“I wish I had more time to finish the project.” ”I can’t possibly get all these things done.” Sound familiar? Whether it’s at home or the work, we’re constantly pushed by an insane amount of things to do. But we don’t have the time to do them well enough, and so we get frustrated. Know the feeling? The good news is, it won’t take a life overhaul to get more things done. You just have to be a bit more productive and perform at a higher level. That’s what this book is about. It shows how to overcome procrastination, and the core message is to eat the frog, in other words, do the most difficult and important task first. And when you complete the hardest task first. You train yourself to stay on the road to success.
Let's look at the three key lessons from the book that can help us to be more productive and get more things done.
Key lesson #1: Every successful goal starts with a plan.
Assume there are so many works to do and you feel overwhelmed. How do you get started when you have to tackle everything? Before you do anything, you have to first define your goals. You can't work unless you know what you have to do. It's a good idea to write your goals down instead of trying to sort them out in your head. Then you can break your goals down into a series of steps and make a list of things you should do. Studies show that simply working from a list, will boost your productivity by 25 percent. After creating the list, use the 80-20 rule to identify the most important task. The 80-20 rule says that every list of 10 tasks includes two that are much more important than the others. Focus on those two first. Most people focus on the easy things first, the 80 percent, and procrastinate on the 20 percent that really matters.
Key lesson #2: Establish your priorities and focus on them.
Now that you have the list of tasks that you should complete, focus on doing it efficiently. How? You need to set priorities. The ABCDE method is a useful tool here. In your list assign each task a letter from A to E. The A items are the highest priority while the E items can be skipped if you don't have time. Now, the A tasks, which are probably the most challenging ones, are your frogs, eat them first. Completing your A tasks first is the key to success. Don't stop until your work is done.
Key lesson #3: Acknowledge what's holding you back, then overcome it.
Planning for success is certainly easier than achieving it, and in your journey, you'll face obstacles that you didn't expect. How can you overcome them? First, figure out what's holding you back? It could be certain people, lack of resources, or anything. But be careful here, because it's so easy to blame external things for your failures. Be aware that the most powerful forces that hold you back are internal ones. Here is the trick to use. Imagine you just learned you are going on a surprise vacation tomorrow. What would you have to do before leaving? Those are the tasks you should take care of right away. Make a habit of this and you'll find yourself eating the frog regularly.
If you follow these lessons, 1- writing down your goals, 2-setting priorities, and 3-completing the most important tasks first, then you will join the two percent of people who work without needing supervision. They are called leaders. All you need to do is to identify the frogs and eat them.
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