Eat That Frog! Action Workbook: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
144
Eat That Frog! Action Workbook: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
144Paperback(Workbook)
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Overview
There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re done with the worst thing you’ll have to do all day. For Brian Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task—but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life.
Eat That Frog! shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively. The core of what is vital to effective time management is: decision, discipline, and determination. This workbook puts the ideas of the original book into action. By following the same twenty-one-chapter format as the book, each chapter includes exercises for you to reflect on your own habits. You’ll also learn through the experience of a narrative character who is struggling with procrastination in her work and home life and uses Eat That Frog! to improve her time management performance.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781523084708 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Berrett-Koehler Publishers |
| Publication date: | 07/24/2017 |
| Edition description: | Workbook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| Sales rank: | 239,854 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Set the Table
Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. The bigger your goals and the clearer they are, the more excited you become about achieving them. The more you think about your goals, the greater become your inner drive and your desire to accomplish them.
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1. With written goals, you'll be far more productive and efficient than people who just carry goals around in their heads. Use the space below to make a list of 10 goals you want to accomplish in the next year. Write your goals as though a year has already passed and they are now a reality. If you have trouble getting them down on your own, consider talking to your boss or a trusted confidant.
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2. Review your list of 10 goals and select the one goal that, if you achieved it within 24 hours, would have the greatest positive impact on your life.
Write it down on the line provided. Set a deadline. Then make a list of everything that you can think of that you can do to achieve that goal.
Finally, take action. Do something every day that moves you at least one step toward that goal.
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3. Organize your list of activities by priority and sequence. Create a checklist, where each task appears in the order it needs to be done. Take some time to get this right — what needs to be done first and what can wait, what needs to be done before other activities can be completed. Then resolve to do something right now toward achieving your goal.
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1. Work out a plan for achieving your goal. Use the space on this page to draw a series of boxes and circles, with lines and arrows showing the relationships among the tasks. Color code items if it helps. You will be amazed at how much more achievable your goal seems when it's broken down into smaller tasks. Here is how Shane visualized her goals and tasks:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
CHAPTER 2
Plan Every Day in Advance
Think on paper, and plan every day in advance. You'll feel more powerful and competent. You'll get more done faster than you thought possible. You'll be unstoppable!
1. Planning your day in advance takes only a few minutes, but can save you hours. Always work from a list. First, make a master list. Think of this as the wide end of the funnel — the place where you capture every idea and every new task or responsibility that comes up.
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2. At the end of each month, prepare a monthly list of items that you plan to tackle in the month ahead. Pull from your master list. What has to be done first? What comes next? Start with the end in mind and work backward.
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3. Next, create a weekly list. This list may change as you go through the current week.
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4. If your master list is the wide end of a funnel, your daily list is the narrow end. On your daily list, include specific activities that you're going to accomplish on the following day. As you complete them, tick them off the list as a sign of visible progress.
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CHAPTER 3
Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything
Resist the temptation to clear up small things first. Small things are like rabbits; they multiply continually. Get in the habit of tackling the "vital few" before you attend to the "trivial many."
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1. The things you choose to do repeatedly eventually become NOTES habits — habits that can be hard to break. If you prioritize low-value tasks, that becomes a habit — but so does prioritizing high-value tasks. So, what are you going to make a habit of doing more?
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What are you going to make a habit of doing less?
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What are you going to start doing?
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What are you going to stop doing altogether?
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2. Productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, no matter how slimy or smelly it might be. Take some time, right now, to work on your highest-value activity. Take some action — any action — immediately. Really. Put this book down and go do something. Don't worry. I'll wait.
Shane settled on her two most important goals: get her MBA and grow her chocolate business to the point where she can quit her day job. Toward these ends, Shane started planning out her days in advance — each second that she wasn't performing necessary duties at her firm was devoted to working on her schoolwork and getting her chocolates in front of new potential customers. She also started making a habit of getting up a couple hours early to get a jump on her reading.
CHAPTER 4
Consider the Consequences
The clearer you are about your future goals, the sharper present priorities come into focus. Accept the fact that there will never be enough time to do everything. Then do first things first, and second things not at all.
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1. Successful people have a strong orientation toward the future. Their attitude toward time — their "time horizon" — influences choices and behavior in the short term. What are your goals? And where do you see yourself? Use this chart to map out your 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year goals in the areas of business success, financial independence, family/relationships, and health/fitness.
2. And where are you right now? Take a minute to grade yourself on a 1–10 scale in each area (10 being the best). Put a dot on each score and connect them for a sense of your current life. (The goal is to have a perfect diamond.)
Where are you strongest? Weakest?
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3. There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. All you can hope for is to be on top of your most important responsibilities. Based on where you are and where you hope to go:
What are your highest-value activities — those frogs you have to eat to make the largest impact?
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What can you and only you do, that if done well, will Make a real difference?
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What is the most valuable use of your time right now?
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(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Eat That Frog! Action Workbook"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Brian Tracy.
Excerpted by permission of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
How to Use This Book ix
Introduction: Meet Shane xi
1 Set the Table 1
2 Plan Every Day in Advance 9
3 Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything 18
4 Consider the Consequences 21
5 Practice Creative Procrastination 25
6 Use the ABCDE Method Continually 34
7 Focus on Key Result Areas 38
8 Apply the Law of Three 43
9 Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin 49
10 Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time 51
11 Upgrade Your Key Skills 55
12 Identify Your Key Constraints 59
13 Put the Pressure on Yourself 68
14 Motivate Yourself into Action 73
15 Technology Is a Terrible Master 78
16 Technology Is a Wonderful Servant 83
17 Focus Your Attention 87
18 Slice and Dice the Task 91
19 Create Large Chunks of Time 95
20 Develop a Sense of Urgency 102
21 Single Handle Every Task 109
Conclusion: Putting it All Together 112
Digital Resources 116
Learning Resources of Brian Tracy International 117
About the Author 121
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