Notes on 'Eat that frog!

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Motivation requires motive.

Obey the law of forced efficiency.

There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. Just try to be on top of your most
important responsibilities.

Get a job well done in advance of the deadline or add 20% time for insurance on to activities.

Maximum productivity questions:

1. What are my highest value activities, what are the biggest frogs you have to eat to make the
biggest contributions?
2. What can I do and if done well, will make a real difference (Peter Drucker) What can I and
only I do? What is this frog for me?
3. What is the most valuable use of my time right now? What is my biggest frog of all in this
moment?

Do first things first and second things not at all.

Review list of task, respobilites and projects regularly, which project will have the greatest positive
consequences for me

What is the most important thing I could be doing every hour of every day and then discipline to
prioritise this. Goethe - only engage and the mind begins it and the work will be achieved.

Plan daily workload in advance. Got to biggest tasks and pursue them to completion. Do the worst
first.

Decide to procrastinate on low value activities.

Priorities versus posteriorities.

Priority - do more of and sooner

Posteriority - do less of and later, if at all

You can only get time and life to the degree you can discontinue low value activities. Say no regularly
as a time management technique. You have no spare time.

Procrastinate on purpose on low value tasks so that you have more time on tasks that make a bigger
impact, then continually review your responsibilities to identify tasks you can abandon them without
ongoing loss.

Cut down on tv and internet, do things that enhance your life instead.

1. Practice zero based thinking - if I were not doing this already, would I start doing it again,
knowing what I now know. Creative procrastination
2. Evaluate activities to abandon or deliberately put off until more important goals are
achieved.

Concentration - go directly to that point. ABCDE method

Start with a list of everything you have to do for that day, think on paper, place ABCDE oneach
item before you start the tasks

A: very important, must-do tasks, serious consequences if you fail to do it. Prioritise by writing
A1 A2 A3, A1 tasks are the biggest frogs

B: Should versus Must tasks - only mild consequences. Never do a B task when an A task need to

C: Nice to do but there are no consequences whether you do them or not.

D: Delegate to another - delegate to free up more time for the A tasks that only you can do.

E: Eliminate altogether

After using this method, you will be more organised.

Take action immediately, discipline yourself to stay on A tasks, use willpower to get going and
stay going.

Eating frogs, you will get more done than others.

Review work list right now and use ABCDE method. Start A1 project and discipline yourself until
it's complete. Practice ABCDE method every day for a month, after a month a habit will have
been developed.

Focus on Key Result areas, this helps to power problem-solving abilities.

You’ve been hired to get results. Job can be broken down, these represent the result you have to
get to fulfil responsibilities and contribute to the organisation/service.

Key result - something for which you are completely responsible, under your control and
produces an output that contributes to input into service.

Key results area in Management - Planning, organising, staffing, delegating, supervising,

measuring and reporting

Sales: Prospecting, building trust, identifying needs, persuading/negotiating, closing deal.

Clarity is essential.

Grade yourself 1-10 in each key area, where are you strong or weak?

Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can reach with other skills, the
weakness will act as a drag on everything else.

Poor performance produces procrastination.

 What one skill if I developed in an excellent fashion would have the greatest positive impact on
my life/career?

Identify key result areas for your work. Grade yourself 1-10. Take this list to manager and
discuss, invite feedback and appraisal. Discuss conclusions.

Apply the law of three: do what you can with what you have, where you are.

Take immediate action on key tasks that contribute most value, delegate other tasks.

Quick list method: In 30 seconds write three most important goals in life. Usually Financial,
Family, Health goals.

1. What are your 3 most important career goals at the moment?

2. What are your 3 most important family goals at the moment?
3. What are your 3 most important financial goals at the moment?
4. What are your 3 most important health goals at the moment?
5. What are your 3 most important professional and development goals at the moment?
6. What are your 3 most important social and community goals at the moment?
7. What are your 3 biggest problems and concerns in life right now?

Quality of time at works that counts, quantity of time at home that matters. Don't waste time.

How to achieve work-life balance? You have to do it all the time, you never attain it, you have to
work at it. Work hard and stop to smell the roses. More time with the people you love makes you
happier.

Determine the most important tasks at work - what 3 tasks/activities contributes the greatest value
to my career? Develop big three and concentrate on the,

Identify most important goals and organise by priority and the focus on this.

Prepare thoroughly before you begin. Have everything you need to hand, set up work area to be
conducive to working for long periods. Create a comfortable workspace.

Launch towards your dreams and goals - get started, do the first thing. Get it 80% right and correct it
later, don't expect perfection. Be prepared t o fail over and over before you get it right.

Take the first step, assume the body language of high performance. Let's get to work and plunge in,
keep going until job is finished.

Take a good look at desk and ask; what kind of a person works in a environment like this? Clean and
tidy.

Resolve to clean and tidy regularly so that you can get going each time you sit down to work

Take it one barrel at a time. A journey of a thousand leagues starts with a single step. Lao Tzu

Select a goal or task and make a list of all the steps you have to take to complete it, then take the
next step immediately and then do one more and so on.
Upgrade key skills. Render more and better service than what is expected of you.

Learn what you need to learn so that you can do your work in an excellent fashion.

Feelings of inadequacy, feeling weak or deficient is enough to discourage you to start the task.

Never stop learning, get better at key tasks.

Rule: Continuous learning is the minimum requirement in any field. Everything is learnable.

3 steps to mastery

1. Read in your field - Get up and read early to help you be more effective
2. Take every course and seminar available to learn more and become more motivated
3. Listen to audio programmes in car

The more you learn the more you can learn.

1. Identify keep skills to help you achieve best results determine core competency to lead in
your field.
2. Develop a personal plan to do most important task in excellent fashion, focus on your special
talents and most enjoyable areas.

Identify your key constraints.

What holds you back? Why aren't you at your goal already? What is the limiting factor in your life?

Focus energy on alleviating that choke point. Time management - limiting factor. Energy drains -
limiting factor. People.

80/20 rule applied to constraints. 80% are within you, attitudes, habits, abilities, skills. Only 20% are
external to you.

Negative perceptions slow processes down. Look within yourself honestly, are there key weaknesses
holding you back. What is it in me that is holding me back? Assume complete responsibility? What
sets the speed at which I get the results I want. Strive for accuracy, otherwise you can end up solving
the wrong problem.

Behind every constraint once alleviated you will find another constraint you can get to work on.
Focus energy on alleviating them as quickly as possible.

Identify most important goal in life today -what would have greatest positive effect?

Determine the one constraint that sets the speed at which you accomplish this goal - what is it in me
that is holding me back? Take action immediately.

Put pressure on yourself. Apply physical and mental energies incessantly without growing weary.

Leaders don’t need supervision, put pressure on yourself and don’t expect others to do it for you.
Lead the field, see yourself as a role model raise the bar, standards should be higher than anyone
else could set for you. Always look for ways to do more. Create and cultivate reputation you have
with yourself. You increase your self-esteem when you go beyond the point the average person
quits.

One day left - what would you do?

Promotion will be given to someone else if you don’t do one job immediately.

By putting pressure on self, you will be high achieving personality.

Set deadline son every task and actitivy.

Raise the bar on yourself and don't let yourself off the hook

Write out every step of a job or project and work out how long it will take to do - race against this
time - Make it a game and resolve to win.

Develop routine and coach yourself to play at the top of your game. Be a complete optimist, refuse
to let the unavoidable difficulties affect mood or emotion. Control your inner dialogue. Talk to
yourself positively all the time to boost your self esteem until you believe it. Keep motivated
continually tell yourself you can do it. Resolve to remain cheerful and upbeat.

Last of the human freedoms is to choose your attitude in any given situation - Victor Frankl.

Never share your problems - Others are glad you have them, only you can help yourself.

Develop PMA

Optimists:

1. They look for the good in every situation and find it.
2. Always seek the valuable lesson in every setback, they come to instruct not to obstruct, they
can learn and grow from
3. Look for solutions to every problem instead of blaming or complaining.
4. Think and talk continually about their goals, rather than past and where they came from.

Control your thoughts - you become what you think about, talk about what you want instead

Keep mind positive by assuming complete responsibility, refuse to criticise others, blame or
complain, keep thoughts and energy focussed forwards and let the rest go.

Technology is a terrible master. Detach on a regular basis from technology that overwhelms you.

Take back your time.

Refuse to be a slave; I check my email only twice per day. If you require a reply then contact…

Empower yourself to remove all emails that don’t relate to important goals and tasks.

If it's really important then someone will tell you.

Resolve to create zones of silence throughout your day to day activities. Resolve to unplug from
technology for one full day per week - detox.
Technology is a wonderful servant, it's just a tool. Treat it as a servant not as a master. What is most
important here?

Schedule blocks of time to complete tasks

Digital to-do list is a powerful tool to take control of your time.

Transfer items to another person to-do list, helps to delegate efficiently.

Take control of your emotions using technology. People fear learning new skills, everything is
learnable. What others have learned you can learn as well.

Avoid the phrase - 'I can't'. Technology is no longer optional. If you get frustrated remind yourself it
happens to everyone.

Stop being enslaved by social media and make it work for you. Seek social support to achieve goals.

Resolve to turn off all notifications

Resolve to research and install one app that helps you to be more efficient or achieve your goals in
the future.

Focus your attention.

When you respond to a bell that indicates - brain release dopamine which stimulates curiosity an
cases you to respond immediately. Triggers the reaction of; what did I win or get? Feeds addiction,
which stops you from focussing your concentration on one thing at a time.

Proven solutions:

1. Don’t check emails in the morning

2. Leave devices off
3. Get in and out fast and get back to work, if you have to check
4. Check email twice a day 11am and 3pm
5. Provide telephone number where someone can reach you in an emergency.
6. Pay attention to other people

Double productivity

1. Plan each day and select most important task and focu on it
2. Work nonstop for 90 minutes then give yourself 15 minutes break
3. Start again
4. After 3 hour work period, reward with dopamine by checking emails.

Keep goals in mind

Is this helping me to achieve one of my most importnat goals or is it an

Refuse to be distracted
Slice and dice the task - salami slice method - lay out task in details and then resolve to do just one
slice at a time. Usually you'll feel like doing another slice and before you

Develop a compulsion to completion - Compulsion to closure - satisfy deep primal need to complete
and persist - triggers endorphins. Develop an inner drive to motivate you towards completion

Swiss cheese technique - punch a hole in the task, resolve to work for a specific time period on a
specific task, ever if it's for 5 minutes, after which you do something else or rest, one bite of the frog
and rest.

1. Put salami or swiss cheese to work immediately to get started on a large task you've been
delaying
2. Become action-oriented.

Create large chunks of unbroken time.

Schedule blocks of time - plan day in advance and identify fixed time periods for important tasks.

Accomplish key tasks one at a time.

Use a time planner - broken down by day, hour and minute. Enables you to see where you can
consolidate and create time for unbroken time.

Eliminate distractions and work non-stop.

Make every minute count. Use travel and transition times to complete small chunk of larger tasks

Think continually where you can save and consolidate large chunks of time

Make every minute count - work steadily and continual with distracting by panning time in advance.
Focus on most important tasks that contribute to best result for you.

Develop and sense of urgency. Action-orientation. Think, plan and set priorities. Work steadily,
smoothly and continuously.

Get into flow: Trigger high performance by developing a sense of urgency, inner drive to motivates
you to get going and keep going, racing against yourself. Develop a bias for action, focus on specific
steps that can be taken immediately.

Build sense of momentum, you activate the principle of success, which takes far less energy to keep
going.

Do it now! Say it over and over to yourself. Back to work!

Nothing helps more than to develop a reputation who gets work done well.

Resolve to develop sense of urgency

Select one area you procrastinate and focus on actioning it single-mindedly.

When you see an opportunity, act immediately. Move rapidly in every important area of your life.
Starting and stopping tasks takes up more time in the long run. Overcome inertia and get going
again. Preparing helps to develop, energy, enthusiasm and motivation, you work faster and more
effectively. Don't waste time.

Self-discipline is the key - make yourself do what you should do, whether you feel like it or not.

Persistence is self-discipline in action

Test of character. Shape and mould your character. Become master of your own destiny. (?)

Take action - resolve today to solve most important task and launch into it

Once started discipline yourself to persevere until it's complete. See it as a test to see if you’re the
type of person to make a decision and carry it out. This is learnable.

21

1. Set the table - clarity is essential - write out goals

2. Plan every day in advance - think on paper
3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything
4. Consider the consequences on life and work
5. Practice creative procrastination - put of low value tasks to do
6. Use the ABCDE method continually.
7. Focus on key result areas to do job well and work on them all day long
8. Apply the law of three - 90% of contributions a get them done before everything else.
9. Prepare thoroughly before you begin
10. Take it one step at a time
11. Upgrade your key skills
12. Identify key constraints, choke points and bottle necks and focus on alleviating or removing
them
13. Put the pressure on yourself
14. Motivate yourself into action - look for the good in everyone situation, focus on the solution,
remain optimistic
15. Technology is a terrible master - take you time on enslaving technology
16. Technology is a wonderful servant - use tools
17. Focus your attention - stop interruptions and distractions
18. Slice and dice the task
19. Create large chunks of time to concentrate for extended periods on most important tasks
20. Develop sense of urgency - become know as a person who does thing quickly and well
21. Start immediately on your most important task and don’t stop until you achieve completion