Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

by Brian Tracy

For eight years, I traveled and worked and then traveled some more, eventually visiting more than eighty countries on five continents.

Then I did something that changed my life. I began to ask successful people what they were doing that enabled them to be more productive and earn more money than me.

Especially, successful, happy, prosperous people use their time far, far better than the average person.

Over the years, I have worked in twenty-two different jobs; started and built several companies; earned a business degree from a major university; learned to speak French, German, and Spanish; and been a speaker, trainer, or consultant for more than 1,000 companies.

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

enrich your personal life.

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The key to success is action.

There will be no limit to what you can accomplish when you learn how to Eat That Frog!

Before you can determine your “frog” and get on with the job of eating it, you have to decide exactly what you want to achieve in each area of your life.

they are absolutely clear about their goals and objectives, and they don’t deviate from them.

Think on paper.

Only about 3 percent of adults have clear, written goals. These people accomplish five and ten times as much as people of equal or better education and ability but who, for whatever reason, have never taken the time to write out exactly what they want.

Step one: Decide exactly what you want. Either decide for yourself or sit down with your boss and discuss your goals and objectives until you are crystal clear about what is expected of you and in what order of priority.

Step two: Write it down.

Unwritten goals lead to confusion, vagueness, misdirection, and numerous mistakes.

Step three: Set a deadline on your goal; set subdeadlines if necessary.

Step four: Make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal.

Step five: Organize the list into a plan.

You’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to achieve your goal when you break it down into individual tasks.

With a written goal and an organized plan of action, you will be far more productive and efficient than people who are carrying their goals around in their minds.

Step six: Take action on your plan...

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

Build this activity into your daily schedule.

You may engage in a specific period of physical exercise. You may learn a certain number of new words in a foreign language. Whatever it is, you must never miss a day.

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.

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.

Take a clean sheet of paper right now and make a list of ten goals you want to accomplish in the next year.

Review your list of ten goals and select the one goal that, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive impact on your life.

This exercise alone could change your life!

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

The same way: you break it down into specific step-by-step activities and then you start on the first one.

The very act of thinking and planning unlocks your mental powers, triggers your creativity, and increases your mental and physical energies.

Your ability to make good plans before you act is a measure of your overall competence.

The good news is that every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution.

Make your list the night before for the workday ahead.

The more time you take to make written lists of everything you have to do, in advance, the more effective and efficient you will be.

Second, you should have a monthly list that you make at the end of the month for the month ahead. This may contain items transferred from your master list.

This technique will work for you as well.

Then go to work on one task at a time. You will be amazed at how much you get done in this way.

When you plan each day in advance, you will find it much easier to get going and to keep going.

You will get more done faster than you thought possible. Eventually, you will become unstoppable.

Begin today to plan every day, week, and month in advance.

Lay out all of your major goals, projects, and tasks by priority, what is most important, and by sequence, what has to be done first, what comes second, and so forth.

Think on paper! Always work from a list. You’ll be amazed at how much more productive you become and how much easier it is to eat your frog.

This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth much more than the other eight items put together.

Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments

Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.

Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.

Resolve today that you are going to spend more and more of your time working in those few areas that can really make a difference in your life and career and spend less and less time on lower-value activities.