I have tried to summarise my significant key take aways from the book Eat that From by Brian Tracy.
I struggled to consolidate my content and make it less concentrated , however still you might find my learning relatively lengthy.
Epitomised content of Eat That Frog by Brian Stacy.
Procrastination : The determining factor which dictates the success and failure ratio of your life. If you scan the most successful people you might realise they are not extraordinary in terms of intelligence, however their ability to perform the tasks differently gives them a competitive edge.
There are certain principles to adhere to and worth incorporating those in your daily life so that it becomes a habit. Once a habit is formed a human is automatically driven and propelled by his/her habits which he /she has developed over a period of time. The 3 d’s are essential for any habit to be ingrained in your subconscious mind. Decision, Discipline and Determination. These 3 D’s shall make your life a success or otherwise. The definiteness of purpose. The clarity with what you intend to accomplish will help you earn a few extra hours throughout your Day. The popular saying
Proper Planning Prevent Poor Performance holds true. A plan will help you visualise your end purpose , your task is immediate execution based on your planning. An excellent plan if not worked upon leads futile results, however an average plan if executed vigorously will hell you enhance the mental prowess, build your self esteem and help you gain confidence to accomplish much bigger milestones. The 10/90 principle focuses on the paramount significance of planning your each day . 10 to 20 minutes of your daily planning will help you save 100 to 120 minutes throughout your day. A diffused mind , a fuzzy mind will waste its unnecessary time evaluating the priority of sequences of activities which you need to accomplish. If you have planned out earlier your brain is informed prior and actions are taken accordingly. Setting subdeadlines and deadlines will give you a sense of accountability which will arouse a burning desire to accomplish what is on your priority list. Another Great attribute successful people possess is their adoption of Pareto principle. As per Vilfredo Pareto famous Italian Economists. Certain 10 to 20% of your activities will reap maximum benefits. While remaining 80 % of your tasks are trivial. We need to choose those prominent 10 % and 20% tasks on a priority basis . Time management is life management and personnel management. The very first task which you pick shall be the most challenging one and this task will occupy its position amongst top 10 to 20% which when accomplished will add significant value . Its return on investment will be way higher as compared to remaining 80 % task. Time taken to accomplish both the tasks big major tasks and the trivial tasks same , however if we accomplish the major obstacles trivial ones just seems like no big deal
Consider the consequences: Long term vision will help you plan your short term goals. Identify the priority based on the consequences those tasks might have with regards to your professional life.
Bent your energy towards the long term vision which will help you decide the short term goals.
Obey the law of forced efficiency:
There will be no time for doing everything , however there will always be time for the most important task .
Prioritise
Deadlines are meant to be followed . Last minute hassle might mean compromising the quality and you might be asked to redo your task again.
Ask these three big questions to maximise the productivity:
1) What are my highest value activities?
2)What can I and only I do that if done well will make a real difference?
3)What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
Practice Creative Procrastination: Learn to say NO and choose those tasks which you can deliberately procrastinate. Low value tasks can be procrastinated as compared to your high value task. Choose priority over posteriority. Priority is what needs to be done on an urgent basis and the consequences are huge for either doing it or not doing it. Posteriority are trivial tasks having mild consequences
Prioritising your responsibilities: Powerful Priority Setting.ABCDE . Label your responsibilities As being the most important ones, the unavoidable tasks. Needs to complete these tasks before you begin any other. B’s are should do or must do however it has mild consequences if not done. C tasks are nice to do , however if you don’t accomplish it wont make any difference with regards to your professional achievement. D stands for delegating the responsibility , if you think this work can be outsourced and could be concluded by others delegate so that you have more time for your priority Tasks that are A categories. E are the ones which you can completely eliminate. The important task shall not be at the mercy of your Trivial tasks
Focusing on Key result areas: an employee is accountable for a particular outcome. Only he/she is in a position to accomplish this task . Identify those focused key areas and grade yourself , analyse your progress and grade yourself based on how equipped you are in accomplishing your key focus areas. If need be seek constructive response from your managers and peers and ask them the possible scope of improvement. Identifying one such skill if you master will help you execute your job in excellent fashion.
Apply the law of three: Give yourself 30 seconds and chart down the 3 most important tasks which perform. The conscious mind will go on hyper drive. Remaining activities you can either delegate, downsize , outsource or eliminate .
Focus more on your prominent activities to generate best results .
Prepare thoroughly before you begin:
If the necessary ingredients are laid , you will immediately jump into action. Prepare yourself thoroughly before you embark upon your task.
Ensure the environment is conducive and comfortable . Neater and cleaner environment will motivate you to take action immediately.
Take it one oil barrel at a time: At times the tasks seem intimidating . An example of Sahara desert travellers were not able to trace back their steps and never returned alive. Thereafter oil barrels were placed which will guide the tourists where and in which direction to take the next step. You just need to follow one barrel at a time and you will be able to sweep the great Sahara Desert. Taking simple steps will help you travel thousand leagues.
Upgrade your key skills:
It is mandatory to consistently upgrade your skill as certain skills might become obsolete. In order to survive one needs to thrive hard to be the best at one’s specific key area.At times we procrastinate because we are deficient with regards to key skills being important to master or excel at that task.
Never stop learning
Learning in never out of fashion.The more you learn all the more motivated and confident you will become and this will help resolve the issue of procrastination.Each and every skill is learnable
Three steps to mastery
Leverage your special talents:
Identify your unique abilities and talents and work towards it so that you become the important contributing entity in your organisation with regards to that specific key area.
Identify the key constraints: There is always one choke point which inhibits or determines the speed with which you progress and accomplish your goals. Time and energy needs to be expended in identifying the limiting factor in your Special key area. Once you identify it , rigorous efforts need to be made to alleviate the very effect of this choke point.
The 80/20 rule applies for key constraints as well. 80% of the problems might be internal which resides within you or your organisation or your coworkers only 20% of the constraints might be external that is competitions, customers or government organisations.We need to scan the processes and each and every activities in detail in order to find the limiting factor or the key constraints which affect the pace of achieving our goals
Look into yourself : Successful people always analyse their efforts by asking what is it that is holding me back??
Look and inquire to find your causes and cure.
Strive for accuracy:
identifying the correct limiting factor or key constraint is of paramount significance. If you identified a wrong key constraint you will land up solving a different problem which isn’t making any difference to your success. Identifying the wrong constraint will head you in the wrong direction . Before you move up the ladder ensure it is leaned against the correct wall.
Put the pressure on yourself:
The requisite for gaining success is to focus physical and mental energy incessantly to one task.
Raise the bar or the standard , be the role model , be the leader. Only 2% of the people are self -sufficient. You need to mark your position amidst those 2% . Nobody will come at your rescue. You need to pressurise your own self. Self esteem is one of the core constituents of your personality . By definition self esteem is the reputation which you have for yourself. The more you pressurise yourself the more you will be able to accomplish an arduous task which an average achiever would otherwise quit.
Create Imaginary Deadlines: What if you just have one day to complete your most important task??
What is that one task that is absolutely necessary to accomplish exclusively before you go on a paid vacation for one week.
Maximise your personal Personal Powers:
Gather in your resources, rally all your faculties, marshal all your energies, focus all your capacities upon mastery of at least one field of endeavor.
It is mandatory to retain high energy levels to boost high productivity.One needs to watch the diet as if it is fed to the world class athlete. Exercising 200 minutes per week is prescribed as the excellent standards for retaining and maintaining fitness. The physical , emotional and mental energy will drive the performance . Lack of energy means underproductivity and the task will be more prone to errors. Identify the time when your energy levels are at the peak and one shall accomplish all important tasks in that time duration. Rest and Rejuvenation is of paramount importance to focus on your task the very next day.
Motivate yourself into action
It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and of creative action that man finds his supreme joys.
Escalate your self esteem . Always be optimistic under any circumstance. Successful people never perceive obstacles as obstacles rather they find lessons to learn and see obstacles as instructions. Always be optimistic and interact with yourself on a daily basis. The more optimistic you become you will feel more confident and will plunge into the action mode immediately.
Get out of technological Time Sinks:
You have a Choice
Don’t become addicted
Technology is your friend
Take back your time
Standardise and delegate
Refuse to be a slave
A servant not a master
Continuous Contact is not essential
Technology is meant for efficient working and enabling communication worldwide. However don’t let it rule your lives . It is not mandatory for you to check all the emails you should be able to identify trivial mails and click the delete button. Fe mails if does not demand an immediate attention will need to be transferred for referrals and those who deserve immediate attention needs to be responded on a priority basis.
It is also not a mandate to be available every time. If any task is worth giving immediate attention the reminders will be passed on by many. If not in your absence the tasks will be done, mission will be accomplished.
Learn the art of delegating your responsibility ,insignificant tasks can be delegated to someone else which will result in the release of so many hours weekly. Just imagine what you could probably do with those hours which you never thought will be availed to you.
Incessant communication obstructs and creates hindrance . Resolve a few hours per day wherein you are disconnected with the communication technology of any kind. This will energise and recharge your mental battery .
Slice and dice the task:
The invisible thread will become a strong chord, irrevocable thought and act.
Salaami slice: This demands eating one slice at a time . you can apply the analogy with regards to an overwhelming, complicated big project at hand. Divide the task into slices and consume one slice at a time . Accomplishing smaller tasks will help you inch closer and closer to completion. There is an incessant urge to completion which is termed as compulsion to closure . The more you inch towards completing your goal the more momentum you will gain and this will help you propel faster towards your goal.
Swiss cheese a task: create a hole in your task which means just begin the task for first 7 to 10 minutes thereafter you can continue with remaining tasks. Just like making a hole in the cheese. These two techniques will help you deal with the big projects and will facilitate you in successful completion of the task
Create large chunks of time:
Schedule blocks of time
use a time planner
Make every minute count
The successful people pre plan his/her day and dedicate fixed hours for the most important task . This planning will help them save and consolidate small chunks of time into major chunks of time which you could utilise to conclude the most important task whose consequences are significant to your professional life.
Those big chunks of time ensure you utilise each and every minute . No distractions and no diversion.
Develop a sense of urgency:
Do it now
There is no perfect time. start from today , move from where you stand with whatever tools you have at your command . New tools will be identified and will be made available
Develop a sense of urgency . Successful people invest time in planning and take immediate action . The faster you move the better you will become with respect to that field. The faster you move the more competent you will become. The faster you move , you will earn a reputation of an individual who concluded the task within the stipulated period of time with exceptional quality and finesse.
When you feel you are experiencing a lethargic attitude reiterate these words multiple times Do it now, Do it now , Do it now.
When you feel you are digressing from your priorities, remind yourself Get Back to Work , Get back to Work.
Single Handle Every task:
Consolidate and identify the big chunk of time . After you start working, persevere until the task is completely done . By incorporating this you are placing yourself on the ascending part of the spiral and the success is guaranteed. This is the best strategy to employ for high valued tasks. It saves 50 % of your time. Focus on the task and show the perseverance to complete it without any distraction and diversion. Self discipline , self mastery and self control are the three building blocks which will dictate your character and performance etiquettes.Self Discipline is defined as “the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”
The above three building blocks when ingrained and becomes your second nature will surely guarantee success.
Regards,
Kinjal Morkhia