“There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” ~ Brian Tracy
The following is an article from my Mentor Brian Tracy…Overwhelm can cause procrastination. When you don’t know where to start, its easy to put off starting at all. Procrastination can have many adverse side effects and be very draining. So, don’t let that happen to you. Follow the steps outlined by Brian below and eliminate procrastination from your life.
The Truth About Frogs by 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 worse things 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.
If You Have to Eat Two Frogs, Eat the Ugliest one First
This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.
If You Have to Eat a Live Frog at all, it Doesn’t Pay to Sit and Look at it for Very Long
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. You must develop the routine of “eating your frog” before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it.
Take Action Immediately
Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete. “Failure to execute” is one of the biggest problems in organizations today. Many people confuse activity with accomplishment. They talk continually, hold endless meetings, and make wonderful plans, but in the final analysis, no one does the job and gets the results required.
Develop a Positive Addiction
You can actually develop a “positive addiction” to endorphins and to the feeling of enhanced clarity, confidence, and competence that they trigger. When you develop this addiction, you will, at an unconscious level, begin to organize your life in such a way that you are continually starting and completing ever more important tasks and projects. You will actually become addicted, in a very positive sense, to success and contribution.
No Shortcuts
Practice is the key to mastering any skill. Fortunately, your mind is like a muscle. It grows stronger and more capable with use. With practice, you can learn any behavior or develop any habit that you consider either desirable or necessary.
Action Exercise
What is your “frog?” What is the one task that you despise doing each day? Once you have chosen your “frog” make it a habit to wake up every morning and do that task first.
Learn some other valuable time management tactics by watching this video…please excuse the picture quality of the video. But, the message is what is important here, so just sit back, relax and listen!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY_RLMWF-k8[/youtube]
* As a Special Gift for being a valued visitor to my blog, I would like to give you a very valuable resource.. a 25 page transcription of Brian’s “Eat That Frog”
You might also enjoy the following brief video..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W7GB5Fh2XM[/youtube]
Hope you got some great value out of this post today! Please leave me a comment down below and let me know what you liked the most.
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To your success,
Marc@monitium.com
Network Marketing Coach
Serial Entreprenuer
Skype: healthysuccess
(973) 879-1627
Visit Brian Tracy International
About Marc Korn
Marc Korn is an advocate of continuous learning. Success online and in the offline world is all about training and learning from the experts.... throughout history the common denominator among successful people has been continuing education.Marc is passionate about Network Marketing and helping others.He has learned that Network Marketing is not about recruit, recruit, recruit or sell, sell, sell...but about people.The most gratifying way to achieve success is to help others become successful first.Marc enjoys introducing people to systems and opportunities that will help them to earn additional income working from home.There is no reason why you need to learn it all by yourself. Join Marc and his Tribe mates to see how they can help you.
Marc,
What a treat to listen to Brian Tracy talk about creating your list every day and prioritizing it. Especially when he added, what is the one thing you would do now if you knew you were going away for a month?
I do find, however, that sometimes completing the small tasks (like filing away a huge pile of my current bills or finishing tallying up my tax receipts) can actually provide energy for me to do the tasks I really want to do for my business. It can be difficult to differentiate between trivial tasks and essential tasks that need to be completed.
Erica
Hi Erica,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I definitely agree that even completing a small task will be an accomplishment and will provide an added boost of energy. Of course, different individuals will have different priorities and place different levels of importance on similar tasks.
Personally, I hate filing, especially a large pile of bills. So, for me that is my frog for the day. Even though it is trivial, it is always great to cross that off the list.
We just have to guard against the time factor. If we do too many of the small tasks first, we may find that we don’t have the time we need to complete the important tasks.
Too many times, people underestimate the importance of creating those all important priorities, which is quite a skill in itself.
To your massive success,
Marc
Marc,
It is so true that procrastination stifles so many people’s dreams and goals. They have plans, dreams and goals, and then they don’t follow through with the action.
Love the tips you’ve shared here… very helpful!!
We will wake up tomorrow morning looking for our frog 🙂
Thanks,
~ Pat & Lorna
http://TheCoolestCouple.com
Hi Pat and Lorna,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment..it is greatly appreciated.
I hope you found your frog and I hope it isn’t Jimmy Kimmel !
I have long been a BIG fan of Brian Tracy and love his techniques and methods to accomplish your goals. If you know anyone that might benefit from the 25 page transcript of “Eat That Frog”..please send them my way and they can download from this post.
I agree with your assessment that although many people have the dreams and goals, taking positive action to achieve those goals is lacking.
It is so important to find the drive and motivation to overcome the procrastination and be all that you can be.
To your massive success,
Marc
The topic of procrastination is an ever returning one it seems. Many struggle with it. My solution is to break down the tasks that seem daunting to me into smaller pieces. This helps me get success faster and it also helps to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The other thing I do, is post my long(er) term goal on the wall in front of my office desk in plain sight. I see it every day and it helps me stay motivated to do what needs to be done to achieve my goal.
Hi Karin,
Thanks for dropping by to comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Sadly, procrastination is one of the major culprits in the lack of follow through and ultimate success for many people, not to mention the stress and anxiety that it will cause when you are faced with certain deadlines that you can’t meet.
Breaking down tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces is always a very good solution to avoid overwhelm and to be able to focus on the task at hand.
I love the fact that you keep your long term goals in plain sight and as a constant reminder of what you want to accomplish. It is so important to keep positive and motivated to have long term success.
To your massive success,
Marc
This is an absolutely great article delivered in a funny (and kinda icky) way. The metaphor of eating a frog created a strong visual for me. Now every time I want to put something off I’m going to think of a frog. 🙂
Hey Dave,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment..it is greatly appreciated.
Procrastination and lack of focus are the major reasons why many people get off track and it is so important to motivate yourself and train yourself to develop the skill to have the discipline to make sure that you get your important tasks done on time.
There is nothing worse than making a commitment and not fulfilling it or missing a deadline when you have people depending on you.
The frog is a great visual and helps me to keep on task…there is a download above for a 25 page transcript of “Eat That Frog” that has great tips…
To your continued success,
Marc
Brian Tracy is a a phenomenal man and everything he touch’s turns to gold.
I haven’t had the chance to read this title, but I really enjoyed your post Marc.
You summarized a lot of his key philosophies and he would be proud to read this 🙂
Hi John,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Brian has been a Mentor of mine for many years and I have learned so much. I joined iLearningGlobal due to Brian and I understand the importance of continuous learning.
Sadly, they closed their doors and it is a great loss of a wonderful platform.
There is also a 25 page transcript of “EAT That Frog” in the post above that has many great tips.
Feel free to download or pass along to anyone you feel may benefit.
To your massive success,
Marc
Hey Marc,
Thanks for continuing to bring such great personal development content to us here on your blog.
I love the process of planning my days the night before and then waking up early eager to tackle the most challenging ones first. I rate my priorities of them in two ways… by the ones I must do to achieve the most success towards my goals and dreams and the ones that I fear the most. The get top ranking for each day.
Keep your dreams alive my friend.
Make it a great day!
God Bless,
The GREAT Edward!
Hi Edward,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I’m so happy that you enjoy my content…that means a great deal to me.
Too many people attack the smaller tasks first in the hopes of “getting them out of the way”
While breaking larger tasks into smaller ones is important, it is imperative to make sure that those tasks are the most critical to your success.
Focus on the smaller ones and before you know it, the day is over and your most important tasks are left undone.
To your massive success,
Marc
I am familiar with the frog story, but it is always a good reminder as we all procrastinate form time to time. The oter frog story I like is the boiling pot frog story.
Hi Gary,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
It is definitely an ongoing battle to make sure that we discipline ourselves to overcome the negative results of procrastination.
It is very easy to lapse back into bad habits if we are not motivated and disciplined to wake up every morning and do our most critical task first.
To your massive success,
Marc
Hi Marc,
I love your post.It came in a good moment after few overwhelming days. I used to procrastinate the hard task because was a little unconfortable.But I’m aware that if you don’t do this all the dreams and plans are useless.I set up a lot of goals but many remained unachieved.
Great tips,I will discipline myself to implement them.
Thanks for sharing this Marc.
Have a splendid day,
Radu
Hi Radu,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
It’s always a challenge to maintain the discipline that it takes to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.
Once it becomes a daily habit and you see yourself completing the tough tasks and achieving your goals, it does get easier and it is all worthwhile.
There is also a 25 page transcript of “EAT That Frog” in the post above that has many great tips.
Feel free to download or pass along to anyone you feel may benefit.
To your massive success,
Marc
Hi Marc,
love that way of putting it ‘eat that frog’ and the way you said that ‘if you have and ‘ugly frog’ there is no point in staring at it all day’. You are so right – brrrrr – staring at an ugly frog.
I will remember this when I have something that needs doing.
Awesome!
Thank you so much!
Yorinda
Hi Yorinda,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Thus really is a great strategy that Brian Tracy has outlined and it does work. I find it is very energizing and motivating to get the most important task done early and quickly and it helps to set up the rest of the day.
There is also a 25 page transcript of “EAT That Frog” in the post above that has many great tips.
Feel free to download or pass along to anyone you feel may benefit.
To your massive success,
Marc
Hi Marc,
Great post and I really enjoyed watching Brian Tracy, one of the people that influenced me in a very positive way in the last years since I started to read his books and watch him on the internet.
This article gathers everything that is required from a successful person and I especially liked the idea of thinking of your mind like a muscle you can train. It’s very visual and you can easily remember it and start doing what you have to in order to get it to work.
Thanks,
George
Hi George,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Brian Tracy has been an influence on many lives. I joined iLearningGlobal a couple of years ago and was on Brian’s team. It was tough to see them shut their doors recently.
I am still an Affiliate for Brian Tracy as I believe so much in his programs.
The mind is like any other muscle and needs exercise on a daily basis to work at peak efficiency…
There is also a 25 page transcript of “EAT That Frog” in the post above that has many great tips.
Feel free to download or pass along to anyone you feel may benefit.
To your massive success,
Marc
Marc,
Thanks for bringing this great book to everybody’s attention! It is probably one of Brian Tracey’s most important books, and yet it does not get the same level of recognition as some of his sales books. This book really helped me sort out my day in the most effective manner possible.
Hi Andy,
Thanks so much for dropping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
You’re absolutely correct that this book needs to receive more attention. Having solid time management skills will help you to succeed in all sorts of endeavors. It is important to develop good time management skills at a young age,as it is a skill set that will serve you well your entire life.
People can be so much more productive and have far less stress if they would just learn the basics.
There is also a 25 page transcript of “EAT That Frog” in the post above that has many great tips.
Feel free to download or pass along to anyone you feel may benefit.
To your massive success,
Marc
Thanks Marc
So glad I stopped by. This as a great post. I’ll have to say I do like frog legs, but wouldn’t want to eat a live frog, especially an ugly one!!
Thanks for the book.
Have a Great Day
Chester
Hi Marc ~ As much as I hate to admit, I do from time to time find myself procrastinating, and to get past this, I make myself take immediate action (any kind of action just to get me going), and yes, find that first doing the task I am least looking forward to makes all the difference! The rest of my tasks seem so easy and I am energized to take on even more! 🙂 Christine
Marc I had to pop in and read this post. I just got this book in today from Amazon and can’t wait to get started.
You really have given me something to look forward to great review.
Steve
Thanks, Marc, for sharing Brian’s views on procrastination. I like his approach for getting the big things out of the way first. Eating that frog can make the rest of the day go much better. Thanks for sharing, Susan
hi Mark
I look into your old post’s and find this one that really stand out to me.
Yes Time and how you use it is very important you only git it one’s and
if you don’t use it right you cant use it again. And the “eat the Frog ” statement
is 100% true if you do the thing you dont like first then the thing that you do love
to do will come faster to you and you will enjoy it more.
Make a list and tick it of as you go through the day.
Regards
Theuns
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Excellent! It’s amazing how hyper-focused you can become when you have concrete deadlines!
I enjoyed this post and the golden nuggets contained in it. Thanks!
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