Eat that frog?? But why? And what does that have to do with time management??
Most of us are struggling. We’re overwhelmed with having too much stuff, going through big life changes, and just trying to figure out how to relax. Somewhere in there, we need to go through our daily routines. We have to accomplish our daily tasks and sometimes do things that are out of the norm.
Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog!
I love it when I think I have something figured out and then an expert comes along and gently humbles me! For example, I thought I was an expert at organizing my house. But then master-organizer Marie Kondo came into my life and taught me to do things even better.
When it comes to time management, I always thought I had a handle on things. I’m not a bad procrastinator and I try to keep up with tasks as they come along. But like most people, I would sometimes find that I was struggling to keep my head above water. Enter Eat That Frog.
There are many ways to effectively manage one’s time. It’s important to find the method that works for you. For instance, my colleague has found success with the Pomodoro Technique. As for me, Brian Tracy’s book taught me how to better handle my time and now I want to share some of his tips with you!
Think of frogs as distasteful tasks
Mark Twain had once said eating a live frog in the morning would allow us to go through the rest of the day feeling confident that it’s probably the worst thing we’d have to face. So eat that frog and get it over with, right? That’s easy to imagine if the frog looks like this:
But what if it looks like this?
Brian says that if the worst thing we have to do in a day is to eat a frog, do that first and the rest of the To Do list will be easy. If you have two ugly frogs to eat in a day (two distasteful big tasks), eat the ugliest one first. In other words, if you have two big tasks to take care of, complete the hardest one first.
More tips to stop procrastinating
Take action immediately: discipline yourself to work on tasks immediately instead of dreading it all day…or week, or month…you get the picture.
Write it down: This is not groundbreaking, but it’s effective. Put your goals on paper. Make that To Do list! When you have new tasks come up, write them down on the list. It’s all about discipline and consistency. Make a list for the day, a list for the week, and a list for the month. Arrange your list so that the most important goals/tasks are listed first.
Work on the most valuable things on those lists. Don’t work on smaller tasks, saving that big monster, or frog, for later. Work on things that matter most. It’s not about crossing every item off your list: it’s about working on the most important, valuable, meaningful things first.
Keep your environment clean, neat, and productive and positive. Again–thank you, Marie Kondo!! “A cluttered home means a cluttered mind”. A neater, cleaner environment will lend itself to your mind being free to focus on your tasks and goals.
Put the pressure on yourself. Create your own deadlines and sub-deadlines…then force yourself to stick with those deadlines.
Avoid the social media black holes! You know: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube…those Internet Vortexes are super fun and total time-suckers. My personal motto is, “Work First, Play Later”.
Try these tips out if you need help managing your time. Do you have a different method that has been working for you over the years? Let me know what it is– I have time 😉
