Eat That Frog
By: Brian Tracy
21 ways to stop procrastinating and get more things done faster:
- Set the table — clarify what your objectives are.
- Plan every day in advance — think on paper.
- Apply the 80/20 rule — remember that 20% of your activities will count for 80% of your results, so concentrate on that top 20%.
- Consider the consequences — your most important tasks will have the greatest consequences on your life or work (positive or negative), concentrate on these above all.
- Practice the ABCD method — before you begin working, organize them by value and priority so that you can start with the most important.
- Focus on key result areas — find what will result in getting your work accomplished and work on those all day long.
- Practice the law of forced efficiency — there’s never enough time to do everything but always enough time to do the most important things, so what are they?
- Prepare thoroughly before you begin — proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.
- Upgrade your skills — the more knowledgeable and better you become at your skills, the quicker you can get them accomplished.
- Leverage your special talents — determine what you are or could be good at and throw your whole heart into doing those very well.
- Identify your key constraints — find what slows you down or stops you and determine to alleviate them.
- Take it one oil barrel at a time — you can accomplish anything if you will take it one step at a time.
- Put the pressure on yourself — imagine you had to leave town for a week and you had to finish certain things before you left.
- Maximize your personal powers — identify your most productive mental and physical times in the day and structure your most important tasks at those times.
- Motivate yourself into action — be your own cheerleader; always be optimistic; find the good in every situation.
- Practice creative procrastination — since you can’t do everything, focus on what you can do and put the other things to the side.
- Do the most difficult thing first — identify the hardest task and determine to stay at it until it is finished.
- Slice and dice the task — break the large tasks into bite-sized pieces and do them one at a time until you finish.
- Create large chunks of time — organize your day into chunks until you can finish with the task that needs to be accomplished.
- Develop a sense of urgency — make a habit of getting things done and not stopping until you are finished.
- Single-handle every task — set clear priorities and start on your tasks, working on them until they are finished.