Eat That Frog Brian Tracy Book Summary and Quotes to Stop Procrastinating
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy is a masterpiece in Productivity and Self-Help Books. In the Book summary of Eat That Frog, we will talk about the steps shared by Brian Tracy to produce more results in less time. If you are someone who feels he is working hard but still not getting as many results as expected or if you always have a backlog of work and essential tasks, this book summary of Eat That Frog will surely help you.
Brian starts the book with Famous Mark Twain Quotes on Eating a Frog. The idea is we should do the most important task first thing in the morning. We need to plan our day in such a way that we give the highest energy to the most important task. It works both ways. Either we put 100% efforts in doing one duty which produces most top results, or we try to remove one obstacle which is hindering the growth.
Example 1: Talking to a customer and closing the deal is the most critical task for a salesperson. If he does everything else except this, he won’t be getting the rewards he is looking forward to. So for him Eat That Frog is calling that potential customer and getting the deal closed.
Example 2: A particular bug or missing feature could be the biggest obstacle in the sales of software. So if the business owner focusses on changing the marketing team and sales plan that’s not going to help, eat That Frog for this software company would be developing the missing feature or solving that bug.
Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
- Eat That Frog
- Think on Paper
- Six P Formula
- The Law of Three / 10–90 Formula
- How To Set Priorities Using The ABCDE Method
- Positive Procrastination
1. Eat That Frog
Decide which is the most critical task of the day and give complete focus and energy to that task until it gets completed. Apart from Daily Routine tasks, don’t divert energy to other non-important tasks of the day. If you have two Frogs to eat, eat the uglier one first. This statement means in case there are two critical, non-negotiable tasks, do the more important one first.
2. Think on Paper
A lot of us get into analysis paralysis zone more often than not. The best solution to overcome this situation and become more productive is to write down our tasks and ideas on paper. Writing gives us more clarity and help in better planning. Only 3% of people do this and guess what that 3 % is way more successful than the other 97%
3. Six P Formula
Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
Planning saves a lot of effort and energy during execution. Spending 10–15 minutes in the morning to plan your day can easily save you 2–3 hours on the whole day. In most cases, we don’t even need to complicate planning. All we need is a pen and paper and do what we discussed in point 2 — Think on Paper.
4. The Law of Three / 10–90 Formula
Identify the three things you do in your work that account for 90% of your contribution and focus on getting them done before anything else. You will then have more time for your family and personal life. This formula can be seen as an extension to Pareto’s 80–20 rules which says 20% of our actions determine 80% of our results.
5. How To Set Priorities Using The ABCDE Method
The ABCDE Method is an effortless yet beneficial technique. Create a To-Do List and mark all the tasks as A, B, C, D, and E.
- “A” tasks are critical tasks that you must do, and there could be severe consequences if you do or don’t do them.
- “B” tasks are tasks that you should do but only have mild consequences.
- “C” tasks are tasks that would be nice to do, such as calling a friend, having lunch with a co-worker, etc., but don’t have any consequences either way to your work.
- “D” tasks are tasks that can be delegated to someone else.
- “E” tasks are tasks you can eliminate, and it won’t matter if you do.
If you have more than 1 “A” task, for example, number them “A-1”, “A-2”, and so on in order of importance. Then, when you start working on the tasks from your list, start with “A” or “A-1” and move through the list. Don’t work on “B” tasks until “A” tasks are complete.
6. Positive Procrastination
This is a behavioural shift which can make us much more productive. We have a habit of procrastinating and delaying the most important task of the day because generally, that task would take more time and effort. Instead of that we should procrastinate about the other non-important tasks and delay them. It can also be seen as an extension to ABCDE Rule. We should Procrastinate about B-E tasks until we don’t complete all our “A Tasks.”
Quotes from Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
…you cannot eat every tadpole and frog in the pond, but you can eat the biggest and ugliest one, and that will be enough, at least for the time being.
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
Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.
The law of Forced Efficiency says that There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.
Rule: It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters.
If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.
When everything is laid out neatly and in sequence, you will feel much more like getting on with the job.
Refuse to allow a weakness or a lack of ability in any area to hold you back. Everything is learnable. And what others have learned, you can learn as well.
About Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specialising in the training and development of individuals and organisations. Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada, and 70 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.
He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy, and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 70 books that have been translated into dozens of languages. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 28 languages.
Eat That Frog Brian Tracy Book Summary and Quotes to Stop Procrastinating
Originally published at idlebrains.org on February 23, 2019.
