Eat That Frog Outline

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

Author: Brian Tracy

Length: 125 pages

Published: 2001

ISBN-10: 1583762027

ISBN-13: 978-1583762028

This is an outline of a book about overcoming procrastination. The book primarily discusses figuring out what things would be best to do and that you alone are best to do them, and then doing them. This book shares some similarities with Covey’s work, and the ladder analogy seems to hold here. The author’s discussion of guarding your energy and not diffusing your efforts make a lot of sense to me, as does his theory of becoming a complete optimist. The idea that you need to identify your strengths was one of the things that led me to creating this blog in the first place.

Preface

Author held many different jobs and traveled around the world

Asked successful people what they were doing and used their strategies

“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.”

“The key to success is action.”

Introduction

“You will never be able to do everything you have to do.”

If you eat a live frog every morning, you can have satisfaction in knowing this is probably the worst thing to happen to you that day.

“If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest first.”

“If you have to eat a live frog, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.”

Getting important things done gives a feeling of success and confidence from endorphins

Three key habits:

• decision
• discipline
• determination

“First, make a decision to develop the habit of task completion.”

“Second, discipline yourself to practice the principles you are about to learn over and over until you master them.”

“Finally, back everything you do with determination until the habit is locked in and everything becomes a permanent part of your personality.”

Chapter 1 - Set The Table

“Before you can determine the your ‘frog’…you have to decide exactly what it is you want to accomplish in each area of your life.”

Clarity is the most important concept in personal productivity

“Only 3% 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 it is they want.”

Seven simple steps:

• decide exactly what you want
  • “One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”
• write it down
  • think on paper to give energy to the idea
• set a deadline on your goal
  • it gives the goal urgency
• make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal
  • gets rid of fuzziness
• organize the list into a plan
  • organize by priority and sequence
• take action on your plan immediately
  • do something. do anything.
  • for you to achieve any kind of success, execution is everything.
• resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal
  • kind of like the Seinfeld method

“Clear written goals have a wonderful effect on your thinking. They motivate you and galvanize you into action. They stimulate your creativity, release your energy and help you to overcome procrastination as much as any other factor.

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. The bigger your goals and the clearer they are, the more excited you become about achieving them. The more you think about your goals, the greater becomes your inner drive and desire to accomplish them.

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.”

Chapter 2 - Plan Every Day In Advance

At work, get the highest possible return on your investment of mental, emotional, and physical energy by planning.

Always work from a list. When something new comes up, add it to the list before you do it.

Make out your list the night before, at the end of the workday. Your subconscious mind will work on the list all night.

Make different types of lists

• master - write down everything you can think of that you want to do some time in the future
• monthly - make up at the end of the month for the month ahead
• weekly - plan your entire week in advance. this is under construction as you go through the current week
• daily - specific activities that you are going to accomplish that day
  • tick off items on the list as you complete them. This gives a visual picture of accomplishment.

When you work with lists, you will feel more effective and powerful and more in control of your life.

You will also think better and more creatively and get more and better insights.

10/90 rule - 10% of time spent planning will save you 90% of the time in getting the job done

Chapter 3 - Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

^ Pareto Principle

Out of a list of ten things, one or two might be five or ten times as important as any of the others - Eat those frogs first

Most people procrastinate on the most important tasks and start on the menial tasks instead

The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex, but the payoff for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous.

Rule: “Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.”

Whatever you choose to do, over and over, eventually becomes habit.

The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. After that, your brain likes to be engaged.

Chapter 4 - Consider the Consequences

Your time horizon has an enormous impact on your behavior and your choices

Rule: Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making

Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself: What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?

Rule: Future intent influences and often determines present actions

“Review your list of tasks, activities and projects regularly. Continually ask yourself, 'Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?” - rather Coveyish

Chapter 5 - Practice the ABCDE Method Continually

Start with a list of everything you have to do for the coming day. Think on paper.

Then put ABCD or E before each item before you begin the first task.

A = something that you must do or it will have severe negative effects

B = a task that you should do, but which only has mild consequences

C = something that would be nice to do, but for which there are no consequences at all

D = something you can delegate to someone else

E = something you can eliminate

When multiple tasks have the same letter, number them and tackle the lowest-numbered one first

Chapter 6 - Focus On Key Result Areas

You need to get results

Identify all of your key result areas, the areas that, if left undone by you, will not get done

Rate yourself in these areas, and then focus to improve the one that you are poorest in

Refuse to rationalize, justify or defend your areas of weakness

Ask yourself: “What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?”

Chapter 7 - 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.”

Rule: There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do

“The fact is that the average person today is working at 110% to 130% of capacity.”

Book contends that deadlines seldom cause people to work better

Keep yourself focused by asking the following questions:

• What are my highest value activities?
• 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?

Chapter 8 - Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

Have everything at hand before you begin

Create a work environment that is conducive to working

Chapter 9 - Do Your Homework

“Learn what you need to learn so that you can do your work in an excellent fashion.”

“A single area where you feel weak or deficient is enough to discourage you from starting the job at all.”

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

Any skill that you want to learn you can acquire as soon as you decide to make it a priority

• read in your field for an hour a day
• take every course and seminar available on key skills that can help you
• dedicate yourself to becoming one of the most knowledgeable and competent people in your field
• listen to audio programs in your car. think about 500-1000 hours of dedicated learning time

“The more you learn and know, the more confident and motivated you feel.”

I agree completely with his assertion that spending time each day working on something important makes a big difference in the long run.

Chapter 10 - Leverage Your Special Talents

“What is it that you do especially well? What are you good at? What do you do easily and well that is difficult for most people?”

Whatever you enjoy is the thing that you have the ability to be the very best at

Then, focus on that area and put everything into it

This seems quite different from the perspective applied in “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, where he says to know a little about a lot

Chapter 11 - Identify Your Key Constraints

“What is holding you back? What sets the speed at which you achieve your goals? What stops you or holds you back from eating the frogs that can really make a difference? Why arent’ you at your goal already?”

“Whatever you have to do, there is always a limiting factor that determines how quickly and well you get it done.”

Study the task and identify the limiting factor or constraint within it.

• This seems like a lean principle Focus all of your energies on that one key area
• Seems like the book really focuses on… focusing

80/20 rule again: 80% of the things holding you back are internal, only 20% are external to you or your organization

Keep asking: “What sets the speed at which I get the results I want?”

Make sure that you are addressing the correct constraint, otherwise you waste your time and money

• another lean principle

Chapter 12 - Take it One Oil Barrel at A Time

Break large tasks up into smaller ones

Small steps add up

Chapter 13 - Put the Pressure on Yourself

“Only about 2% of people can work entirely without supervision. We call these people 'leaders.’ This is the kind of person you are meant to be.”

Form the habit of putting the pressure on yourself, and not waiting for someone else to come along and do it for you.

Your self esteem is “your reputation with yourself”

Set deadlines and sub-deadlines on every task and activity - seems to contradict earlier statement that deadlines do not have you work at your full potential

Chapter 14 - Maximize Your Personal Powers

“When you are fully rested, you can get two times, three times, and five times as much done as when you are tired out.”

Guard and nurture your energy levels at all times

Identify the times when you are at your best, and discipline yourself to use them on your most important and challenging tasks

Sometimes the very best use of your time is to go home early and go to bed and sleep for ten hours straight.

The average American is not getting enough sleep relative to the amount of work he or she is doing.

Take one full day off every week - refuse to read, clear correspondene, or anything that taxes your brain

Eat right to ensure that your energy levels are consistent

Exercise regularly

Chapter 15 - Motivate Yourself Into Action

“To perform your best, you must become your own personal cheerleader.”

Resolve to become a complete optimist - talk to yourself positively and refuse to let difficulties affect your mood or emotions

• look for the good in every situation
• seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty
• look for the solution to every problem

Refuse to criticize or blame others for anything

Resolve to make progress rather than excuses

Chapter 16 - Practice Creative Procrastination

If you must procrastinate, procrastinate on low value activities

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

Say “no” to anything that is not a high value use of your time and your life

Avoid procrastinatig on important tasks at all costs

Also try to delegate these less important tasks

Chapter 17 - Do the Most Difficult Task First

Begins by making a list at the end of the workday and evaluating with the ABCDE method

Lay out everything you need to begin working on the task (obsolete?)

Then, discipline yourself to work on this task without interruptions before you do anything else

This will break you of wanting to procrastinate and puts your future squarely in your own hands

Chapter 18 - Slice and Dice the Task

Chapter 19 - Create Large Chunks of Time

Work in specific time segments so that you get used to doing a thing

“One of the best work habits of all is for you to get up early and work at home in the morning for several hours.”

Chapter 20 - Develop a Sense of Urgency

Action orientation

“Highly productive people take the time to think, plan, and set priorities.”

“They then launch quickly and strongly toward their goals and objectives.”

Develop a sense of urgency to trigger the state of flow

This makes you develop a “bias for action”

Chapter 21 - Single Handle Every Task

Work on the task without diversion or distraction until the job is 100% complete

This helps you build self-discipline, which in turn builds self-confidence