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

by Brian Tracy

Just find out what other successful people do and do the same things until you get the same results.

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.

action-oriented, fast-moving, and focused person.

See yourself as the kind of person who gets important jobs done quickly and well on a consistent basis.

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

A major reason for procrastination and lack of motivation is vagueness, confusion, and fuzzy-mindedness about what you are trying to do and in what order and for what reason. You must avoid this common condition with all your strength by striving for ever-greater clarity in your major goals and tasks.

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.

One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.

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. Organize your list by priority and sequence. List all tasks in the order they need to be done.

Write your goals as though a year has already passed and they are now a reality.

“Taking action without thinking things through is a prime source of problems.”

every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution.

You may have heard of the Six-P Formula. It says, “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.”

“Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?”

The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something.

Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making.

They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that what they are doing today is consistent with the long-term future that they desire.

Rule: Future intent influences and often determines present actions.

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.

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

Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.

“Simple. I just say no to everything that is not absolutely vital to me at the moment.”

Look at your work activities and identify the tasks that you could delegate or eliminate to free up more time for the work that really counts.

key result areas, seldom more. These represent the results that you absolutely, positively have to get to fulfill your responsibilities and make your maximum contribution to your organization.

The key result areas of management are planning, organizing, staffing, delegating, supervising, measuring, and reporting.

Clarity Is Essential The starting point of high performance is for you to identify the key result areas of your work. Discuss them with your boss. Make a list of your most important output responsibilities, and make sure that the people above you, on the same level as you, and below you are in agreement with it.

Refuse to rationalize, justify, or defend your areas of weakness. Instead, identify them clearly. Set a goal and make a plan to become very good in each of those areas.

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.

Everything else you do is either a support task or a complementary task that could probably be delegated, downsized, outsourced, or eliminated.”

your ultimate goal is to live a long, happy, and healthy life.

Fully 85 percent of your happiness in life will come from happy relationships with other people, especially those closest to you, as well as the members of your family. The critical determinant of the quality of your relationships is the amount of time that you spend face-to-face with the people you love and who love you in return.

Rule: It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters.

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 way you develop the courage you need is to act as if you already had the courage and behave accordingly.

One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is for you to get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you can take. One of the best ways to eat a large frog is for you to take it one bite at a time.

In the same way, you can accomplish the biggest task in your life by disciplining yourself to take it just one step at a time. Your job is to go as far as you can see. You will then be able to see far enough to go further.

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.

“Anytime you stop striving to get better, you’re bound to get worse.”

Rule: Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

Refuse to allow a weakness or a lack of ability in any area to hold you back. Everything is learnable. And what others have learned, you can learn as well.

And there is no limit to how far or how fast you can advance except for the limits you place on your own imagination.

Determine the core competencies that you will need to have in the future to lead your field.

Your job is to study the task and identify the limiting factor or constraint within it. You must then focus all of your energies on alleviating that single choke point.

Often, alleviating a key constraint or limiting factor is the most important frog you could eat at that moment.

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.

To reach your full potential, you must form the habit of putting the pressure on yourself and not waiting for someone els...

The standards you set for your own work and behavior should be higher than anyone else could set for you.

Your self-esteem has been defined by psychologist Nathaniel Branden as “the reputation you have with yourself.”