Eat That Frog!

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/95887.Eat_That_Frog_

Quotes that stood out:

Rules of eating the frog:

Rule #1: If you have to eat 2 frogs, then eat the ugliest one first. Rule #2: If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it very long.

Taking actions without thinking things through is a prime source of problems.

Only engage, and the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed.

Ideas:

• Develop a positive addiction to organizing your life. Start gaining happiness from organizing things in your life so you cant NOT stop doing it.

21 Ways to stop procrastinating:

Set the table:

1. Decide exactly what you want.
2. Write it down on paper.
3. Set a deadline for the goal, use sub-deadline to break it into smaller parts.
4. Break things down into individual parts, and arrange them in the order of priority.
5. Take action IMMEDIATELY. Do something, do anything, but DO.
6. Do something everyday that brings you closer to your main goal.

Plan everyday in advance:

• Use the 10/90 rule where you use the first 10% of the day to organize your tasks and thoughts which saves you 90% of the execution time once you start.
• Begin today and plan your days, weeks and months in advance. Add new things to the list as they come up.

Apply the Pareto principle (80/20):

• It states that 20% of your actions account for 80% of your results.
• Resist the temptation to clear the small tasks first, instead ask yourself if this task is in the top 20% or the bottom 80% of my activities?

Consider the consequences:

• Have a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long term. This makes it so much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short term.
• There will be never enough time to do whatever you want to do. Always ask yourself “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?”

Practice creative procrastination:

• Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact things you are not going to do right now, if ever.
• Select at least one activity to abandon immediately or at least deliberately put off until your more important goals have been achieved.

Use the ABCDE Method Continually:

“A” tasks that are most important: the things that you must do. “B” tasks only have minor consequences: things that you should do, but they only have mild consequences. “C” tasks have no consequences: they have no effect at all on your work life. “D” for delegate: the things that you can delegate to someone else. “E” for eliminate: the things you should eliminate altogether.

Focus on Key Result Areas:

• A key result area is an activity that is under your control. It produces an output that becomes an input or a contributing factor to the work of others.
• Identify the key result areas of your work. For example, the key result areas of management are planning, organizing, staffing, delegating, supervising, measuring, and reporting.

Apply the Law of Three:

Identify your three most important goals in each area of your life. Organize them by priority. Make plans for their accomplishment.

Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin:

Get everything you need at hand before you begin. Your work environment should be clean and neat to feel more positive productive and confident. Brian’s personal rule “Get it 80 percent right and then correct it later.”

Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time:

Get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you can take. Sometimes all you need to do to get started is to sit down and complete one item on the list.

Upgrade Your Key Skills:

Identify the key skills that can help you the most to achieve better and faster results. Whatever, they are, set a goal, make a plan, and begin developing and increasing your ability in those areas. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

Identify Your Key Constraints:

What is holding you back? What sets the speed at which you achieve your goals? What determines how fast you move from where you are to where you want to go? Make a list of every step in a process and examine every activity to determine exactly what is holding you back.

Put the Pressure on Yourself:

Get into the habit of putting pressure on yourself to complete work independently. Set higher standards for yourself than the standards others set for you.

Motivate Yourself into Action:

To keep yourself motivated, you must resolve to become a complete optimist. For that:

• Look for the good in every situation.
• Seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty.
• Search for the solution to every problem.
• Think and talk continually about the goals.

Technology Is a Terrible Master

For you to stay calm, clearheaded, and capable of performing at your best, you need to detach on a regular basis from the technology and communication devices that can overwhelm you if you are not careful.

Resist the urge to start turning on communication devices as soon as you wake up in the morning.

Technology Is a Wonderful Servant

Use your technological tools to regularly remind yourself of what is most important and protect yourself from what is least important.

Resolve to research and install one piece of software or one app that will help you be more efficient and focused.

Focus Your Attention

Current research proves that continuously responding emails, calls and texts has a negative effect on your brain, shortening your attention span and making it difficult to complete the task on time.

Try to work for a period to complete your task and then reward yourself with a shot a dopamine by checking your notifications.

Slice and Dice the Task

Cut a big task down to size using the “salami slice” method of getting work done.

With the salami slice method, you lay out the task in detail and then resolve to do just one slice of the job for the time being, like eating a roll of salami one slice at a time—or like eating an elephant one bite at a time.

Create Large Chunks of Time

Think continually of different ways that you can save, schedule, and consolidate large chunks of time.

One of the keys to high levels of performance and productivity is to make every minute count. Use travel and transition times to complete small chunks of larger tasks.

Develop a Sense of Urgency

Resolve today to develop a sense of urgency in everything you do. Select one area where you have a tendency to procrastinate, and make a decision to develop the habit of fast action in that area.

Single Handle Every Task

Single handling requires that once you begin, you keep working at the task without diversion or distraction until the job is 100 percent complete.

Build self-discipline which Elbert Hubbard defined as “the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”