Author: Brian Tracy
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Year Published: 2002
Rating: 
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When it comes to personal time management, few of us are experts. There’s always something we don’t have time to do or put off until later. Maybe it’s because something else is more important or more urgent. Maybe it’s because we just don’t want to do it. Regardless, some things just don’t get done.
In Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy provides 21 methods and techniques to help you prioritize your “to-do” list and overcome procrastination so you improve your overall level of productivity and performance. The title comes from an old saying
It has been said for many years that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go though the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.
In terms of personal productivity, your “frog” is your biggest, most important task that is absolutely critical for you to get done – and the task you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t take action now. It sounds easy. Every morning, look over your to-do list and find the biggest task that will yield the most positive benefits if you complete it now – and do it! So why don’t we?
Tracy explains that “failure to execute” is one of the biggest problems organizations face. People know they should execute. They’ve planned it, held meetings about it, analyzed it – just about everything but actually doing it. According to Tracy, this is because we have bad time management habits and if we could just overcome those, we’d be more inclined to get things done. We’re patterned to feel a surge of enthusiasm and happiness upon completion of a task – we want to get things done and be more productive – so we should cultivate habits of decision, discipline, and determination.
This 125 page book is comprise of 21 chapters, each 3-5 pages and focused on a particular task or idea that will help you hone your time management skills. Each chapter ends with an “Eat That Frog” assignment so you can apply the principles to your real world to-do list. The book is more a motivational tool than a complete system. Each chapter stands alone as a quick tip you could focus on today if you need a cheerleader to help you complete your task.
The chapters are focused on the three habits Tracy is encouraging you to develop: decision, discipline, and determination. Those that excel in life and get things done faster are clear about what they want and set goals and objectives they strive to achieve.
The more clear you are about what you want and what you have to do to achieve it, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination, eat your frog, and get on with the completion of the task.
He explains that only about 3% of adults have clear, written goals and those people accomplish 5-10 times more than those who don’t and offers a seven step formula for setting and achieving your goals:
- decide exactly what you want
- write it down
- set a deadline on your goal
- make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal
- organize the list into a plan
- take action on your plan immediately
- resolve to do something every single day that moves you towards your major goal.
Simple, right? Fortunately, the 20 tips that follow offer suggestions and ways to keep you on track to achieve your goals.
After reading the book, I was psyched to get stuff done, so for me at least, it did what it set out to accomplish. I was buzzing with ideas to put into place immediately. Still, I’m the kind of gal that thinks logically rather than emotionally, so I’m more inclined to agree with Steve Pavlina’s recent post about setting goals you’ll actually achieve than I am with this type of motivational cheerleading that quickly dies down after a day or two.
The book is also probably more valuable if you’ve read Tracy’s Goals or David Allen’s Get Things Done (both of which I highly recommend) as those books offer a systematic approach to time management rather than a bunch of related quick tips. Still, this is a great book to keep by your desk to give you that quick jolt of enthusiasm to start that big, ugly task rather than putting it off until later.
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