This article is part of a series of articles that will review Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog”.  The book is about how to focus on the most important tasks in your life and get those done.

Introduction

This article will only review the introduction of Brian Tracy’s book “Eat That Frog”.

The need to be selective

Our lives are becoming more and more crowded with stuff that we need to get done.  So Brian Tracy says that we need to be able to pick the most important tasks in our lives and work on those until their complete.

The truth about frogs

I love the quote that Brian Tracy quotes from the Mark Twain.  He says, “Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.”

There is a strong truth in what Brian Tracy is saying here.  We need to tackle the toughest things.  The things that we least want to do.

Brian Tracy’s first rule of frog eating: if you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.  This just means that if you have two tasks do the most important, most pressing one first.  Should be easy right?  But we tend to do the easy stuff first.

Brian Tracy’s second rule of frog eating: if you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.  He is saying get your task over with.

Take action immediately

People who don’t take action immediately are failing to execute.  This is one of the biggest problems in business today.  Procrastinators don’t excel.  Procrastinators don’t get ahead.

Develop habits of success

These habits include setting priorities, overcoming procrastination, and getting on with your most important task right away.  I strongly agree with Brian Tracy.  If your frog is procrastination, then you need to decide what your most important task is and set about doing it right away.

Develop a positive addiction

Get addicted to getting things done.  You’ll feel great.  You’ll feel energized.  And pretty soon, you’ll find that your inbox is empty.

No shortcuts

Practice really is the only way to become really good at something.  With practice you can develop any hand that you want.

The three D’s of new habit formation

So how do you form a new habit?  You must follow these three D’s: decision, discipline, and determination.

Visualize yourself as you want to be

If you can see yourself is successful, then you never will be.  Successful people can visualize themselves as successes.

In the article Brian Tracy says that you, as the salesperson, are basically like a detective trying to uncover clues about how your product can solve a problem for the client.

He identifies 3 key techniques to learn:

1. Use questions as sales tools.
2. Clarify the need.
3. Building Buying Desire.

But he says in order to put these ideas into action you need to do two things immediately:

1. Ask good questions to uncover the real need.
2. Continually show the client the size of the gap of where she would be without your product.

Apply Brian Tracy’s skills into your Sales Training Programs and you’ll immediately begin to see your sales numbers improve.

Click here for Brian Tracy’s full article.

This technique is so powerful that Dale Carnegie, one of the richest men of his time, credited his success to this one secret. If that’s true, then it would be important to master this approach.

Additionally, Brian Tracy says you can boost your personal efficiency by 50% with just this one technique. That’s just on the first day! He may be on to something here.

What is Single-Handling Key Tasks?

The essence of this success secret is to work on your most important task until it is 100% complete. According to Brian Tracy, there are three easy steps:

1. Make a list of all of the items you need to get done.

2. Select the most important item (highest use of your time) on your list.

3. Immediately begin working on this most important task and stick with it until it is complete.

Two Keys of Success

Take note of Brian Tracy’s Two Keys:

1. Focus

2. Concentration

The Benefits of Single-Handling Key Tasks

Brian Tracy says that single-mindedly working on your task, without diversion or distraction, will contribute more to your success than any other habit you will ever develop. Wow!

He further says that you increase the amount of time needed to spend on a task by 5 times when you lay it aside to complete later. Ouch! Unfortunately, most of us don’t work to completion with our tasks. We often get distracted.

Instead, use Single-Handling Key Tasks and watch your efficiency increase by up to 80%! No wonder Brian Tracy declares this as one of time management’s greatest secrets.

The best thing is that this is a habit you can learn by repetition and practice. Keep doing it until you get it down. Perfect practice makes perfect.

There are two major benefits:

1. You’ll rise to the top of your chosen field, quickly.

2. You’ll get an endorphin rush by completing your major tasks. This rush will give you a feeling of well-being, happiness, and your self-esteem will increase.

Start putting Brian Tracy’s success secret, Single-Handling Key Tasks, to work for you right away and watch your productivity explode!

But you will only gain an advantage from this article if you apply Brian Tracy’s techniques. As you read, think of ways that you can begin applying the Law of Forced Efficiency immediately in your life and business.

The Law of Forced Efficiency is this:

“There’s never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important things.”

Your ability to be successful in your life will depend in large portion on your ability to identify the most important task to perform right now. And then to get to work doing that task, and only that task, until it is complete.

In order to help you find that most important task, use these Four Great Questions:

1. Always before starting anything, ask: Right now, what is the most important thing I could be working on?

2. Why are you being paid? What did you get hired to do? Are you doing that one thing that will most determine your success?

3. What are the things only you can do that make a significant difference to your organization?

4. What can you work on right now, in this moment, that will make the greatest impact?

You must answer these questions honestly and clearly. As you ask yourself these questions and work on the answers all day, you will soon double your productivity.

Remember to get input from your boss. He has the best understanding and insight into what he thinks you can contribute most to right now.

How to Proceed:

1. Figure out what you need to do today.

2. For everything you need to do, ask yourself the Four Great Questions:

3. Start work on your most important task, right away, and don’t stop until it is 100% complete.

If you asked Brian Tracy, I’m sure that he would say that his success is due in no small measure to his ability to know which is the most important task he should be working on right now and then working on it. Try and learn as much from Brian Tracy as you can.

You will find the principles discussed in this article simple to implement in your life. The ABCDE Method by Brian Tracy is hands-down one of the most effective time management methods anywhere.

This method will help you to learn to pick the most valuable task and then to discipline yourself to work on that task until it is complete. Time management revolves around helping to clarify for you the most important task that you should be working on, before you start working.

It’s easy to figure out your most important task. Think about which, of all your tasks, will carry the greatest consequences, whether or not it’s finished.

All highly productive people constantly think about potential consequences of the tasks they need to perform as they plan. Then they choose to work on the tasks that will have the greatest consequences.

The three steps of Brian Tracy’s Successful ABCDE Method:

1. Make a list of everything that you have to do.

2. Go through the list and put one of these letters (ABCDE) by each item

A’s will be your most important tasks. These have the greatest consequences. Always complete these first.

B’s carry less consequences and should be completed second. The consequences are minor and not long lasting.

“C” items are nice to do, but have no consequences. These are things like reading the newspaper at work, phoning a friend, or going out for coffee. Again, these are nice to do, but carry no consequences for your career or for your long-term success.

You should always complete all A’s before moving onto the B’s. Complete all B’s before moving onto the C’s and so on.

A “D” task is a task you delegate. You need to delegate as much as possible to partners or coworkers who can do that particular task as well or better than you.

“E” means Eliminate. Get rid of these without fear of consequence.

Remember, you must discipline yourself to free up your time so you can work on your A and B tasks. Simplify your life and free up time.

And the last step in the ABCDE Method…

3. Put A’s in order of priority.

Put “1″ by highest value task, “2″ by the next highest value: A1, A2, A3, etc. Once this is complete, put everything else aside and begin working on “A1″ right away. Work on “A1″ is fully complete.

If you follow this Brian Tracy Success Secret, you will be well on your way to doubling your productivity.

Below is a list of 10 of Brian Tracy’s bestselling success programs:

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Brian Tracy is one of America’s leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. He’s a dynamic and entertaining speaker with a wonderful ability to inform and inspire seminar audiences toward peak performance and high levels of achievement. He addresses more than 400,000 men and women each year on the subjects of personal and professional development, including the executives and staff of IBM, Arthur Andersen, McDonnell Douglas, and The Million Dollar Round Table.

Everything you do throughout the day fits into one of four categories:

1. Urgent and Important Tasks

You have to complete these tasks immediately. These are in your face. These are things like phone calls and meetings. You can’t put them off without causing serious problems.

If you’re like a lot of people, you spend a lot of time working on these types of tasks. Some folks call this “putting out fires.”

2. Important but NOT Urgent Tasks

According to Brian Tracy, completing these tasks will have the greatest possible long-term benefits in your life.

The tasks in this category include personal renewal, physical fitness and exercise, updating your skills, and spending time with your family.

Don’t put these tasks off for another day. If you want to change your life for the better, work on these now.

Believe me, if you don’t do them now, they’ll become urgent sooner or later. These are things like a term paper at work; or a report for your boss.

3. Urgent BUT NOT Important Tasks

These are things like personal phone calls, shooting the breeze with coworkers, etc.

Brian Tracy says that these tasks will have negative effects on your success. Don’t delude yourself into thinking this type of work is important work.

In fact, these kinds of tasks are great time- and career-wasters. Stay away from tasks in this area.

But even these aren’t the biggest time-wasters. The biggest time-wasters are:

4. Neither Urgent Nor Important

Don’t spend any time on these tasks. They’ll produce no results for you. At work, don’t read the newspaper, don’t surf the internet, and don’t call home to chit-chat. You’ll be wasting your company’s money and your time.

To summarize…

Always work first on your Most Urgent and Important Tasks. Next complete the Important But Not Urgent Tasks. And most vital to increasing your productivity is to refuse to work on non-important tasks.

Finally, always ask yourself “What are the lasting consequences of completing this task?”

When you answer this question, you’ll know what to work on.