Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.

...you cannot eat every tadpole and frog in the pond, but you can eat the biggest and ugliest one, and that will be enough, at least for the time being.

If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first." This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.

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.

Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. NAPOLEON HILL

Rule: Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

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.

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. The bigger your goals and the clearer they are, the more excited you become about achieving them. The more you think about your goals, the greater becomes your inner drive and desire to accomplish them.

The Key to Success is Action

The law of Forced Efficiency says that "There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.

The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous.

This is a wonderful time to be alive. There have never been more possibilities and opportunities for you to achieve more of your goals than exist today.

As Pat Riley, the basketball coach, said, "Anytime you stop striving to get better, you're bound to get worse.

Rule: It is the quality of time at work that counts and the quantity of time at home that matters.

Galileo once wrote, "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.

There is an old saying that "by the yard it's hard; but inch by inch, anything's a cinch!

You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower-value activities.

Refuse to allow a weakness or a lack of ability in any area to hold you back. Everything is learnable. And what others have learned, you can learn as well.

Refuse to complain about your problems. Keep them to yourself. As speaker-humorist Ed Foreman says, "You should never share your problems with others because 80 percent of people don't care about them anyway, and the other 20 percent are kind of glad that you've got them in the first place.

Say no to anything that is not a high-value use of your time and your life.

If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long.

The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.

Anytime you stop striving to get better, you're bound to get worse.

What are your three most important business or career goals right now? What are your three most important family or relationship goals right now? What are your three most important financial goals right now? What are your three most important health goals right now? What are your three most important personal and professional development goals right now? What are your three most important social and community goals right now? What are your three biggest problems or concerns in life right now?

What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?

An average person who develops the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed quickly will run circles around a genius who talks a lot and makes wonderful plans but who gets very little done.

Before you begin work, always ask yourself, "Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?