Introduction :
• The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status and happiness in life.
• You are overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time. Because of this, you will never be able to do everything you have to do. You will never be caught up. You will always be behind in some of your tasks and responsibilities, and probably in many of them.
• An average person who develops the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed quickly will run circles around a genius who talks a lot and makes wonderful plans but who gets very little done.
• 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.
• The first rule of frog-eating is: "If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first." 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 key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is for you to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning.
• The more important the completed task, the happier, more confident and powerful you feel about yourself and your world.
Chapter 1 : Set The Table
• The greater clarity you have regarding what you want and the steps you will have to take to achieve it, the easier it will be for you to overcome procrastination, eat your frog and complete the task before you.
• A major reason for procrastination and lack of motivation is vagueness, confusion and fuzzy mindedness about what it is you are trying to do, and in what order and for what reason.
• One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.
• A goal or objective that is not in writing is merely a wish or a fantasy. It has no energy behind it.
• With a written goal and an organized plan of action, you will be far more productive and efficient than someone who is carrying his goals around in his mind.
• Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal.
Chapter 2 : Plan Every Day In Advance
• The good news is that every minute spent in planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution.
• As you work through the day, tick off the items on your list as you complete them. This activity gives you a visual picture of accomplishment.
Chapter 3 : Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything
• Each of these tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value as any of the others.
• Often, one item on a list of ten things that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.
• The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex.For this reason, you adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80% while you still have tasks in the top 20% left to be done.
• Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.
• The fact is that the amount of time required to complete an important job is often the same as the time required to do an unimportant job. The difference is that you get a tremendous feeling of pride and satisfaction from the completion of something valuable and significant. However, when you complete a low value task, using the same amount of time and energy, you get little or no satisfaction at all.
Chapter 4 : Consider the Consequences
• The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something.
• Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?".
• Motivation requires motive. The greater the positive potential impact that an action or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly, the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly.
• Obey the Law of Forced Efficiency : This law says that, "There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing."
• Sometimes the job actually takes much longer to complete when people rush to get the job done at the last minute and then have to redo it.
Chapter 5 : Practice Creative Procrastination
• Plan your daily workload in advance. Single out the relatively few small jobs that absolutely must be done immediately in the morning. Then go directly to the big tasks and pursue them to completion.”
• Put off eating smaller or less ugly frogs. Eat the biggest and ugliest frogs before anything else. Do the worst first!.
• Say "no" to anything that is not a high value use of your time and your life.
Chapter 6 : Use the ABCDE Method Continually
• You start with a list of everything you have to do for the coming day.
• You then place an A, B, C, D or E before each item on your list before you begin the first task.
• An "A" item is defined as something that is very important. This is something that you must do. This is a task for which there can be serious consequences if you do it or fail to do it, like visiting a key customer or finishing a report for your boss that she needs for an upcoming board meeting. These are the frogs of your life.
• If you have more than one "A" task, you prioritize these tasks by writing A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on in front of each item. Your A-1 task is your biggest, ugliest frog of all.
• A "B" item is defined as a task that you should do. But it only has mild consequences. These are the tadpoles of your work life.
• The rule is that you should never do a "B" task when there is an "A".
• A "C" task is defined as something that would be nice to do, but for which there are no consequences at all, whether you do it or not.
• A "D" task is defined as something you can delegate to someone else.
Chapter 7 : Focus On Key Result Areas
• A key result area is defined as something for which you are completely responsible. This means that if you don't do it, it doesn't get done. A key result area is an activity that is under your control. It is an output of your work that becomes an input or a contributing factor to the work of others.
• Once you have determined your key result areas, the second step is for you to grade yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each of those areas. Where are you strong and where are you weak? Where are you getting excellent results and where are you underperforming?
• What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?"
Chapter 8 : The Law of Three
• There are three core tasks that you perform that contain most of the value that you contribute to your business or organization. Your ability to accurately identify these three key tasks and then to focus on them most of the time is essential for you to achieve at your best.
• Ask, “If I could only do one thing all day long, which one task contributes the greatest value to my career?” Do this exercise two more times. Once you have identified your “Big Three” concentrate on them single mindedly all day long.
Chapter 9 : Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin
• One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is for you to have everything you need at hand before you begin.
• Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you only have one task in front of you. Gather all the information, reports, details, papers, and work materials that you will require to complete the job.
• The most productive people take the time to create a work area where they enjoy spending time. The cleaner and neater your work area before you begin, the easier it is for you to get started and keep going.
• My personal rule is “get it 80% right and then correct it later.” Don’t expect perfection the first time, or even the first few times.
• The only way to overcome your fears is to “do the thing you fear,”
Chapter 10 : Take It One Oil Barrel at A Time
• One of the best ways to overcome procrastination is for you to get your mind off the huge task in front of you and focus on a single action that you can take.
• All you had to do was to steer for the next oil barrel. As a result, we were able to cross the biggest desert in the world by simply taking it “one oil barrel at a time.”
• Select any goal, task or project in your life where you have been procrastinating and make a list of all the steps you will need to take to eventually complete the task. Then take just one step immediately.
Chapter 11 : Upgrade Your Key Skills
• If you're not getting better, you're getting worse.
• Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.”
• 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.
• First, read in your field for at least one hour every day. Get up a little earlier in the morning and read for 30-60 minutes in a book or magazine that contains information that can help you to be more effective and productive at what you do.
• Second, take every course and seminar available on key skills that can help you. Attend the conventions and business meetings of your profession or occupation. Go to the sessions and workshops. Sit up front and take notes. Purchase the audio recordings of the programs. Dedicate yourself to becoming one of the most knowledgeable and competent people in your field.
• Third, listen to audio programs in your car. You can become one of the smartest, most capable and highest paid people in your field simply by listening to educational audio programs as you drive around.
Chapter 12: Leverage Your Special Talents
• There are certain things that you can do, or that you can learn to do, that can make you extraordinarily valuable to yourself and to others.
• Your job is to identify your special areas of uniqueness and then to commit yourself to becoming very, very good in those areas.
• Successful people are invariably those who have taken the time to identify what they do well and most enjoy.
• Continually ask yourself these key questions: “What am I really good at? What do I enjoy the most about my work? What has been most responsible for my success in the past? If I could do any job at all, what job would it be?”
Chapter 13 : Identify Your Key Constraints
• Whatever you have to do, there is always a limiting factor that determines how quickly and well you get it done. Your job is to study the task and identify the limiting factor or constraint within it. You must then focus all of your energies on alleviating that single chokepoint.
• Successful people always begin the analysis of constraints by asking the question, "What is it in me that is holding me back?"
Chapter 14 : Put the Pressure on Yourself
• To reach your full potential, you must form the habit of putting the pressure on yourself, and not waiting for someone else to come along and do it for you.
• Make it a game with yourself to start a little earlier, work a little harder and stay a little later. Always look for ways to go the extra mile, to do more than you are paid for.
• Imagine each day that you have just received an emergency message and that you will have to leave town tomorrow for a month. If you had to leave town for a month, what would you absolutely make sure that you got done before you left? Whatever your answer, go to work on that task right now.
• By putting the pressure on yourself, you accomplish more and better tasks, faster than ever before. You become a high performance, high-achieving personality.
• Set deadlines and sub-deadlines on every task and activity. Create your own “forcing system.”
Chapter 15 : Maximize Your Personal Powers
• When you are fully rested, you can get two times, three times and five times as much done as when you are tired or burned out.
• A major reason for procrastination is fatigue, or attempting to start on a task when you are tired out.
• Take at least one full day off every week. During this day, either Saturday or Sunday, you must absolutely refuse to read, clear correspondence, catch up on things from the office or do anything else that taxes your brain. Instead, you go to a movie, exercise, spend time with your family, go for a walk or any activity that allows your brain to completely recharge itself.
• Take regular vacations each year, both long weekends and one and two-week breaks to rest and rejuvenate. You are always the most productive after a restful weekend or a vacation.
Chapter 16 : Motivate Yourself into Action
• To keep yourself motivated, you must resolve to become a complete optimist. You must determine to respond positively to the words, actions and reactions of the people and situations around you.
• Your level of self-esteem, how much you like and respect yourself, is central to your levels of motivation and persistence.
• Say things like, "I like myself! I like myself!" over and over until you begin to believe it and behave like a person with a high performance personality.
• It turns out that optimists have three special behaviors, all learned through practice and repetition. First, optimists look for the good in every situation. No matter what goes wrong, they always look for something good or beneficial. And not surprisingly, they always seem to find it.
• Second, optimists always seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. They believe that , ”difficulties come not to obstruct, but to instruct.” They believe that each setback or obstacle contains a valuable lesson they can learn and grow from, and they are determined to find it.
• Third, optimists always look for the solution to every problem.
• When you continually visualize your goals and ideals and talk to yourself in a positive way, you feel more focused and energized.
Chapter 17 : Get Out Of the Technological Time Sinks
• For you to stay calm, clear headed and capable of performing at your best, you need to detach on a regular basis from the technology and communication devices that can overwhelm you if you are not careful.
• I realized that, just because somebody sends me an email, it does not mean that they own a piece of my life in terms of my having to reply to them, now or ever.
• Resist the urge to start turning on communication devices as soon as you wake up in the morning.
• If something important happens in your life, the country or the world, someone else can spend hours following the news for you, and they will usually tell you on the first possible occasion.
Chapter 18 : Slice and dice the task
• A major reason for procrastinating on big, important tasks is that they appear so large and formidable when you first approach them.
• One technique that you can use to cut a big task down to size.
• Psychologically, you will find it easier to do a single, small piece of a large project than to start on the whole job.
Chapter 19 : Create Large Chunks of Time
• Successful salespeople set aside a specific time period each day to phone prospects. Rather than procrastinating or delaying on a task that they don’t particularly like, they resolve that they will phone for one solid hour between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. They then discipline themselves to follow through on their resolutions.
• The key to the success of this method of working in specific time segments is for you to plan your day in advance and specifically schedule a fixed time period for a particular activity or task.
• One of the best work habits of all is for you to get up early and work at home in the morning for several hours. You can get three times as much work done at home without interruptions as you ever could in a busy office where you are surrounded by people and bombarded by phone calls.
• Make every minute count. Work steadily and continuously without diversion or distraction by planning and preparing your work in advance.
Chapter 20 : Develop A Sense of Urgency
• “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
• When you work on your most important tasks at a high and continuous level of activity, you can actually enter into an amazing mental state called "flow." Almost everyone has experienced this at some time. Really successful people are those who get themselves into this state far more often than the average.
• This principle says that although it may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get started initially, it then takes far less energy to keep going.
• A sense of urgency shifts you automatically onto the fast track in your career. The faster you work and the more you get done, the higher will be your levels of self-esteem, self-respect and personal pride. You feel in complete control of your life and your work.
• When you see an opportunity or a problem, take action on it immediately. When you are given a task or responsibility, do it quickly and report back fast. Move rapidly in every important area of your life.
Chapter 21 : Single Handle Every Task
• Single handling requires that once you begin, you keep working at the task, without diversion or distraction, until the job is 100% complete. You keep urging yourself onward by repeating the words "Back to work!" over and over whenever you are tempted to stop or do something else.
• Elbert Hubbard defined self discipline as, "The ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."
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