‘Eat that frog’ book by Brian Tracy is one of the popular books in the market for self-development and particularly on procrastination. I reached out to this book when I was finding it difficult to manage my time and was lacking motivation. The writer has used simple language to diffuse 21 ways to stop procrastination. The title of the book symbolically suggests tackling the hardest task of your day first in the morning and then leading your day.
So, if you are someone who is struggling with time, procrastination, or motivation then this book can be your guide to overcome those. Let’s look at 10 lessons from the book. The texts highlighted in bold are quotes from the book.
The first rule to effective time management is planning your time ahead. There is a reason why planners are thriving in the market. Blocking your time or dedicating a time slot to that particular activity makes your day easier and it tricks your mind into not procrastinating or delaying it. Don’t just stop with preparing to-dos for the day, write down your goals, your important projects, and your top priority tasks. Start with the end in mind and work backward
If you are someone working in the corporate world, you might have head-Pareto Analysis or the 80\20 rule. To relate this principle to our daily activities, if you list out your to-do list, there are always those 20% tasks that will clear out your 80% of the time. Those 2 items from the 10 tasks or to-dos will turn out too much more worthy than those 8 items put together. Addressing hard or difficult tasks first and then moving on to the other ones will help you to be on top of your game and help you stay motivated.
You will always struggle to get it done or win at it if you go unprepared for something. This is one of the basic rules of life. Having all the documents or ingredients ready at hand makes it easier to finish the job. Whenever you are prepared for something, you are halfway done. Essentially, getting your desk or workspace ready for the day will make you feel positive and productive to get the task done. One trick here Eat that Frog book writer gives us is to embody the personality of a high achiever, productive person, and get the job done. This will definitely keep you away from procrastination.
One of the leading companies in the photography business, Kodak went bankrupt in 2012 when it failed to keep up with digital technology. Similarly, in this fast-changing world, it has become essential to upgrade yourself from time to time. Upgrading your skills and knowledge will only result in a higher version of productive you. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field. All information is available to us with a single click. Take advantage of that and learn new skills.
Give your undivided attention to anything you are implementing. Whether it is cutting fruit or making your bed or washing the dishes. This habit will only make your mind stronger and your focus level will increase gradually. Hence when you are about to do a greater deed or work, you will able to give your 100% focus without any unwanted thoughts running through your mind. Besides, avoid internet interruption every now and then.
We often procrastinate on bigger tasks or bigger things to do. But if we divide those tasks into smaller tasks and get them done one by one, we can achieve them as a whole effectively. Instead of looking at the bigger picture, divided it into smaller parts.
Just thinking about it won’t get you anywhere. There is a reason why one of the top sports brands, Nike has their tagline- ‘Just Do it’ It implies a sense of urgency and motivation to actually perform the task. When you work on your most important tasks at the high and continuous level of activity, you can actually enter into an amazing state called “flow”. The writers, artists or anyone who are indulged in their talent or hobbies experience this flow state. This flow state makes you the highest and most productive version of yourself. Activate your flow state and just do it!
One of the unique lessons I have learned from Eat that Frog book is to label your tasks as A, B, C, D, E. ‘A’ items are the most important and prioritized tasks on your list. This task will have a greater impact on your day or have high priority. If you have more than one important task, label them as A-1, A-2, A-3…The B task can be categorized with medium priority and have mild consequences and progressively the C, D, and E tasks will be labeled.
Our phones are like our best friends. It is really astounding how these little things know about our personal life. But our addictive nature towards these things or to be exact, to social media has made them in control of our lives. Our job, as a human, who knows how to differentiate between right and wrong, is to turn it around. Take control of your time and your usage of the internet. There are so many productive apps readily available that can be beneficial to achieve your daily or long-term goals. Digital Planners, calendars, and to-do lists can make your life so much easier and help you to achieve long-term as well as short-term goals.
Someone who does not need supervision, reassurance, or motivation to get his job done is an independent person. You alone have to figure it out and push yourself to do it. You must form a habit to get out of your comfort zone every now and then. The more uncomfortable you are, the more you pressurize yourself the more you will grow. Eat that frog book writer here gives us two methods on how to do it:-
See yourself as a role model.
Create a version of yourself that is at its best level and slowly and steadily work on yourself to achieve that version. You alone can make or break yourself. Choose the former one.
Create Deadlines: –
The fastest way to tick off tasks from your to-dos is by creating deadlines and setting up a time for them. Setting up deadlines will trick your mind to get the job done faster without procrastinating.
Hope this post helps!
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