Do you also have a habit of postponing things? Do you need help doing something at the right time? Do you want to do a lot in your life but cannot manage it? Do you need help understanding what to do first and what to do later? If you are surrounded by these questions and need help understanding what to do precisely. This summary of today is going to be of great use to you. Today, the name of the book we will discuss is Eat That Frog, written by Brian Tracy.
Canadian-American Brian Tracy has been in economics, history, psychology, and business for over 30 years. He has contributed to and written over 70 books as a top-selling author. In addition, Tracy is passionate about public speaking and addresses many corporate and public audiences about personal and professional development.
Eat that frog by Brain Tracy is a well-written and easy-to-digest list of 21 tips to help you stop procrastinating and get more work done. This is an excellent guide for anyone who feels overwhelmed with work and needs help knowing where to start. Brian Tracy shares different methods for planning and prioritizing, shows you how to identify the most critical tasks, and gives tips for keeping focused.
So let’s take a look at the 21 tips of this book and understand them.
Brain Tracy’s three D’s
To improve yourself, focus on the three D’s, decision, discipline, and determination. The decision must complete tasks and see them through to the end. Discipline comes into play when you need to repeat new patterns repeatedly until they are automated. Finally, Tracy explains that determination is essential in the introductory stages of any new habit. It would help if you were determined to drive the motivation to keep going until your practice becomes more natural.
Part clarity
Having clarity over goals and objectives is one of the essential tools when it comes to productivity. When you are clear on your goals and what to do to achieve them, you will find yourself working faster and getting more done. Tracy outlines the seven key steps you need to follow to achieve a sense of clarity and get more done:
1) Decide what it is that you want.
2) Commit to that by writing it down.
3) Establish a deadline and sub-deadlines for specific tasks.
4) Identify everything that needs to be done to reach your goal and write it down in a list.
5) Arrange your list into a clear plan, beginning with what needs to be addressed first.
6) Start actioning your plan as soon as possible.
7) Commit to working on something daily to ensure you do everything possible to reach your goal.
Clear written goals have a tremendous 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.
Planning in advance
You should plan every single day. Only reach a day if you know what you plan to get done. Being able to plan things will significantly affect your life; you will never approach a day of the unknown, and you’ll always understand what is expected of you and what you expect of yourself.
Your mind, your ability to think, plan, and decide, is your most powerful tool for overcoming procrastination.
Tracy defines his Six-P Formula: proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Tracy explains that planning is a simple task.
When you have a large project pending, take the time to list all steps required to complete the task. If these steps are arranged according to priority and deadlines, you’ll immediately have a clear timeline and plan. Work from the top of the list down, and you’ll make massive progress before you know it.
80/20 Rule
The 80/20 Rule can be applied to everything. 80/20 is a popular way to view business and sales behavior. For example, 20% of what you do will likely account for 80% of your results.
You may have a list of 10 different tasks or jobs. One or two are likely significantly more critical; these are the tasks you need to do first. Prioritize your list in order of importance.
The most valuable tasks you can do daily are often the most challenging and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on jobs in the bottom 80 percent while you still have lessons in the top 20 percent left to be done. Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.
Understand all consequences & your time
Before you take on any task or activity, Tracy recommends that you consider the potential outcomes and consequences of said task. This is what should help you determine the importance of the study.
Another thing that Tracy suggests you consider is how you view your time. He explains that anyone with a long-term view of their life will likely make significantly better decisions about how their time is spent and on what tasks. Likewise, if you think about your future, 5 – 10 years in the future, you’re likely to make choices and act in ways that will ensure you will reach your long-term goals. This will significantly increase your productivity and work output.
Is procrastination ever ok?
It would help if you practiced creative procrastination. Unfortunately, the reality is that you are unlikely to be able to get every single thing you need to do done on any given day. So you’ll need to let something go, and you procrastinate on the smaller tasks. The little bits and pieces that can be time wasters are often the tasks you can skip. If you choose to procrastinate on your small, unimportant tasks, you’ll find yourself more successful than if you decide to procrastinate on the essential, value-adding tasks.
ABCDE method
Tracy explains that the ABCDE method is one way you can set your priorities daily. It’s a simple method that has the potential to save you time and increase your productivity tenfold.
1) Begin with a list of all of your daily tasks.
2) Label each task with an a, b, c, d, or e.
3) A, the essential task, must be done today. And there can be more than 1 A job, but again, prioritize these as A1, A2, A3, etc.
4) Tasks labeled B, C, D, or E are to be dealt with only once all A tasks are completed. These tasks are not your priority. They get done once your preferences have been fully addressed.
Key results area
It would help if you focused on your key result areas—a key result area that you are entirely in control of and responsible for its completion. It will only get done if you do it.
When working in an office, you must discuss with your boss or superior and identify your key result areas. These are your most important responsibilities, and it’s vital that you and everyone that you work with understand which areas of work are designated to whom.
Law of three
You must identify three critical tasks that offer the most value and contribution to you or your company. This is where your focus needs to be the majority of the time.
You have three key areas in your life: family/relationships, health/fitness, and career. If you have one goal for each site, focus on the right things (Eat That Frog).
Preparation
Tracy explains that preparation is critical. If you want to avoid procrastination and wasting time, the best thing to do is ensure that you have every tool or resource required before you begin a task. Being prepared means you won’t have to divert from the work to get something you need. Instead, you can knuckle down and focus on the job as soon as you are ready, without distractions until the task is completed (Eat That Frog).
Skill upgrades
Tracy explains that often when you feel like you need more knowledge or ability to complete a task, you’ll find yourself procrastinating. It has to do with lacking confidence in ability. The best way to prevent this procrastination is to upgrade your skills and constantly learn. You’ll never know everything you need to know, so dedicating yourself to always learning will benefit you in the long run (Eat That Frog).
Learning continually is the minimum requirement for success; there are three steps you can take to reach the required mastery:
1) Read for 60 minutes about something relevant to your field of work every day (Eat That Frog).
2) Whenever an opportunity for a course or seminar arises, take it.
3) Use your driving time to listen to relevant audiobooks or podcasts (Eat That Frog).
Special talents
Tracy explains that every individual has unique talents or abilities that help them stand out from the rest. The key is to identify what yours are and leverage these to boost your career (Eat That Frog).
Constraints
Just as we all have unique talents, Tracy acknowledges that we all have vital constraints. For example, one thing may be standing in your way from achieving your goals. However, if you can identify your condition and devise a plan to combat your weakness, you’ll be able to proceed and reach your goals (Eat That Frog).
Pressure is useful
Although it gets a bad rep, Tracy explains that putting pressure on yourself often is the key to success. He explains that only a few people can work without supervision or stress. Most people rely on leaders to impose time constraints and pressure to get work done. You’ll progress rapidly if you can learn to put pressure on yourself without depending on someone else’s input (Eat That Frog).
Personal powers
You and your body are essentially a machine. It would help if you were well-oiled, fuelled, and rested to perform at your best. It’s not only about the physical but also your mental and emotional energies that need to be looked after. If you look after yourself well, you’ll be able to work harder and work longer; Tracy has four tips for maximizing your powers:
1) Don’t overwork.
2) Understand what your ideal work pace is (Eat That Frog).
3) Ensure that you get enough sleep daily (Eat That Frog).
4) Look after your physical and mental health, and pay attention to it (Eat That Frog).
Motivation
Motivation is one of those funny traits; many assume it’s something you either have or don’t. But that’s not the case. It’s not the event that determines your feelings but how you interpret them (Eat That Frog). It determines whether these events motivate or de-motivate you. Tracy explains that being an optimist is the best way to remain motivated. Don’t take words or reactions the wrong way; instead, be constantly searching for the good.” you must refuse to let the unavoidable difficulties and setbacks of daily life affect your mood or emotions (Eat That Frog).”
Technology
Although we struggle to remember life before technology and can’t imagine what we’d do without it, technology can be a real-time waste (Eat That Frog). The new era of the internet has allowed us to communicate or access information constantly. Personal or business-related. It’s become an impending distraction that Tracy identifies as problematic. This is also an increasing problem when it comes to working; being constantly accessible means distraction arises more regularly than ever (Eat That Frog).
Remember, nothing happens when you go away for a day, a week, or a month and need to be in touch with your communication devices. The world continues revolving whether or not you are in continuous contact with it.
How to slice & dice
Another technique that Tracy recommends is to slice and dice the task, or as Tracy puts it, reducing a big job to a salami slice size. This is an effective method of handling multiple charges; you detail the entire task, then break it down into more manageable tasks or slices. You can start with a tiny piece and know you are still progressing (Eat That Frog).
Psychologically, you will find it easier to do a single, small piece of a large project than to start the whole job. Tracy explains that once you’ve completed one slice, no matter how small, you’ll feel motivated to keep the ball rolling and move on to the next (Eat That Frog).
Time
They are setting aside large chunks of time so you can focus on the vital work. These blocks of time must be unbroken and uninterrupted. Schedule these time chunks in advance and commit to them (Eat That Frog).
Urgency & momentum
It would be best if you created a sense of urgency so that there is momentum to work. When you regularly take continuous action toward your most important goals, you activate the momentum principle of success. “Tracy explains that the momentum principle of success explains that although getting started may seem to take an initially large amount of energy, the energy required to keep going will be significantly less (Eat That Frog).
Single handling
To single handle a task, you are required to work only on that task, without any distraction from beginning through to completion, focusing on only one thing at a time (Eat That Frog). Tracy explains that by concentrating on only one task at a time and avoiding all distractions, you can reduce the time spent on the task by up to 50%. That’s worth doing!
So everyone, keep this in mind (Eat That Frog).
Key takeaways
● Have clarity on your goals and objectives.
● Plan your day.
● Apply the 80/20 rule to everything.
● Be constantly learning and upgrading your skills.
● Slice and dice tasks into smaller, actionable steps.
● Do one task at a time only.