Bet you'd never have guessed that I am a master at the art of procrastination.
I've spent many years honing the ability to get things done with the least amount of effort possible and in the process, learned to put things aside until the last minute possible… especially those items that qualify as ‘hard (or harder) to do'.
Despite defined goals and deadlines, I can spend hours, days and weeks pursuing rather mindless tasks (email reading, site tweaking, Facebook, etc.), and then suddenly find myself ‘under the gun' to complete a project that I've not yet started.
Does that sound like you? Have you mastered procrastination? Are you ever-prepared with the ready explanation that you “work better under pressure”?
I used to believe that too, until a girlfriend alerted me to the ‘eat that frog!' concept.
There's an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you’ll do all day.
Using “eat that frog” as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day – the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also probably the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life.
I've been discovering that it works like a charm. Especially now that it's summer, getting the ‘hard part' done and out of the way so the best part of the day is reserved for fun is a super incentive.
And so you too can enjoy more fun this summer, I've reprinted an excerpt from Brian Tracy's ‘Eat that Frog' below which includes a powerful 7-step formula for setting and achieving goals that you can use not only this summer but for the rest of your life.
You'll not only get more done faster, but you'll get the right things done.
Here is a great rule for success:
Think on paper.
Only about 3 percent of adults have clear, written goals. These people accomplish five or ten times as much as people of equal or better education and ability but who, for whatever reason, have never taken the time to write out exactly what they want.
There is a powerful formula for setting and achieving goals that you can use for the rest of your life. It consists of seven simple steps. Any of these steps can double and triple your productivity if you are not currently using it.
- Decide exactly what you want. Either decide for yourself or sit down with your boss and discuss your goals and objectives until you are crystal clear about what is expected of you and in what order of priority.
- Write it down. Think on paper. When you write down a goal, you crystallize it and give it a tangible form. You create something that you can touch and see. On the other hand, a goal or objective that is not in writing is merely a wish or a fantasy. It has no energy behind it.
- Set a deadline on your goal; set sub-deadlines if necessary. A goal or decision without a deadline has no urgency. It has no real beginning or end. Without a definite deadline, you will naturally procrastinate and get very little done.
- Make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. As you think of new activities, add them to your list. Keep building your list until it is complete. A list gives you a visual picture of the larger task or objective. It gives you a track to run on.
- Organize the list into a plan. Organize your list by priority and sequence. Take a few minutes to decide what you need to do first and what you can do later. With a written goal and an organized plan of action, you will be far more productive and efficient than people who are carrying their goals around in their minds.
- Take action on your plan immediately. Do something. Do anything. An average plan vigorously executed is far better than a brilliant plan on which nothing is done.
- Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal. Build this activity into your daily schedule. You may decide to read a specific number of pages on a key subject. You may call on a specific number of prospects or customers. You may engage in a specific period of physical exercise. Whatever it is, you must never miss a day.
Keep pushing forward. Once you start moving, keep moving. Don't stop. This decision, this discipline alone, can dramatically increase your speed of goal accomplishment and boost your personal productivity.
Eat That Frog! is a fast read that is rich in practical advice that will help you stop procrastinating and get more done in less time.
Eat That Frog shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day.
You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done. In his trademark high-energy style, acclaimed speaker and best-selling author Brian Tracy cut to the core of what is vital to effective personal time management: decision, discipline, and determination. He details twenty-one practical and doable steps that will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important tasks done- today!
Related: 7 Obstacles to Success
Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please post it below!
Cheers,
Hello Rosalind,
Happy New Year to you!
I know first-hand from experience that with deadlines comes the urgency to prioritze and use a stick to it thinking. I really agree with your thinking on this post since it does influence one’s thinking when it comes to tasks at hand and the strong need to finish the project in a timely fashion once initiated.
I hope you read this response even though I am responding to an old post but still the content of this article has a great deal of relevancy all year long.
Thank you.
Hi Sue,
Happy New Year to you as well.
I agree. I think it’s a good article to re-read at least once a year, or more in my case. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Ros.
Here’s an extract on Procrastination from my “Million Dollar Success Formula for Would-Be Entrepreneurs.”
“How to Overcome Procrastination and
Get More Done in Less Time”
By John Jude O’Callaghan
After thinking about the universal problem of how to get more done in less time, in 1955, British economist Cyril Northcote Parkinson, formulated a Universal Law that gets to the root of the problem:
Work Expands to Fill the Time Available For Its Completion
The moment I heard his explanation I knew it was true.
At that time I was working in a British engineering factory where you got paid by the number of hours you worked. I clocked in at 7.30 AM and clocked out at 5.30 PM.
If it was 3.30 PM on a Friday afternoon and I knew I could finish the job in hand by 4.30 PM, instead of starting a new job and working on it until 5.30 PM, I invariable took two hours to complete the job I could normally complete in one hour.
I simply dragged the work out to fill the time available!
For Example:
If you are ambitious and one of your goals is to write a novel about all the interesting people you have met and all the interesting things you have done so far, and you don’t impose a deadline, how long do you think it might take you to finish your novel?
Since you are under no pressure and have no self-imposed deadline, the strong likelihood is that you will never get around to finishing it, and that you will most likely die with your great story unfinished, untold and unpublished.
And, not only will you be poorer; the world will also be a poorer place because of it!
But what if, instead of always intending to finish your novel one day, you were to write a 7-page chapter in one week, plus a synopsis of what the rest of your novel was about, and sent it to a likely publisher.
What if the publisher loved it and sent you a contract with a deadline for completion and an offer of a $20,000 advance toward Royalty payments. Do you think that might encourage you to finish your novel PDQ?
Even if you don’t aspire to write a book, no doubt there are at least lots of other things you intend doing, one day, when you can find the time.
But, what if, instead of giving yourself a long list of things to do, you were to make it just “3-Things to Do Today” and numbered them in critical order of importance? And, you determined to finish task #1 before moving on to the next?
The likelihood is that most of the things that didn’t get done were not that important anyway.
Or, if they were important, maybe you could outsource them, meaning, pay someone $10 an hour to do them for you?
The Quick and Easy Way to Overcome Indecision
Use the proven Benjamin Franklin Method:
• Start with a blank sheet of notepaper and draw a straight line down the middle.
• Put a heading at one side FOR and a heading AGAINST at the other side.
• List the entire pro’s and con’s as appropriate.
• Give each entry a numerical value of one to three depending on how important you think it is.
• Add the numbers in each category. If one side is an obvious winner, go with that.
• If there is no clear winner, consider what you might lose by not making a decision.
• And what if you do make a mistake? No big deal. At least you will have discovered something that does not work!
_________________________________________________
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” Samuel Smiles.
Hi John,
Thank you for the article. I think it would make a great blog post!! Would you like it to be a guest post on this blog?
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Rosalind,
Thanks for the post on “Eat The Frog”. I think I’ve fallen into that trap more times than I can count. My reasoning for doing so is simply that I’m trying to time or plan a project. You know even the best of plans tend to go awry. However, from reading your posts; you come across as an organized and timely person with all your projects/work.
As always, I enjoy reading your posts. Have a great summer!
Right on – it’s the thought that counts, and the thought is good. In addition to all the above, I’ve often found that after I’ve “eaten my frog,” it usually wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, some of the frogs have been pretty darn good, once I got on the stick and got moving.
Thanks,
Dan
However it works best for you is BEST.
Thank you for the advice. I’ve never tried it. But I think it is more a simple matter of divering onto smaller less important actions like bookmarking and browsing and emails and blog commenting (cough), as opposed to sitting down to put a little bit of mental effort into creating some original content.
I’m a master procrastinator also. When I feel a bout of procrasination coming on, I just tell myself something that I heard at a sales seminar years ago, “successful people do the things that other people aren’t willing to do”. This little sentence gets me moving.
Hi Craig,
Yup, that’s a powerful one and so, SO true!!!!
Ros
Somehow this doesn’t suit me.
I put the most important tasks in the morning so I have a fresh mind when doing it. I become more productive as the result.
Even if the day turns haywire, I still am happy because I have the most something done.
Will you be able to do the rest if you eat a frog in the morning? I know it’s a metaphor. I also know I have to eat that, even if I choose to procrastinate, but I have another method to overcome procrastination. 🙂
Great article though, I just don’t like the metaphor.
Live a little Hendry… what’s wrong with frogs? 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
(Actually, I don’t eat ’em either… they’re WAY too cute.)
This is one of the best blog posts I have ever read. It is said so exactly and so simply. Yes it describes me to the bone. I was just thinking about this phenomena an hour ago, and actually a lot recently.
I get up, I read my emails, I check out some new outsourcing products, I comment on blogs, I Digg, I Stumble, I do some keyword research, I get another email … and then the day is done and I never did the most important task which was to write some website content on organic fruits! (or whatever).
I also had the idea of making it my first action of every day to sit down and write some unique content. The ironic part is I have been a writer since the age of 8 and I am not bad at writing content, it isn’t even hard. But do I DO it? Um, yeah, some …
This just reinforces what I thought earlier and I am going to really try to push myself to write more content or do my most important tasks at the start of each day. Thank you!
Anna,
Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
I totally get the bit about being a writer since the age of 8… I think some of us are born writers, but stil find it hard to get up and going at it. Whatever works for you… find it and make it work. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
Good advice, Ros:)
I was actually thinking that -in my case- procrastination was linked to not having found my passion, or better said, my vocation in life… but slowly and steadily i come to realize that… well, it’s just laziness….
Funny how i put it at third person: IT’s, instead of I’M lazy…
Cata