Summary of Eat that frog by Brian Tracy

Introduction

The 21st century is a great time to be alive with endless opportunities and technological advancement, a person sitting in one corner of the world can talk to the person sitting in another corner of the world with just a click of a button.

But with such advancement comes the distraction. With the rise of platforms like Facebook or Instagram, just a single notification is enough to capture your attention, and next, you will be wasting more than an hour(let's accept its more than that) watching reels about how a celeb doing shitty things and on and on…… What is left at the end of a day is a huge pile of work and a lot of regrets and guilt feeling.

Eat the frog: 21 great ways to stop procrastination and get more done in less time is a productivity book where the author lays 21 simple steps to finish the work without getting overwhelmed and super busy all the time. Follow the steps properly you will be the master of your time and be more productive & organized. Frog here is a metaphor used for your task. The bigger and uglier frog means the more complicated and huge the task is and more is the tendency to procrastinate.

About the author

Brian Tracy is CEO, Chairman of Brian Tracy International, motivational speaker, author of over eighty books that have been translated into dozens of languages. A few of the most successful books are: Earn What You’re Worth, Eat That Frog!, No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline and The Psychology of Achievement.

He had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution, and management consulting. He has conducted high-level consulting assignments with several billion-dollar-plus corporations in strategic planning and organizational development.

The 21 Principles of the Eat That Frog Productivity Method

Tip 1 — Set the table

The major reason for procrastination is confusion, vagueness about what you are trying to do, for what reason, and in what order. Clarity on your goals and how to achieve them is a must. Decide exactly what you want, why, and when. A goal with no deadline is not a goal.

Actionable:

Start writing your goal on paper with reason and deadline.

Tip 2 — Plan every day in advance

Before you start with any actionable stuff, just wait. Getting lost in a maze of work is easy, what you need is a plan to seek out the path from the worldly maze. Organize and plan the top priority tasks that will have the most value and remove all the low-value tasks from them.

Actionable:

Plan out your week and month in advance. Layout all the tasks which need to be done today to achieve your goals.

Tip 3 — Apply the 80/20 rule to everything

In management studies, there is a famous law called the Pareto Principle, which states 20% of tasks account for 80% of your results, and the rest is just low-value tasks that don’t account for much. For example: In a list of 10 tasks, only 2 tasks can help you achieve 80% results. Figure out, the biggest value tasks and finish them first. Resist the temptation of cleaning up small things first. With only 20% of tasks in hand, you will be better focused on your goal and more productive and will do lesser procrastination.

Actionable:

Make a list of all the tasks which need to be done to achieve a goal or project. Figure out 20 percent of tasks that are of most value and finish them first.

Tip 4 — Consider the Consequences

Before planning or organizing your goals or projects think about the long-term impact. Long-term thinking improves short-term decision-making.

Actionable: Questions you must ask before you proceed with planning

1. What are my highest value activities?
2. What can I and only I do, that if done well, will make a real difference?
3. What is the most valuable use of my time now?

Tip 5 — Practice Creative Procrastination

Fact: You can’t do everything that you have to do. Creative Procrastination is the most effective tool where you set your priorities and posteriorities. You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower-value activities.

Actionable:

Pull off yourself from low-value tasks so that you have enough time to do a few things that really count.

Tip 6 — Use the ABCDE method continually

Based on planning in the previous step, you sorted out a few key tasks that need to be done today. ABCDE method is sorting/sequencing of those few selected tasks such that the highest value task is done first irrespective of the time they require.

Actionable:

Put order on a few selected tasks in the ABCDE method and pick task A. Don’t move to the next task until the previous task is done.

Tip 7 — Focus on Key Result Area

Figure out your key result areas, the domain that will help you become more productive and efficient in daily life.

For eg: Key Result Areas for any Lead Full Stack Developer are Creating Workflow, Designing API flows, business logic, database, Coordinating properly with the team and with higher management, Developing a proper frontend. Poor performance in any one of the areas will result in poor quality of the product and sometimes leads to the failure of the lead person.

Actionable:

Identify your Key Result Areas, focus on the weakest area, and plan to improve it

Tip 8 — Apply the Law of three

The most important word at work is contribution. Your growth both financially and professionally is directly proportional to your value of contribution.

Actionable:

Identify the three things you do in your work that account for 90 percent of your contribution, and focus on getting them done before anything else

Tip 9 — Prepare thoroughly before you begin

One of the best ways to overcome procrastination and get everything done faster is to have everything you need at hand before you began. Be it cleaning your desk early morning, comfortable chair, water bottle, or any other accessories. Distraction during work time is a focus killer and context-switching between things require mental effort.

Actionable:

Create a proper setup for work and pick all the things in hand that you will require during the work.

Tip 10 — Take it one barrel at a time

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step. Instead of focusing on a huge task focus on a small subtask. Finish those sub-tasks and eventually, you have completed a huge task.

Actionable:

Create a list of all subtasks for a task in hand and complete one subtask at a time

Top 11 — Upgrade your key skills

Upgrading your skills is one of the most important personal and professional productivity principles. Learning is key to success, with proper skills you can cross any obstacle. A key reason for procrastination is lack of proper skills be it time management or domain-specific. Learning the required skills will help you achieve your goals faster and more smoothly.

Actionable:

Identify the key skills that can help you the most to achieve better and faster results. Determine the core competencies that you will require to lead your field.

Top 12 — Identify your key constraints

To achieve any goal or task, you need to overcome the constraints in the path. Identifying those constraints and overcoming them is a job. Most people procrastinate when they are hit with a constraint(small or big).

Actionable:

Identify the key constraints which are preventing you from achieving your goal and concentrate your mental energy to overcome it

Tip 13 — Put the pressure on yourself

Push yourself to your limits then you will realize your true potential. In order to lead your future and stay motivated to learn new things, you must push yourself in terms of learning new skills, deadlines, and management of projects.

Actionable:

Set a deadline for every task and activity. Raise the bar on yourself and don't let yourself off the hook

Tip 14 — Motivate yourself into action

Motivation is the reason why most people fail to achieve goals. You need to be your own cheerleader. An optimistic person is effective and efficient in every aspect of life.

Actionable:

Keep your mind positive by accepting complete responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you. Refuse to criticize others, complain, or blame others for anything. Resolve to make progress rather than excuses.

Tip 15 — Technology is a terrible master

I think there is no doubt about technology(be it social media or online streaming) is the biggest reason why we can’t achieve goals on time. Technology provides the biggest reason for procrastination. Common terms we use: will do the task just after one episode(end up watching whole season) or need 5 min break to check new updates on social media.

Actionable:

Exercise tech-detox. Put your devices on don’t disturb mode or disable all notifications during work

Tip 16 — Technology is a wonderful servant

Technology is just a tool to achieve what we want faster. The use of the todo list app, calendar app, and other productivity apps helps in our daily life. Technology must be used as a servant and never allow it to be your master.

Actionable:

Research and install a few software or app that will help you be more efficient and focused.

Tip 17 — Focus your attention

Stop the interruptions and distractions that interfere with completing your most important tasks. With just the sound of one notification from a mobile or laptop, your attention is lost. Then where your attention follows you follow.

Actionable:

Refuse to become a slave to the bells and whistles that distract you from completing your tasks. Leave your devices off.

Tip 18 — Slice and dice the task

The main reason for procrastination on important tasks is that they appear so large and formidable when you first approach them. Apply divide and conquer strategy, break the huge task into smaller pieces, and finish smaller tasks first.

Actionable:

Break large, complex tasks down into bite-sized pieces, and then do just one small part of the task to get started.

Tip 19 — Create large chunks of time

It doesn’t matter how much planning and organizing you do if you don't have enough time to execute your plans. With a large amount of time wasted in context switching, resulting in poor productivity and delay of timelines

Actionable:

Organize your days around large chunks of time so you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks.

Tip 20 — Develop a sense of urgency

Make a habit of moving fast on your key tasks and create a state of “Flow”. Flow is the highest state of human performance and productivity. When tasks get completed faster, the brain releases endorphins which make you happier and motivates you to stay on course in the future.

Actionable:

Develop a sense of urgency in everything you do. Select one area where you have a tendency to procrastinate and make a decision to develop the habit of fast action in that area

Tip 21 — Single handle every task

Action, Action, Action!!! All the above tips boil down to action. Regardless of how much planning or organizing activity you do. The happiness of achieving the task can’t be replaced with anything. Develop energy, enthusiasm, and motivation that make you better and more productive. You work faster and more effectively.

Actionable:

Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task and then work without stopping until the job is 100 percent complete.

Conclusion

Decide to practice the above principles daily in your personal and professional life until they become your second nature. With these habits of management, your future success is unlimited and you will tend to procrastinate lesser.