at your best and use that time to work on your frogs. Take time out to rest, rejuvenate, eat well, and exercise. Principle 15: Motivate Yourself Into Action This principle is regarding controlling your thoughts and being your own cheerleader. Coach and give hope or courage to yourself. How you talk to yourself determines your aroused response. How you interpret things that take place to you determines how you feel. How you feel may motivate or de-motivate you. Become an optimist and don’t let setbacks and negativity affect your mood. “In study after study, psychologists have determined that ‘optimism’ is the most important quality you may develop for personal and professional success and happiness.” Brian identifies 3 behavings of an optimist. 1. Look for the good in each situation. When you visualize your goals and talk to yourself positively, you feel focused, energized, confident, creative, and have a dandier sense of control and personal power. Principle 16: Practice Creative Procrastination This is a personal performance principle in regards to putting off doing smaller, less ugly frogs. Ultimately, you can’t do everything (remember Principle 7, Obey the Law for Force Efficiency?), so procrastinate on low value actions (bonus: you get to choose which ones). This is a matter of setting priorities, something you do more of and sooner, and setting “posteriorities,” something you do less of and later. The rule that applies here is “You may set your time and your life underneath control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower value activities.” Say “no” to low value use of your time and life and say “no” early and often, because you don’t have spare time. Thoughtfully and on purpose determine what things you are not going to do right now. Avoid the unconscious tendency to procrastinate on the big, hard, valuable, primary tasks. You are responsible for assessing your actions and identifying those that are time-consuming with not real value. Get rid of them or delegate them (um, sounds like Principle 5, Practice the ABCDE Method). Practice “zero-based thinking.” Ask yourself, “If I was not doing this already, knowing what I now know, would I get into it again today?” If you get a yes answer, it’s an “E.” Principle 17: Do the Most Difficult Task First This is the hardest, most difficult principle because you’re “eating your frog.” Brian outlines 7 steps to gain this skill (these steps are a nice summary of the some of the principles we have already covered): 1. At the end of the day/weekend, make a list of everything you have to do the next day. 2. Review the list using the ABCDE method combined with the 80/20 rule. 3. Select you A1 task, the one with the most severe consequences. 4. Gather everything you need to begin and finish the task; get it ready to start out the next morning. 5. Clear your workspace so you’re only ready to commence your A1 task. 6. Discipline yourself to get up, get ready, and begin the task without interruptions before you do anything else. 7. Do this for 21 days (creates the habit). When you get into the habit of doing the most difficult task first, you’ll double your productivity in less than a month, and you’ll break the habit of procrastination. Learn to say “Just for today,” as you’re fabricating your new habit. “Just for today, I will plan, prepare, and get started on my most difficult task before I do anything else.” Principle 18: Slice and Dice the Task This principle is the “salami slice” approach to getting work done. Do one slice of the task at a time. Psychologically, it’s more comfortable to do a littler piece that to get started on the whole job-like eating an elephant. We tend to want to do another slice when we get done with one. People have a deep subconscious need to fetch finality to a task, the “urge to completion.” We feel happier and more powerful when we commence and finish a task because endorphins are released-the more spectacular the task, the more prominent the sense of accomplishment. This approach is likewise known as the “Swiss cheese” method; you punch a hole in the task by spending a specific amount of time on the task. Principle 19: Create Large Chunks of Time This principle is when it comes to scheduling time to work on huge tasks. To make significant progress on your tasks, you need blocks of high-value, high productivity time. The key is to plan your day in advance and schedule fixed blocks of time, particularly for things you don’t take pleasure in doing. Make an appointment with yourself (sounds a lot like Principle 2, Plan Each Day in Advance). Eliminate obstacles to attention and work nonstop. “Deliberately and creatively coordinate the concentrated time periods you need to get your key jobs done well and on schedule.” Principle 20: Develop a Sense of Urgency The basis of this principle is to be action-oriented. A sense of urgency is an “inner drive and desire to get on with the occupation quickly and get it done fast.” Take the time to think, plan, and set priorities, then work them. Create a mental state of “flow,” which is the “highest humane state of performance and productivity.” In the “flow” state, you feel elated, clear, calm, efficient, happy, and accurate. Everything you do seems effortless. You function at a higher plane of clarity, creativity, and competence. You are more sensible and aware. Developing a “sense of urgency” triggers the flow state. Race versus yourself; give rise to a “bias for action.” Develop a fast tempo which goes hand and hand with success. When you become action-oriented, you trigger the “Momentum Principle of Success.” You end up using less energy to keep moving than the energy it takes to get started. The rapidly and without delay you move, the more energy you have, and the more you get done. Repeat to yourself, “Do it now!” When you find yourself distracted, tell yourself, “Back to work!” Principle 21: Single Hand Every Task This principle is regarding concentrating single-mindedly on your frog until it’s done, which is the key to high level performance and personal productivity. Hard, concentrated work precedes each great achievement. You may reduce the time to finish a task by 50% or more when you concentrate single-mindedly, according to Brian. Starting and stopping may increase the time to finish a task by an approximated 500% because you have to get reacquainted with the task and get over inertia to get started again. When you stop, you break the cycle and move backwards. Develop instinctive by getting into a “productive work rhythm.” “The more you discipline yourself to working non-stop on a single task, the more you move forward along the ‘efficiency curve.’” You get more high quality work done in less time. Success requires self-discipline, self-mastery, and self control. Elbert Hubbard defines self-discipline as “the capacity to make yourself do what you will have to do when you will have to do it, whether you feel like it or not.” Starting, persisting, and finishing a task is a unfeigned test of character, will, and resolve. Persistence is self-discipline in action. You end up liking and respecting yourself better. You shape and mold your reputation and become a superior person. Conclusion There you have it, 21 principles for overcoming procrastination so you may “eat your frog.” As a result of integrating these principles into your work habits, you will be happy, satisfied, feel a sense of personal power and effectiveness, and will become a great success. Fortunately, all this principles may be learned through repetition. As a recap, here they are: 1. Set the table. I commend you read the book. Don’t let the number 21 scare you. The book is an easy read and Brian gets straight to the point-no extra fluff. You’ll gain a better understanding of the principles, and the better you understand them, the better you’ll be competent to employ them to your business and life. The gain is you get to with great success “Eat that frog!” |
