Brian Tracy

The Truth About Frogs

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

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.

Conquer the Hardest Task First

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.

The Law of Priorities

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

The Law of Priorities

By: Brian Tracy

The very worst use of your time is to do well what need not be done at all. The Pareto Principle says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of the value of your activities. This means that, if you have a list of ten items to accomplish, two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items altogether.

To achieve great things, you must always be concentrating on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to your life and your work.

Determine the Consequences

The Key to Taking Control

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

The Key to Taking Control

By: Brian Tracy

Set Priorities

Stress management requires that you take complete control over the activities of your daily life. This means that you plan your day, set priorities and work on high value tasks. The indispensable key to time management is concentration, the ability to focus single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, and to stay with it until it is 100% complete.

Create Chunks of Time

ABCDE Method for Setting Priorities

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

The ABCDE Method for Setting Priorities

By: Brian Tracy

Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Your ability to plan and organize your work, in advance, so you are always working on your highest value tasks determines your success as much as any other factor.

The ABCDE Method for Priorities

The process of setting short-term priorities begins with a pad of paper and a pen. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by too many things to do and too little time in which to do them, sit down, take a deep breath, and list all those tasks you need to accomplish. Although there is never enough time to do everything, there is always enough time to do the most important things, and to stay with them until they are done right.

The Law of Time Pressure

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

The Law of Time Pressure

By Brian Tracy

There is never enough time to do everything but there is always enough time to do the most important things. When you find yourself under pressure to get a job done by a particular deadline, you are forced to be vastly more efficient than you would ever be if you felt that you had ample time. This explains why so many people get the job done only when they are faced with stringent deadlines.

Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law says, “Work expands to fill the time allotted for it.” If you have two hours of work to do and an entire day in which to do it, the work will tend to expand gradually, and will take you all day long to complete the two hours of work.

Two Key Questions for Maximum Effectiveness

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

Two Key Questions for Maximum Effectiveness

By: Brian Tracy

There are two questions that you can ask on a regular basis to keep yourself focused on getting your most important tasks completed on schedule. The first question is "What are my highest value activities?"

Put another way, what are the most important tasks you have to complete to make the greatest contribution to your organization? To your family? To your life in general?

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

By: Brian Tracy

The most common form of stress that we experience is the feeling of being overwhelmed with far too much to do and having too little time to do it in. In fact, "time poverty" is the biggest single problem facing most managers in America today. We simply do not have enough time to fulfill all our responsibilities. Because of budget limitations, staff cutbacks, downsizing, and competitive pressures, individual managers are forced to take on more and more work, all of which appears to be indispensable to the smooth functioning of our company or department.

Become an Expert

Managing Multitask Jobs

This article has been written by Brian Tract to promote his Eat That Frog training program.

Managing Multitask Jobs

By Brian Tracy

All of life is a series of projects. A project is a complex task. It is often called a multitask job. This type of job requires the coordination of efforts of several people, each of whom is responsible for a part of the job, with every part of the job being necessary for successful completion. Your ability to handle these multitask jobs is a critical skill for success. All achievements of consequence are complex, and they involve the cooperation of many people.

The Key Management Skill

A study by Stanford University of the qualities that companies look for in promoting people into the position of chief executive officer concluded that the ability to put together a team to accomplish a task was the single most important identifiable quality of an executive who was destined for the fast track in his/her career.

Deal With The Important Task - Eat That Frog

You have a choice about how you spend you time and every day a new day begins when you can start developing the right time management habits. At the top of the list is dealing with your most important task.

It may be difficult, it may be unpleasant but the consequences of doing it (or not doing it are high).

In this article Brian Tracy gives you tips on how to eat that frog by doing your important tasks.

***

Single Handle Every Task
By: Brian Tracy

Eat that frog!

Every bit of planning, prioritizing and organizing comes down to this simple concept.