Eat That Frog! O t h e r b o o k s b y b r I a n Tr a c y

Motivate Yourself
Just thinking about starting and finishing an important
task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrasti-
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e at t h at f ro g
!

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nation. The fact is that the amount of time required to
complete an important job is often the same as the time
required to do an unimportant job. The difference is that
you get a tremendous feeling of pride and satisfaction
from the completion of something valuable and signifi-
cant. However, when you complete a low-value task using
the same amount of time and energy, you get little or no
satisfaction at all.
Time management is really life management, per-
sonal management. It is really taking control of the se-
quence of events. Time management is having control over
what you do next. And you are always free to choose the
task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between
the important and the unimportant is the key determi-
nant of your success in life and work.
Effective, productive people discipline themselves to
start on the most important task that is before them.
They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As
a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average
person and are much happier as a result. This should be
your way of working as well.
Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything
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e at t h at f ro g
!
eat that frog
!
1.
Make a list of all the key goals, activities, projects,
and responsibilities in your life today. Which of them
are, or could be, in the top 10 or 20 percent of tasks that
represent, or could represent, 80 or 90 percent of your
results?
2.
Resolve today that you are going to spend more and
more of your time working in those few areas that can
really make a difference in you life and career and less
and less time on lower value activities.

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The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to
accurately predict the consequences of doing or not do-
ing something. The potential consequences of any task
or activity are the key determinants of how important a
task really is to you and to your company. This way of
evaluating the significance of a task is how you deter-
mine what your next frog really is.
Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University, after more
than fifty years of research, concluded that “long-time
perspective” is the most accurate single predictor of up-
ward social and economic mobility in America. Long-
time perspective turns out to be more important than
family background, education, race, intelligence, connec-
tions, or virtually any other single factor in determining
your success in life and at work.
Your attitude toward time, your “time horizon,” has
an enormous impact on your behavior and your choices.