Eat that frog!
- 1. Eat That Frog! Stop Procrastinating! Get More Done in Less Time
- 2. We’re swamped! You will never be caught up There will always be “too many” work and personal responsibilities: a stack of magazines or a pile of books that you mean to get to, appointments to make, calls to place, cars to maintain, houses to clean/upkeep, kids to take care of, a boss to please, people to see, places to go, things to do…
- 3. Time Mgt. Helps, But… No matter how much you increase your productivity, you will never be caught up. You’ll always be behind in some of your personal responsibilities and tasks…. Sometimes all of them!
- 4. SUCCESS SECRET… Select your most important task at each moment Get it done both quickly and well Key to great success, achievement, status and happiness in life = The ability to concentrate on this one task, single mindedly, to do it well, and to finish it completely.
- 5. Go ahead, eat the frog! "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 worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!" --Mark Twain
- 6. Got a FROG? The biggest and most important task The one you’re most likely to procrastinate The one that can have the greatest impact on your success
- 7. Your choice… Pick the ugly one!
- 8. Mmmmmmmmm… Don’t sit and look at it! It only gets uglier Develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. Frog legs, anyone?
- 9. Action Orientation… Consistently proven to be the key to success. You are paid to make a contribution. Failure to execute = most common reason for failure. 95% of your success will be determined by the kind of action habits you develop over time.
- 10. Improve Your Efficiency Consistently proven to be the key to success. You are paid to make a contribution. Failure to execute = most common reason for failure. 95% of your success will be determined by the kind of action habits you develop over time.
- 11. SUCCESS SECRET You can develop a positive addiction to endorphins and to the feelings of enhanced clarity and confidence that they trigger. Begin to organize your life to beginning and completing your most important tasks at a subconscious level. This behavior takes on a power of its own. You find it easier to complete important tasks than it is NOT to complete them.
- 12. 3 Key Qualities for Efficiency Decision Discipline Determination The 3 D’s
- 13. Definiteness of Purpose Napoleon Hill: There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose – the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to achieve it. Fuzziness leads to FAILURE
- 14. RULE NUMBER 1 THINK – ON - PAPER 3% of adults have written goals Accomplish 5-10X more
- 15. 7 Steps / Power Formula Step 1 = Decide exactly what you want. Get crystal clear. Step 2 = Write it down! Create something that you can touch and see. (avoid wish or fantasy syndrome) Step 3 = Set a deadline on your goal / sub deadlines if necessary. Step 4 = Make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. Visual picture. DRAMATICALLY increases likelihood you’ll get it done. Step 5 = Organize the list into a plan by priority and sequence. Lay it out visually with boxes and arrows, if possible. Break it down into individual tasks. Step 6 = Take action on your plan immediately! Do something. Do anything! An average plan brilliantly executed is far better than a brilliant plan where nothing is being done. Step 7 = Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal. Build this activity into your daily schedule. EX: Read a chapter, call X prospects, exercise X minutes, organize one shelf, etc.
- 16. Planning “Action without planning is the cause of every failure.” – Alex MacKenzie GOALS are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. Review them DAILY – 2X/day Don’t stare at your frog all day – EAT IT FIRST THING!
- 17. Plan every day in advance Your ability to set goals, make plans and take action on them determines the course of your life. A measure of your overall competence. Save yourself 1-2 hours throughout your day.
- 19. 10/90 RULE The first 10% you spend planning saves you 90% of the time to get it done.
- 20. 4 Lists Master Monthly Weekly Daily Lay out major goals by priority. Start with the end in mind. Work backwards. Think on paper.
- 21. 80/20 Rule to Everything "We always have time enough, if we will but use it right! “ -- Goethe Pareto Principle 80/20 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results Most people (80% trivial many) never eat their whole FROG
- 22. SUCCESS RULE Resist the temptation to clear up small things first! Whatever you do over and over becomes a lifelong habit that eventually becomes very difficult to break. When you consistently procrastinate the “Frog”, you develop the habit of completing LOW VALUE tasks first. Is this the kind of habit you want to develop????
- 23. Time Management = Life Management Exercises: 1. List all key goals, activities, projects, responsibilities in your life today. Determine which are the top 10-20% that represent 80-90% of your results. 2. Spend more of your time in those few areas that can make a difference, and less in lower value activities.
- 24. Long Term Thinking Mark of a superior person = ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something. “What if I DON’T do this?” Long time perspective is the single most accurate predictor of upward socio and economic mobility in America.
- 25. SUCCESS RULE Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making! Successful people have a clear future orientation. Having a good idea what you want to accomplish in the long term makes it easier for you to set your priorities in your short term. Important tasks = long term impact.
- 26. SUCCESS RULE Review Successful people delay gratification. Ex: coming to work earlier, focusing on high value tasks, reading books in your fields, work late vs. socializing at the water cooler Unsuccessful people think more about short-term pleasure without much thought to the future.
- 27. ACTION EXERCISE Review your list of tasks, activities, and projects regularly and ask yourself: "Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?"
- 28. Practice Creative Procrastination Say “NO” to anything not of high value Set priorities (do it now or soon) and posteriorties (do it later or never) Decide what you will NOT do now. List everything you have to do for the coming day.
- 29. Continually Review Creative Procrastination = contributes to your success You can only get your life and your time to the degree that your discontinue LOW VALUE activities.
- 30. Ask Yourself… “What can I put off now until my more important goals are achieved?”
- 31. The “ABCDE” Method “The first law of success is concentration – to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right or to the left.” --William Mathews A= Major Consequences B = Mildly Important / Tadpoles C = Nice to do D = Delegate E = Eliminate
- 32. SUCCESS RULE NEVER do a “B” Task before you complete your “A” Task for the day
- 33. SUCCESS RULE Every minute spent on an E task is time away from the important, life altering tasks.
- 34. Key to Success When you begin to continuously tackle your “A” Tasks first, you will see yourself getting more done than most people around you.
- 35. Focus on “Key Result Areas” “When every physical and mental resource is focused, one’s power to solve a problem multiplies tremendously.” -- Norman Vincent Peale Ask Yourself…. Why are you on the payroll? What are my highest value activities? What can I, and only I do that, if done well, will really make a difference?
- 36. Key Result Area An activity that YOU are totally responsible for. Major contributing factor to you and others’ success. When you complete it, it triggers activities of others.
- 37. Key Result Area Grade Yourself on Key Result Areas Your weakest sets the standard at which you can use all your other skills and abilities You can be exceptional at all but one, but your poor performance in that area will act as a DRAG on your total results Holds you back from using all your other skills
- 38. Do you stink at it? Most people put off, or avoid all together, tasks they feel they’re not great at. Improve this one FIRST The better you become at it, the more motivated you will be to get it done!
- 39. Law of Forced Efficiency 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. Your most powerful thinking tool for success is your ability to discriminate between one priority and another.
- 40. The Law of Three Three core tasks that you perform that contribute to most of your value. For Example: • Lead Generation • Converting • Follow-up
- 41. Got a big frog? Remember to ask, “What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, will have the GREATEST POSITIVE IMPACT on my success?” Do first things first and second things not at all. "The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least." -- Goethe
- 42. Prepare Thoroughly Have everything you need before you begin Clear your desk ONE task in front of you at a time Los Angeles Times reporter on Wilshire Boulevard interviewed passers by...he asked them one question: "How is your script coming?" Three out of four passersby replied, "Almost done!" Translation: “Not started yet!”
- 43. Prepare Thoroughly Look at your desk or office and ask… “What kind of person works in an environment like that?” • Is it Effective, Efficient, Ready?
- 44. Do Your Homework “The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.” -- Og Mandino Learn what you need to learn so you can do your work in an excellent fashion. Upgrade your skills
- 45. Continuous Learning “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” -- Pat Riley Minimum Requirement Become a “Do-it-yourself” project The more you learn, the more you can learn – build your learning muscle.
- 46. Leverage Your Talents What are you really good at? What do I enjoy most? What has been most responsible for your success in the past?
- 47. ID Your Key Constraints What’s holding you back? Why aren’t you at your goal already? Why don’t you eat your frog?
- 48. Your Limiting Factor Concentrate your mental energies on it. It’s always there It’s your job to find it It’s your job to fix it 80/20 Rule – 80% of your limiting factors are INTERNAL = Your personal qualities, abilities, habits, actions, competencies 20% are external
- 49. Snack on your FROG “Slice and dice” it. “By the yard it’s hard; but inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!” Get your mind off the HUGE task Go as far as you can see Then you’ll see far enough to go further
- 50. Snack on your FROG Financial independence achieved by putting a bit aside over time, month by month. Physical fitness achieved by eating a little less and exercising a little more, day by day, week after week. Take one step to get started…..THE START IS THE HARDEST PART.
- 51. Put the Pressure on Yourself No one is coming to your rescue! Take Charge!!! Only 2% of people can work without supervision. We call them LEADERS.
- 52. Choose Your Own Frog… …and make yourself eat it! You build up or pull down your reputation with yourself with everything you do. Accomplish great things – feel great! Remember “The day before vacation?” Raise your own bar.
- 53. Maximize Your Personal Powers Get plenty of rest Tackle your frog in times of high energy Take one full day off each week. Recharge. Take Vacations. The better you feel, the less you procrastinate.
- 54. Become Your Own Cheerleader Coach yourself 95% of your emotions, positive or negative, are determined by how you talk to yourself on a minute to minute basis. Become a complete optimist Boost your own self-esteem "I can do it! I can do it!" “I feel terrific!”
- 55. Optimists Look for the good in every situation Seek the lesson in every setback Look for the solution to every problem Accept complete responsibility
- 56. A Work in Progress Realize that you’re always growing and changing. Dedicate yourself to developing the habits of high productivity by practicing them repeatedly until they become automatic and easy. “Just for today.”
- 57. Create Large Chunks of Time Commit to work at scheduled times on large tasks. Most of the really important work you do requires large chunks of unbroken time to complete. Carving out these blocks of high value, highly productive time, is central to your ability to make a significant contribution to your work and to your life.
- 58. Make Every Minute Count When you’re “at work”, WORK Don’t dilly-dally Jump into the business of eating your frog OOOOOOhhhh, that thing’s ugly!
- 59. 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.” -- Napoleon Hill Urgency = An inner desire and drive to get it done fast. Fast Tempo Get in the FLOW Work steadily and smoothly
- 60. Activate the Momentum Principle It may take tremendous amounts of energy to overcome inertia and get going initially, but it then takes far less energy to keep going. The faster you move, the more energy you have. Shifts you to the fast track “Do it now!”, “Do it now!”, “Do it now!”
- 61. Just eat it already! Once you’ve decided on your Number ONE task, anything else that you do other than that is a waste of time. Self-discipline, self-mastery and self- control are the building blocks of character and high performance.