Are you, full of plans, accomplishing less than you’d like to? Is the day over before you know it, feeling slightly disappointed about what you’ve managed to get done? And do you still hang around a lot on Facebook or Netflix? This has to do with each other. Productivity guru Brian Tracy suggests this solution: EAT THAT FROG!
Time will get filled automatically in a smooth flow, but does not automatically lead to things you’d want, let alone in a smooth flow. So YOU have to DECIDE what to do with time. Whether you want a better business, relationship, or type of life – time will keep on flowing away as long as you keep wandering and don’t act.
Effective people do the right things, and do not procrastinate. Action is the key to accomplishing things, but processing long to-do lists is fake productivity if you don’t tackle the things that lead to the bigger things you want. You are fooling yourself being “so busy”, while actually being reluctant to do the unpleasant but needed.
It is a public secret that our dreams are big and that the ways to get there are laborious and tedious. But do you want the big thing or keep on fooling yourself? Get to see the way to attain your ambitions as a positive challenge. List the big things you really don’t feel like doing, and sink your teeth into them. Embrace tough to-do’s.
- Make clear choices about what you want.
- Make it actionable: put required activities on paper (this will be a long and evolving list).
- Per action, list and arrange what is required to complete it (these are also actions to list).
- Determine per action when to have it done. Make it time-bound, put it in your agenda.
- Now act! Remember … will & discipline.
Further:
- Stop fooling yourself that you need to think longer about it, or gain more insight. Now, “not knowing how” is a legitimate hurdle, but it’s just an action on your list to pragmatically execute.
- Action is key. Not just for progress, but also for motivation and energy. This energy is self-reinforcing: you’ll become a “doer” and an optimist. If you don’t, the corresponding lack of progress and energy are going to work against you.
- Stay organized. Maintain lists. Determine each night what you want to have done the next day (don’t start the day with this, let it sink in while sleeping). Prioritize [1] what really must be done the next day, [2] what you’d really want, and [3] what would be nice. Do the same at the level of weeks and months to maintain a better view on the bigger picture.
With EAT THAT FROG, Tracy suggests: stop creating your own barriers, stop fake productivity, start knowing what you want, start doing.
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