Eat That Frog Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

Productivity requires planning. To get the most out of your day, prioritize the things that are most important to you. Spend the majority of your time on those tasks.

When you’re planning out your day take the time to think about where your strengths and weaknesses are. Utilize your strengths and learn how to develop your weak points so that you can maximize your potential. Don’t be afraid to learn new things.

Procrastination is detrimental to productivity. The best way for you to tackle distractions is to get ahead of them. Create a clear plan for each day and assign the time you have to each task. Keep focused on your deadlines to make sure you’re accomplishing everything you want to accomplish.

Don’t be afraid to delegate unimportant tasks to someone else, or even remove them altogether. Tackle the most important items of your agenda first and you will increase your output exponentially.

Finally, stay focused and stay positive. Positivity is one of the biggest factors in generating high productivity. Instill yourself with some confidence and believe in your abilities to get things done. When you have a positive view of yourself, you will be at your most productive.

About the Author

Brian Tracy is a personal and professional development expert, motivational speaker, and author. He has written over 70 books and 300 learning programs.

The Canadian-American shares his expertise with individuals and companies through consulting, seminars, and talks. His talks have reached over 5 million people and in a given year, addresses more than 250,000.

Tracy’s events and appearances span the globe. He has worked in more than 107 countries and speaks four languages. Prior to founding Brian Tracy International, he was the CEO of a multi-million dollar development company.

Tracy resides in California with his wife and four children. He is the president of three companies headquartered in Solana Beach.

Topics

Self Development Psychology

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Key Insights

Are you always rushing around but getting nothing done? Do you find that your to-do list keeps getting bigger? If the answer is yes then it sounds like you’re being overwhelmed by frogs.

Fortunately, these frogs are metaphorical. Frogs are the tasks that are too big or too hard to tackle easily and end up being pushed to the back of the line.

However, there is a way to make life easier and more productive. That is to handle these tasks first or to put it another way, by ‘eating the frog’. Learning how to ‘eat the frog’ will enable you to be more productive and get more out of your day without feeling overwhelmed.

Write down your daily goals.

It sounds pretty obvious but having a good plan reduces procrastination and increases your productivity. If you have a defined list of goals for the day, you are going to have a better chance of completing those tasks.

A simple but effective way to plan is to write out a list starting with the most important goals for the day. When you have something down in writing, you have something physical you can see and focus on.

The added benefit of writing goals down for the day is the ability to feel you accomplished something when you cross off each item on the list. Most people who do not write down their goals for the day rarely get them done, so they rarely feel accomplished.

Having a clear purpose outlined in writing will make you more determined and focused to complete tasks. When you see something you need to do written down, you’ll be more motivated. You’re holding yourself accountable to the goals that you’ve set. That makes you more effective.

Apply this planning process to your day, week, month, and beyond. Your commitment to accomplishing the goals you set for yourself should become a habit.

Prioritize tasks.

How do you prioritize your to-do lists? Do you put the easiest and less pressing tasks at the top of the list? This is a common strategy. Perhaps it feels like, by doing them first, you’ll have the rest of the day to concentrate on more important tasks. Or maybe you view the quickest tasks as a warm-up for the actual work?

The reality is that if you work this way you are more likely to fail in completing your important tasks. You’re not just warming up or getting distractions out of the way. You’re spending your limited time and energy on things that don’t matter as much. By leaving them until the end you risk running out of time.

However, if you prioritize properly, you can make sure all of the important matters are taken care of first. You’re giving your attention to the things that matter the most for getting the results you want. If you run out of time it won’t matter as much. The less important tasks can wait until another time.

To prioritize, you need a method for labeling your tasks. There are different approaches and you should figure...