“Eat That Frog” is a helpful book that teaches you how to manage your time better and avoid procrastination. By focusing on your most important tasks and completing them first, also known as “eating your frogs,” you can boost your productivity and feel more fulfilled with your work.
We all have a lot going on in our lives, whether it’s at home or work. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and frustrated when we can’t seem to get everything done. This book is a great resource if you can relate.
The good news is, you don’t need to completely overhaul your life to become more productive. By simply learning how to prioritize and tackle your biggest tasks first, you can take control of your to-do list and get more done. This book will teach you how to do just that.
You do not have to read the entire book if you don’t have time. This book review provides an overview of everything you can learn from it.
Table of Contents
Key Insights
Lesson 1: Prioritize your goals with the ABCDE method
So you know what you want to achieve, but how do you go about achieving it efficiently? The answer lies in setting your priorities. To do this, you need to think about the consequences of your actions and what you want to achieve in the long term. Research has shown that people who envision how they’ll feel in the future are more likely to make better everyday decisions.
The ABCDE method is a useful tool to help you stick to your priorities. Simply write a list of tasks and assign each of them a letter from A to E. A tasks are the highest priority, while E tasks can be skipped if you don’t have time. For example, finishing watching the behind-the-scenes section of your Star Wars DVD might be an E task, while editing your resume and applying for new jobs would be an A task.
When reviewing your to-do list, focus on the A tasks first, even if they seem challenging. These are your frogs, and eating them first is the key to success. Concentrate all your willpower on completing your goals, and don’t stop until the work is done.
For instance, if your highest priority is applying for a new job, gather your recommendations, refine your CV, and comb through your network for any good connections. Concentrate on the task at hand and avoid distractions like social media. Remember, accomplishing your A tasks first is the key to success.
Lesson 2. Maximize your productivity
Productivity is more than just good planning; it’s an ongoing learning process. To be productive, you need to create the right environment, identify your unique skill set, and constantly improve through learning. Here are some tips to help you maximize your productivity:
Create the Right Environment: Find a space that allows you to think and be yourself. Make sure it’s clean and comfortable.
Have Everything You Need: Make sure you have all the necessary tools and resources to accomplish your tasks. Just like cooking, you can’t start without all the ingredients.
Identify Your Unique Skill Set: Everyone has a special talent that sets them apart. Identify yours by asking yourself what comes easy to you that’s difficult for others.
Maximize Your Skill Potential: Once you’ve identified your skill, refine and improve it constantly. Never stop learning, and take advantage of every opportunity to do so.
Constant Learning: Being productive is a journey of self-improvement that requires constant adaptation and learning. Listening to audio programs while driving can be a great way to improve your language skills or learn something new.
Lesson 3: Maintain optimism and self-discipline
Success doesn’t come easy, it requires discipline and training. Taking care of yourself, both physically and mentally, is crucial to achieving success. Just like a machine, your body functions better when it’s well-maintained and energized.
However, it’s important to avoid exhausting yourself as productivity starts to decline after eight hours of continuous work. So, make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep every night and figure out what time of day you’re most productive.
Self-motivation is key to becoming a successful individual. Your thoughts have a great impact on your emotions, so be your own supporter. Positive thinking can make you more confident and creative, so strive for optimism even in the face of setbacks.
Creative procrastination is also an important aspect of self-discipline. This means deliberately postponing less important tasks like watching TV, and focusing on more important ones. Efficient people prioritize their tasks, while postponing or eliminating the less important ones.
Lesson 4: Acknowledge and overcome your obstacles
Success isn’t easy to achieve, and obstacles are bound to arise along the way. However, it’s important to remember that we hold both external and internal factors responsible for our limitations. While it’s easy to blame external forces, we must also acknowledge our own weaknesses and lack of skills or experience.
To overcome these obstacles, we must take things one step at a time. By focusing on one task at a time and gradually improving, we can steadily progress towards our goals. It’s important to set high standards for ourselves and be our own source of motivation.
One way to stay on track is by using a simple trick – imagine that you’re going on a surprise vacation tomorrow and make a list of everything you need to do before leaving. These tasks should be tackled right away. By making this a habit, we can develop the discipline to consistently “eat the frog” and get things done.
By consistently working towards our goals, we can become leaders who don’t need constant supervision. So don’t let obstacles hold you back – take things one step at a time and become the best version of yourself.
Lesson 5: Improve your time management skills to gain better control over your schedule
Have you ever felt like you’re drowning in tasks and not having enough time to do everything you need to? If so, you’re not alone. One key to being productive is time management.
Unfortunately, not every task can be split up into smaller parts. Sometimes, the biggest tasks require long stretches of unbroken attention. For instance, a successful salesperson can’t always be on the floor. They need to set aside a lot of time for calling clients and gathering feedback from them.
To manage your time effectively, it’s useful to keep a clear map of the day in your mind. If you’re struggling, start making appointments with yourself and stick to them. You can break your day down into time slots, like “9:00 – 12:00: Follow up with prospects.”
Another tip is to dedicate your early morning hours to work you can do alone, like handling emails. Save other tasks for the afternoon when the office is busier. But don’t wait too long before taking action. You can only experience the mental state of flow when you’re consistently working.
Flow is when ideas come easily, and you perform better and more easily. You can enter a state of flow when you develop a sense of urgency about the task you need to perform. Don’t just talk about it – act now and get it done. This is where the phrase “eat that frog” comes in.
By tackling the most challenging task first, you’ll gradually gain an inner drive that pushes you beyond your current limits.
Praise
1. Practical Guide to Getting Important Tasks Done
The book is an effective guide to help readers get their most important tasks done and increase productivity. Tracy introduces the concept of “eating the frog,” which means tackling the most challenging task first, to help readers achieve their goals.
Throughout the book, Tracy outlines various ways to go about doing this and the benefits of doing so. He also shares different techniques such as the 80/20 rule, Law of Three, and ABCDE method to help readers prioritize tasks and improve productivity.
2. Applicable to Various Areas of Life
Although the book is mostly focused on work, business, sales, and financial success, there are general productivity ideas that could apply to every area in life. For example, if your health and fitness are most important to you, then working out first thing in the morning could be your “frog.” Tracy’s concepts of prioritization and focus can be applied to any area of life to help you achieve your goals.
3. Short, Accessible, and No Wasted Space
The book is a quick read, with only 145 pages and each chapter being the length of an article. Tracy’s writing is clear and concise, and there is no fluff. The new edition includes two extra chapters on how to use technology to remind yourself of what is most important and protect yourself from what is least important and advice for maintaining focus in the modern era of constant distractions. Overall, the book is an accessible primer on the fundamentals of productivity, prioritization, organization, and focus.
Criticism
1. Disjointed Collection of Loosely Related Tips
One of the major drawbacks of the book is that it reads like a disjointed collection of loosely related blog posts that have been stitched together into a book. Although the book is a quick read with 21 short chapters, some of the advice seems dated and cheesy. This may be due to the fact that the book is a compilation of Tracy’s favorite bits of advice he has written over decades.
2. Conflicting Advice
Another issue with the book is that it contains conflicting advice. Some chapters advise readers to work harder and be the first and last to leave the office, while others encourage readers to prioritize family and not work too hard. This can be confusing and may make readers uncertain about which advice to follow.
3. Limited Applicability
The book is primarily geared towards business people and may not be applicable to readers in other professions or stages of life. The advice may not be useful for stay-at-home parents or individuals who have not yet started their own businesses. Although the book provides practical tips for being more productive, it may not offer deep discussions on the topic.
Conclusion
Eat That Frog is a book that teaches you how to get your most important tasks done, stay motivated, and increase your productivity. The author’s catchy phrase, “if you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first,” means that you should tackle your toughest tasks first thing in the morning. This helps you feel accomplished and energized for the rest of your day.
The book is written in an easy-to-understand way and offers several practical concepts, including the 80/20 Rule, the Law of Three, and the ABCDE Method. These principles help you focus on the tasks that provide the biggest payoff for your time and effort. Give it a read and start eating those frogs!
Brian Tracy is the chairman and CEO of his own company, which provides insightful training to help individuals and corporations achieve their goals. Tracy has worked with thousands of organizations all over the world. He has written over 80 books in which he shares his knowledge, and he also offers a variety of seminars and courses on self-development.
Eat That Frog Quotes
“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.”
“The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you seem to be naturally motivated to continue.”
“Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.”
“People who take a long view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought to the future.”
Buy The Book: Eat That Frog
If you want to buy the book Eat That Frog, you can get it from the following links:
