Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy is easily one of the most famous books on productivity and overcoming procrastination. This is a great productivity book that is easy to read and provides some highly actionable strategies.
Remember this….
- Your ‘frog’ is your biggest, most important task
- If you have two frogs, eat the ‘ugliest’ one first
- If you have to eat a frog, don’t procrastinate on it
Core Takeaways
- “The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning.”
- “Think about your goals and review them daily. Every morning when you begin, take action on the most important task you can accomplish to achieve your most important goal at the moment.”
- “Think on paper.”
- “Plan your day in advance.”
- “Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.”
From the mind of Brian Tracy
“Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your ‘frog’ is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.
“Continually remind yourself that one of the most important decisions you make each day is what you will do immediately and what you will do later if you do it at all.”
The first rule of frog-eating is: “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.”
The second rule of frog eating is this: “If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.”
“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”
“Throughout my career, I have discovered and rediscovered a simple truth. The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status, and happiness in life. This key insights is the heart and soul of this book.”
“Before you begin work, always ask yourself, ‘Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?’”
“You often see people who appear to be busy all day long but they seem to accomplish very little. This is almost always because they are busy doing things that are of low value while they procrastinate on the one or two activities that, if they completed them quickly and well, could make a real difference to their companies and to their careers. The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest 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 tasks in the bottom 80% while you still have tasks in the top 20% left to be done.”
“Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize. Stop pursuing low value activities and focus on high value activities instead. In other words, select the most important task! Stop being busy being busy… focus on what matters instead.”
“Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.”
“Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making.”
“Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, ‘What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?’”
“Successful people are those who are willing to delay gratification and make sacrifices in the short term so that they can enjoy far greater rewards in the long term.”
The Law of Forced Efficiency: “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.”
“Do first things first and second things not at all.”
“There is an old saying that, ‘By the yard it’s hard; but inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!’ One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is for you to get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you can take. One of the best ways to eat a large frog is for you to take it one bite at a time.”
“The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.”
“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.”
“Continually review your life and work to find time-consuming tasks and activities that you can abandon. Cut down on television watching and instead spend the time with your family, read, exercise, or do something else that enhances the quality of your life.”
One of the greatest questions you will ever ask yourself: “What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?”
“It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters.”
“Get it 80 percent right and then correct it later.”
“Get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you can take.”
“By concentrating single mindedly on your most important task, you can reduce the time required to complete it by 50% or more. It has been estimated that the tendency to start and stop a task, to pick it up, put it down and come back to it can increase the time necessary to complete the task by as much as 500%. Each time you return to the task, you have to familiarize yourself with where you were when you stopped and what you still have to do. You have to overcome inertia and get yourself going again. You have to develop momentum and get into a productive work rhythm.”
“Work as though you have only one day to get your most important jobs done.”
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