Full title of the book Eat that Frog! – 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

“Think about your goals and review them daily. Every morning when you begin, take action on the most important task you can accomplish to achieve your most important goal at the moment.”

How about eating a big, ugly, living frog first thing in the morning? Well, it doesn’t sound tasty   and you probably object to the animal cruelty. But there is an interesting idea behind it. For Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Eat That Frog! shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively.

Successful people don’t try to do everything. They learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure those get done. They eat their frogs. There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re done with the worst thing you’ll have to do all day.

About Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy (born January 5, 1944) is a Canadian-American motivational public speaker and self-development author. He is the author of over eighty books that have been translated into dozens of languages. His popular books are Earn What You’re Really Worth , Eat That Frog! No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline and The Psychology of Achievement.

Brian Tracy Eat That Frog Summary

 Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time .This book helps readers understand the importance of managing our priorities and contains many highly practical and easy to implement suggestions for improving our effectiveness and ultimately to achieve our goals. The title of the book is inspired by Mark Twain who once said: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” We all have our frogs – important tasks that we’ve put off for whatever reason. The key to success is to eat your frogs quickly, completely and with focused determination.

1. Set the Table

Before you begin working it is vital that you decide exactly what you want to achieve .Clarity is essential for prioritising tasks and eliminating procrastination. This chapter emphasizes the vital importance of setting and writing down goals to achieve success.

The chapter includes a simple 7 step model for goal setting.

1.Decide exactly what you want to achieve and for work goals agree with your manager. The worst thing you can do is to do something well that doesn’t need to be done at all.

2.Is very crucial. Write it down. It is amazing how many people still do not write down their goals.

3.Set a deadline for completion. 4.Draft the list of activities required to achieve each goal.

5.Organise your plan and categorise your tasks…

6.Take action immediately to move you towards achieving your goals.

7.Resolve to do something everyday to achieve your goals.

2. Plan Every Day in Advance

Plan every day in advance Your ability to set goals, make plans and take action on them determines the quality of your life. Taking action without planning is the cause of every failure and yet very few do it. Although many people don’t want to take the time to plan, it has been found that 10 minutes planning can save 100 minutes in execution .Planning is also a vital tool in helping us to avoid procrastination. To start the planning process create a list of all the tasks required to achieve your main goals. Start with a master list and then break this into monthly, weekly and daily lists.

3. Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

The 80. 20 rule was established by an economist Vilfredo Pareto back in 1895. He found that80% of the wealth of countries was held by 20% of the population. He then discovered that this principle extended to most other areas in life and business. For example: 20% of the tasks we need to complete produces 80% of the results we are looking to achieve. Time Management is really about choosing the important tasks over the unimportant tasks. The Key message here is to identify your 20% tasks and resolve to spend time on these few areas that will really make the difference. The 20% tasks are often our “frogs” – thrones we tend to procrastinate on. Often we focus on the 80% tasks instead.

4. Consider the Consequences

Consider the consequences of each task on your list. Thinking through the consequences gives you an idea if an activity is important and is a way to determine the significance of a task. Any important task will have long-term potential consequences. “Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making” Make important tasks a top priority and start them now. Time is passing anyway, so decide how you will spend it and where you want to end up. Thinking about the consequences of your choices, decisions, and behaviours is the best way to determine your priorities.

5.Practice Creative Procrastination

This is the art of deciding to procrastinate on your low value tasks. That is deliberately decided to postpone or eliminate these tasks. We can’t do everything, so start procrastinating on the things in your life that are not important. Normally we procrastinate unconsciously and start dropping the important tasks. To get control of your life you need to discontinue low value activities by saying no to others (or yourself). Often doing something new requires you to stop doing something old.

Review your life career and select at least one activity which you can procrastinate on or eliminate completely. This is an on-going responsibility. Therefore review your life and look at the tasks that you currently complete that would be no real loss if stopped (for example excessive television).Review your current work activities and select one that you could abandon with little or no consequences.

6. Use the ABCDE Method Continually

This is a simple method used to prioritise your list of tasks that need to be completed to ensure the most important ones are done…

• A. tasks must be completed today. These Are the tasks that are very important and that have significant consequences, if not completed that day.

• B. tasks should be done today but are not essential…(mild consequences). Never complete a B. task before all. A. tasks have been completed.

• C. Tasks are nice to do but there are no consequences whether you do them or not. Meeting someone for coffee or phone a friend may fit into this category.

• D. tasks are ones that can and should be delegated to others.

• E. tasks can be eliminated altogether with no consequences. Often only done out of habit or because you enjoy them. They may have been important at some stage. 

7. Focus on Key Result Areas

Every job we do can be broken down into 5 to 7 key areas. These are the areas we need to focus on to succeed. These can be defined as areas that you are completely responsible for and that are within your control. In your job these are the areas that will affect your pay and your ability to be promoted. Therefore you should agree on your key areas with your manager.

A good question to ask is… “Why am I on the payroll”. Your weakest key area will set the standards that you will achieve. A weakness in one area can drag you down and result in failure overall. Consider the analogy of one of your major organs ceasing to function. Of course the tasks that we are not so good at are often the ones we procrastinate over which often makes things worse.

Exercise: Write down your 5 to 7 key result areas and discuss and agree these areas in an open and frank way. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on these key areas and resolve to improve on your weakest areas. 

8. Apply the Law of Three

This law is basically that there are usually 3 key tasks that will give you 90% of the results you want. Make a list of all of the tasks you need to complete.

For example there may be 17 tasks on your list. Decide on your 3 key tasks and do them. For the other tasks you can look to delegate, outsource or look for support (where possible). This can have a dramatic effect on the results you achieve. The author provides examples of some of his clients who doubled their income within 12 months using this approach.

As with all the key messages in this book the underlying goal for us all is to enjoy life. One of the principal reasons for getting more efficient in work is that we can get extra time for our home lives. But remember just like the tightrope walker we must continuously work at staying balanced. 

9. Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

Prepare thoroughly before you begin It really pays to prepare before you begin working each day or before you begin working on a specific task. To thoroughly prepare you should clear your desk of anything not required. Have everything you need readily available in front of you. Create a workspace you’ll enjoy working in.

10. Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time

The famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said… “the journey of 1,000 leagues begins with a single step.” When a task just appears to be too big to achieve then it is very useful to break it down: often referred to as “Chunking it down”.to get started. Remember to break down any big tasks into a series of smaller tasks and start with task 1… When you do that move on to task 2 and so on. Once started the momentum will ensure that you keep going and make real progress against your bigger goal.

The title of the chapter comes from a story about a 500 mile strip of the Sahara desert where 3,000 people have died trying to cross as they lost their bearings. The only landmarks were oil barrels planted by the French in the ground. These were 5 kilometres apart. This enabled the author, and many before him, to cross the desert by taking one barrel at a time, when he reached one barrel he then focused solely on getting to the next barrel and so on until he crossed the entire strip of desert.

11. Upgrade Your Key Skills

You should continuously strive to improve your key skills. One of the major causes of procrastination is a lack of confidence in your ability to do that task well. What are the key skills you need to be really excellent at what you do… Is it marketing, sales or even your time management skills? Then look out for seminars, training courses, or books that will help you develop and enhance these skills. Audio books are a great option for self improvement. For example you can learn so much using time that previously appeared to be wasted while sitting in traffic…Remember: “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.” 

12. Leverage Your Special Talents

We should all tap into your strengths and talents to enable us to do a great job. 

Very Important for us to be clear about our special talents and skills. To identify them ask yourself.• What am I really good at? • What talents come naturally to me that others can find difficult? • What strength do I have that has been most responsible for my success to date? • What job would I do if I won the lotto and didn’t need to worry about my finances?

One way of identifying your special talents is to ask yourself what it is that you really enjoy doing. You see we are built to enjoy completing tasks that we are really good at. Remember one of your greatest responsibilities in life is to find out what you are good at and then to focus on your best energies and abilities. 

13. Identify Your Key Constraints

Everyone has some key constraints. These constraints set the speed at which you attain your goals. The 80. 20 rules apply here. 80% of constraints are usually internal whereas only 20% are related to external factors such as competition. Ask yourself why have I not achieved my goals already, then focus on alleviating those factors as much as possible. Getting rid of those limiting factors usually brings more progress in a shorter time than anything else. However we need to be careful not to identify the wrong constraint.

14. Put the Pressure on Yourself

To be truly successful we need to put pressure on ourselves to complete our tasks and achieve your goals. Waiting for others to do this is like waiting for a bus on a street where buses don’t travel. Set deadlines and task times for the key tasks, you have to complete to achieve your goals and then aim to meet and even beat these deadlines. Everything you do affects your self esteem. Push yourself and you’ll feel better about you. 

15. Maximize Your Personal Powers

This is about increasing our energy levels to improve our overall performance. Physical, mental, and emotional 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 general rule is that productivity tends to decline after about 8 to 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.

16. Motivate Yourself into Action

Being positive and optimist will make a big difference to your success levels. And anyone can become an optimist. Coach and encourage yourself. How you talk to yourself determines your emotional response. “In study after study, psychologists have determined that ‘optimism’ is the most important quality you can develop for personal and professional success and happiness.” Say the words: “I like myself! Over and over 50 times a day! 

17. Get Out of the Technological Time Sinks

The message here is to make technology your friend and not your enemy. People are being controlled more and more by their mobile phones , emails, the internet etc. As a result we never switch off and relax. Email can consume a huge part of a person’s day. Remember the 80 20 rule applies here: 80% of our mails have no value. Of the 20%that do, 80% of these require no immediate action. Remember to make technology a help rather than a hindrance. If you let it control your life it will only add to your stress levels. Try this exercise: For 1 day per week completely turn off mobiles and don’t check your texts or emails.

18. Slice and Dice the Task

One of the biggest causes of procrastination is when you feel that the task is too big to get started. When this happens we tend to avoid completing the task and doing smaller:(less important) tasks instead. Using the Salami slice technique cut the task into manageable slices. By breaking down your big tasks into a number of small tasks you get to complete or finish more tasks.

We feel happier and more powerful when we start and finish a task, because endorphins are released the bigger the task, the bigger the sense of accomplishment. Another technique to avoid procrastination on a large task is called the Swiss Cheese method. You punch a hole in the task by spending a specific amount of time on the task. Often after you have got started and spend30 minutes on the task you will want to continue and make even more progress or even, perhaps, complete the entire task. 

19. Create Large Chunks of Time

This principle is about scheduling time to work on large 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, especially for things you don’t enjoy doing.

Make an appointment with yourself:(sounds a lot like Principle 2, Plan every Day in Advance). Eliminate distractions and work nonstop.

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 job quickly and get it done fast. Take the time to think, plan, and set priorities, then work on them. Create a mental state of “flow,” which is the “highest human 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 sensitive and aware. 

21. Single Handle Every Task

Your ability to select your most important task, to begin it and then to concentrate on it single- minded, until it is complete, is the key to high levels of performance and personal productivity. What this idea means is that when you start a task you continue on it without allowing any interruptions until it is 100% complete. If you are interrupted momentarily then repeat the mantra: “Back to work, back to work back to work.” 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. 

“Every great achievement of humankind has been preceded by a long period of hard, concentrated work until the job was done.”