EAT THAT FROG!

Quote from the Book

“No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you ever develop in a lifetime” (p.47)

The Author

Brian Tracy is one of America’s leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. He addresses over 250,000 people each year on the subjects of personal and professional development. Tracy is the author of the best-selling books Maximum Achievement and The 100 Absolute Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, as well as numerous best-selling audiocassette programs, including The Psychology of Achievement and How to Start and Succeed in Your Own Business.

Insights from the Book

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 is probably the worse thing 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. 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.

If You Have to Eat a Live Frog at all, it doesn’t pay to Sit and Look at it for Very Long. The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of “eating your frog” before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it. Take Action Immediately. Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete. “Failure to execute” is one of the biggest problems in organizations today. Many people confuse activity with accomplishment. They talk continually, hold endless meetings, and make wonderful plans, but in the final analysis, no one does the job and gets the results required.

Develop a Positive Addiction. You can actually develop a “positive addiction” to endorphins and to the feeling of enhanced clarity, confidence, and competence that they trigger. When you develop this addiction, you will, at an unconscious level, begin to organize your life in such a way that you are continually starting and completing ever more important tasks and projects. You will actually become addicted, in a very positive sense, to success and contribution. No Shortcuts Practice is the key to mastering any skill. Fortunately, your mind is like a muscle. It grows stronger and more capable with use. With practice, you can learn any behavior or develop any habit that you consider either desirable or necessary. What is your “frog?” What is the one task that you despise doing each day? Once you have chosen your “frog” make it a habit of waking up every morning and doing that task first.