Eat That Frog!

21 Great Ways To Stop

Procrastinating And Get More Done In
Less Time By Brian Tracy
Italicized means it is my writing. I have edited some of the wording to make it less of a read. I
also have only highlighted what I have found interesting or that needed to be known.

Quotes

“You cannot teach a man anything: you can only help him find it within himself” (Galileo)

The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish,
is the key to great success, achievements, respect, status, and happiness in life. (Brian Tracy)

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the
knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to achieve it. (Napoleon Hill)

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now. (Alan
Lakein)

“The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.”
(Goethe)

Preface
I just found out what other successful people do and do the same things until you get the same
results.

Simply put, some people are doing better than others because they do things differently and
they do the right things right.

Do not do the same as everyone else, if you want to be rich then you must do the things that
rich people do.

People who are doing better than you are not better than you. They are doing things differently,
and what they learned to do, within reason, I could learn as well.

The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish,
is the key to great success, achievements, respect, status, and happiness in life.
Introduction
The Need to Be Selective
An average person who develops the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks
completed quickly will run circles around a genius who talks a lot and makes wonderful plans
but who gets very little done.
Anyone can become successful. It is not decided by brains, money, or looks, but by the type of
work you do and how much.

The Truth about Frogs

Start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin
immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.

Take Action Immediately

Action Orientation - successful people lunch directly into their major tasks and then discipline
themselves to work, steadily, and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete.

No Shortcuts

Practice is the key to mastering any skill. Your mind is like a muscle. It grows stronger and more
capable with use. With practice, you can learn any behavior or develop any habit that you
consider either desirable or necessary.

The Three Ds of New Habit Formation

Decision, discipline, and determination.

First, decide to develop the habit of task completion. Second, discipline yourself to practice the
principles you are about to learn over and over until they become automatic. Third, use
determination until the habit is locked in and becomes a permanent part of your personality.

Visualize Yourself as You Want to Be

It consists of your thinking continually about the rewards and benefits of being an action-
oriented, fast-moving, and focused person.
When you train yourself, through repetition and practice, to overcome procrastination and get
your most important task completed quickly, you will move onto the fast track in your life and
career and step on the accelerator of your potential.

Chapter 1 Set the Table

The number one reason why some people get more work done faster is because they are clear
about their goals and objectives, and they don’t deviate from them.

Lack of motivation is vagueness, confusion, and fuzzy-mindedness about what you are trying to
do, and in what order and for what reason.

Only 3 percent of adults have clear written goals yet these people accomplish five or ten times
more than people with better education or ability but never wrote down their goals.

Step 1: Decide exactly what you want.

Step 2: write it down
Step 3: Set a deadline for your goal; set sub-deadlines if necessary.
Step 4: Make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve
your goal.
Step 5: Organize the list into a plan by priority and sequence

Use present tense positive voice for example writing “I earn x number of dollars per year by this
date” or “I weigh x number of pounds by this date”

Even better is laying out your plan in the form of a series of boxes and circles on a sheet of
paper, with lines and arrows showing the relationship of each task to every other task.

Step 6: Take action on your plan immediately so do anything

Step 7: Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal.

The Power of Written Goals

Clear written goals motivate you and galvanize you into action.
Goals are the fuel in the furnace for achievement. The bigger, more clear a goal is, the more
excited you become at achieving them. The more you think about your goals the greater drive
you have to accomplish it becomes.
Chapter 2 Plan Every Day In Advance
Increase Your Return on Energy
It takes only about 10 to 12 minutes for you to plan your day, but this small investment of time
will save you up to two hours in wasted and diffused effort throughout the day.

Two Extra Hours per Day

Sit down and make a list of everything you have to do before you begin.
Make your list the night before for the workday ahead.
Move everything that you have not yet accomplished onto your list for the coming day.
Your subconscious mind will work on your list all night long while you sleep.

Different Lists for Different Purposes

● Make a master list on which you write down everything you can think of that you want to
do sometime in the future.

● Make a monthly list of items which will contain items transferred from the master list.

● A weekly list is where you plan your entire week.

● The daily list is specific activities that you will accomplish the following day.

Planning a Project
Begin by making a list of every step that you have to complete to finish the project from start to
finish. Organize steps by priority, what is most important, and sequence. Lay this out in front of
you so you can see every step and task.

10/90 rule - The first 10% that you spend on planning and organizing your work before you
begin will save you as much as 90% of the time in getting the job done.

Always work from a list!

Chapter 3 Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

If you have a list of ten items to do, 2 of those items will turn out to be worth more than the other
8 together.
Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments
The most valuable task to do first is the hardest and most complex but the payoff is the best.

Always ask yourself, “Is this task in the top 20% of my activities or in the bottom 80%?”

Low-value tasks are like rabbits: they multiply continually. You never get caught up.

Once you start a task you will be motivated to keep going as your mind loves to be busy with
work especially those that matter.

Motivate Yourself
Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task will motivate you to overcome
procrastination.

Productive people discipline themselves to stay on the most important task that is before them.

Make a list of all ke goals, activities, projects and responsibilities in your life. Which of them are
in the top 20% and which are in the 80%. Do them accordingly.

Chapter 4 Consider the Consequences

The mark of a superior thing is their ability to predict the consequences of doing or not doing
something.

Long term perspective is the single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in
America.

Your attitude to your time horizon has an enormous impact on your behavior and choices.
People who think long term make better decisions then people who give little thought to the
future.

Make Better Decisions about Time

Ask “what are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?”

If it is important then it will have huge issues and if it's unimportant then it won’t matter.
Think about the Long Term
Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.

The greater the impact of an action or behavior and how clear it is will make you more motivated
to overcome procrastination.

The time will pass anyway. The question is how you use it and where you will end up in a few
months or fews.

Obey the Law of Forced Efficiency

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most
important thing.

Deadlines are an excuse

Under the pressure of deadlines, people procrastinate and suffer from more mistakes creating
defeacts along with financial losses.

It is better to plan your time carefully in advance and then build in a sizeable buffer to
compensate for unexpected delays and diversions.

Make it a game of getting the job done in advance before the deadline.

Three questions for Maximum Productivity

What are my highest value activities? Or What are the tasks that will contribute the most to my
goals or organization?

What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?

What is the most valuable use of my time right now? Or What is my biggest frog currently?

Every hour of every day, one tasks represents the msot valuable of your time at that moment.

Chapter 5 Practice Creative

Procrastination
Since you will procrastinate anyway, decide today to procrastinate on low value activities.
Priorities vs Posteriorities
A priority is something you most do more of and sooner, while a posteriority is something that
you do less of and later if at all.

Rule: You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you
discontinue lower-value activities

Say no to everything that is not absolutely vital to me at the moment.

Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact things
you are not going to do right now, if ever.

Set Posteriorities on Time-Consuming Activities

Instead of watching television and internet suriffing you can spend the time with your family,
reading, exercise, or something else that enhances.

Examine each of your personal and work activities and evaluate. Select one task to abandon
immediately until more goals have been achieved.

Chapter 6 Use the ABCDE Method Continually

Create a list of everything you have to do the coming day then place an ABCDE next to each
item before you begin.

A - very important must get done

If you have multiple then put A-1, A-2, A-3 but A-1 is the largest which needs to get done.
Never do a B if you still have A’s

B- A task you should do

C - Would be nice but has no consequence if it does get done

D- Delegate to someone else

E - Something you can eliminate

Take Action Immediately

Start immediately on the tasks in the A category till done. Eat the whole frog and don’t stop until
it’s finished completely.
Do this for every list or for a project as you will have set to work on your highest priority tasks.

Chapter 7 Focus on Key Result Areas

Your job can be broken down into five to seven key result areas, seldom more. These need to
get done to maximize your contribution to your organization or personal work.

Key result areas are something you are completely responsible for and if you don't get done
then it never will.

Clarity is Essential
Identify the key result areas of your work.
Make a list of your most important output responsibilities and make sure that those above you
and below agree.

For example, a key result for a receptionist is typing letters and answering the phone or
transferring callers quickly and efficiently.

Give Yourself a Grade

Once you found your key result areas then put them on a scale lowest to highest. Ask yourself
where are you strong and where are you weak? Where you getting results or underperforming.

Rule: Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can use all your other skills and
abilities.

Poor Performance Produces Procrastination

The reverse is true as well the better you become in a particular skill area, the more motivated
you will be to preform that function, the less you will procrastinate, the more determined you will
be to finish the job.
The Great Question
Ask yourself “What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion would have the
greatest positive impact on my career?”
Use this question to guide your career for the rest of your life. Ask everyone you know this
question your boss, family, friends etc.
Take this list to your boss and discuss it with them. Ask fro honest feedback as you can only get
better when you are open to constructive criticism. Talk this over with your spouse and
coworkers.

Make a habit of doing analysis regularly for the rest fo your career. Never stop improving.

Chapter 8 Apply the Law of Three

Three core tasks that you perform contain most of the value that you contribute to your business
or organization.

One Thing All Day Long

Identify one task that contributes the greatest amount to your company.
If you could do two more tasks that contribute the most value to your company?

90% of the value you contribute to your company is contained in those 3 tasks, whatever they
are.

Take Immediate Action

Approach your boss with your findings and ask them to delegate the rest of the tasks.

Transform Your Life

Your rewards both financial and emotional will always be directly proportional to your results
and to the value of the contribution.

The Quick List Method

“In thirty seconds write down your three most important goals in life right now.”

Then expand this to ask

What are your three most important business or career goals right now?
What are your three most important family goals right now?
What are your three most important financial goals right now?
What are your three most important health goals right now?
What are your three most important personal goals right now?
What are your three most important community goals right now?
What are your three biggest problems in life right now?
Time Management is a Means to an End
Fully 85% of your happiness in life will come from happy relationships with other people,
especially those closest to you.

Work All the Time You Work

Every minute that you spend in idle chitchat with coworkers is time taken away from the work
you must accomplish and deprives your family of the best person you can possible be.

Balance is Not Optional

Your goal should be to perform at your very best at work to get the most done and enjoy the
rewards of your career. Never lose sight of why you are working so hard.

Conclusion
1. Set the Table: Decide exactly what you want Clarity is essential. Write out your goals
and objectives before you begin.
2. Plan every day in advance: Think on paper.

3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything: 20% of your work will account for 80% of your results.
Always concentrate on the 20%.

4. Consider the Consequences: Your most important tasks and priorities have serious
consequences, positive and negative.

5. Practice creative procrastination: Since you can’t do everything, you must put off low-
value tasks so you have time to do the things that count

6. Use the ABCDE Method Continually: Take a few minutes to organize them by value and
priority to ensure you are working on the most important activities.