Successful people don't try to do everything. They learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure they get them done. Zero in on these critical tasks and you'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.
Animated Video By BetterThanYesterday
Key Takeaways
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s probably the worst thing you’ll do all day.
Using “eat that frog” as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day—the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also probably the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life.
Learn how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You’ll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.
So what can you do to not procrastinate?
A major reason for procrastination and lack of motivation is confusion about what you are trying to achieve.
That’s why clarity is perhaps the most important concept in personal productivity. You need to know what you want to do first, before you can do it. Some people want to improve themselves in all areas of their lives, but that’s too vague.
You need to be specific on what you want to achieve.
- So just “better health” should not be on your goal list. Too vague. But preparing 3 healthy home cooked meals, going to the gym 3 times a week and sleeping 8 hours every day should be on the list.
Be as specific on your goals as you can be.
1. Write Down Your Goals
A goal that is not in writing is merely a wish or fantasy.
- Take a sheet of paper right now and make a list of ten goals you want to accomplish in the next year.
- Review your list of goals and select the one goal that would have the greatest impact on your life if achieved.
- Whatever that goal is, write it on a separate sheet of paper, set a deadline, make a plan, take action on your plan and then do something that moves your toward that goal, every single day.
- This exercise alone will change your life.
- Think about your goals and review them daily.
Every morning when you begin, take action on the most important goal you are working towards.
2. Make a plan
Have you heard the old question? How do you eat an elephant? The answer: One bite at a time. How do you achieve your goals? The same way.
You break them down into specific step by step activities and then you start on the first one. So make a plan. The better the plan you have, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination.
- Let’s say you want to run a marathon. Just thinking about it makes me tired. But let’s break it down.
- First: Buy running shoes, second: Get an exercise plan and third: Jog three times a week, 15 minutes each, while slowly building up run time over coming weeks.
- Running a marathon seems daunting, but “buying running shoes” or going for a 15 minute run, not so much.
Begin today to plan your week in advance.
Make a list of all your projects. Seeing yourself working progressively through your list motivates and energizes you. Steady, visible progress towards a goal propels you forward and helps you overcome procrastination.
The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you begin working on a valuable task , you will be naturally motivated to continue.
3. Have Everything You Need at Hand Before You Begin
One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is to have everything you need at hand before you begin. This is like getting everything ready to prepare a complete meal. You set all the ingredients out on the counter and then begin putting the meal together.
- Begin by clearing off your desk or work space so that you have only one task in front of you. Have everything at hand so you don’t need to move or get up much.
- Take time to create a work area where you enjoy spending time, it makes it easier for you to get started and keep going.
- Emails, texts, phone calls… all distract your work so eliminate all distractions when you have important work to do.
4. Maximize Your Personal Powers
Your body is like a machine that uses food water and rest to generate energy, which you then use to accomplish important goals. When you are fully rested you can get two, three times as much done as when you are tired or burned out.
So to be productive you have to nurture your energy levels. The more tired you are the worse the quality of your work will be. Most people are at their best in the morning, after a good nights sleep.
Another major reason for procrastination is fatigue or attempting to start a task when you are tired. You have no energy or enthusiasm. You’re like a cold engine in the morning that can’t get started.
- Whenever you feel tired and overwhelmed, stop and just take a break and reset yourself. Get more work done the next day when you are recharged. It’s better than working fatigued.
- So get enough quality sleep and make sure you take care of your physical health with plenty exercise.
Animated Video By Productivity Game
Key Takeaways
Many of the activities you do during the day might seem productive, but they aren’t the best use of your time at that moment. What you really should be doing is “eating that frog.”
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. The one task that can have the greatest impact on your life at the moment.
Find Your Biggest Frog
Consider the consequences of doing nothing. Gather a list of everything you should do, could do or ought to do. Now imagine doing nothing on that list for an entire week. Imagine you went for a long drive across the country without a phone or a computer.
- What are the long-term consequences of doing nothing on that list?
- Which of these unfinished tasks could be fatal to your role within your company.
We all take on roles in our professional lives and those roles need key results to survive and thrive. A key result area is analogous to a vital organ within the human body, like the heart or the brain. If these organs stop functioning the entire body stops functioning and you die.
To come up with a list of key results areas in your current professional role:
- Consider the reasons why you are on the payroll or why you have customers that keep you in business.
- What key results are essential for keeping you on the payroll or keeping your business open?
After you’ve come up with a list of key results in your current professional role, look back at that to do list and task by task visualize the long-term consequences of not doing a task for an entire week.
- Which tasks have a significant impact on your key result areas?
When you consider the long-term consequences of not doing something, you’ll see that not doing several items on your list would be uncomfortable, but not fatal.
You might upset someone by not responding to their email or missing their meeting, but it doesn’t have a significant effect on your key result areas, and it won’t lead to the death of your professional role.
It’s like removing the appendix or wisdom teeth from the body. These are non-essential body parts. You can surgically remove them from your body and still survive.
Any task that doesn’t significantly impact the long-term health of your current role is a tadpole, not a frog. What are the long-term consequences of not doing this? Does it effect my key results areas and is it vital to my current professional role?
Considering Doing One Thing All Day
Of the things that you identified to have long-term consequences on your key results areas, what one task could you do all day, that would contribute the greatest value to your company?
- If you ask yourself this question 3 times, the 3 tasks that you come up with will be 90% of the contribution you can provide your company.
- Perhaps the most important word in the world of work is contribution. Your rewards both financial and emotional will always be in direct proportion to your results to the value of your contribution.
If you want to find your biggest Frog, ask yourself:
“If I could do only one thing all day long, what one thing could I do that would contribute the greatest value to my company/client/readers?”
Still Cant Decide?
Simply focus on the one frog that you have most avoided eating. Eat the biggest and ugliest frog before anything else. Do the worst first.
By doing the worst first, you’ll receive a great sense of relief and satisfaction upon completing it, which will provide you with the confidence you need to eat more frogs.
How Do You Eat That Frog?
The best way to eat a big, ugly frog is to focus solely on the next bite and remind yourself of the last bite.
By finding your biggest frog and then eating that frog, you will maximize your work time so that you’ll have more time to spend with people you care about most, doing the things you love doing most, without the weight of a frog on your shoulder.
