Eat That Frog!: Get More Of The Important Things Done Today

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For example, Doist’s founder and CEO routinely checks 15-20 tasks off in a day but sets a goal to complete at least one high-impact task daily. Your frog is your most crucial task—what you’re most likely to defer, yet can create the biggest impact on your outcomes. Your body is like a machine that uses food, water and rest to generate energy that you then use to accomplish important tasks in your life and work. Spending 10 minutes to plan your day in advance saves up to two hours in wasted time and effort during your day. Your job is to deliberately procrastinate on tasks that are of low value so that you have more time for tasks that can make a big difference in your life and work.

There are probably countless projects that never get done because people fail to prepare for the job in advance. Every part of my body starts revolting and my mind starts telling me to do something easier instead. This technique enables you to work more efficiently by directing your efforts toward high-value activities that produce the most significant results. Your master list of tasks will be ever-changing, so take time to prioritize to make sure you know which tasks will provide the most value.Once you are clear about your major goal, ask yourself, “What sets the speed at which I achieve this goal? Your goal tasks are your frogs—the things you want to work on first thing every day for greater productivity and success.

This technique helps increase focus and efficiency and is particularly useful when tackling challenging tasks requiring deep concentration. Focus on Key Result Areas: Determine your critical results areas, and allocate time to them to enhance your performance. The Pomodoro Technique” by Francesco Cirillo: Both techniques share the goal of breaking down tasks into manageable chunks and taking regular breaks to maintain focus and productivity. Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, ‘What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?Tracy says that focusing on your frogs ensures that you're always prioritizing the 20% tasks that are the most important. What one skill, if I did it in an excellent manner, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?

It adds up to wasted time, a feeling of not being in control, and more stress about what’s not getting done. If you're struggling to accurately estimate how long tasks will take you to complete, try these exercises for forming more realistic estimations. It's a digest of productivity techniques—bringing together practices like time-blocking, the Pareto principle, and prioritizing tasks—that, when combined, all work to support the core Eat That Frog productivity method. Making a habit of getting your most important things done has two payoffs: immediate satisfaction and long-term success. If you want to know how I've done it, you'll love my brand new and completely free 17-page anti-procrastination guide, 33 Proven Tactics to Procrastinate Less and Get More Done.Your plan may not be perfect, but it’s better to act on an average plan than to do nothing with a great plan. If you start your day on low-value tasks, you’ll develop the habit of always starting on low-value tasks. I’ve read a lot of books by Tracy and this is a concept he comes back to in every single one of them. Technology has enormous benefits, but if you don’t take control of it, it may end up controlling you. Your brain can’t concentrate well when it has to keep in mind five different tasks that you’ve started on but not finished yet.