It’s a great short book by Brian Tracy and one that I dip into regularly whilst I am on Facebook rather than my budget sheets!
So what’s it all about then. The frogs are the things that you don’t want to do that you have to do – those things that you think are going to be too big or too difficult so you put them off but they are also the things that you will find if you do them you feel great satisfaction and in my mind never take as long as you think they will. Here are a few tips.
- Some smart people have tested this and old fashioned I know but if you write something down on paper with a pen you are 100 times more likely to remember it. So write those lists and take notes in meetings.
- Plan your day – if you contact me I am happy to send you the Frog sheet that I have. The best time to do this is the night before – it allows you to sleep better and you are ready to go first thing. Write your frogs down and then plan hour by hour what you are going to do that day – don’t forget to include those meetings and calls and email time but plan it all in. Oh and put the frogs at the top of the day!
- The digital world is great however we can get bombarded – to stop you procrastinating you have to manage your digital world – the best way to do this is to turn off all those notifications that you have an email/LinkedIn/Facebook message – instead plan the time to do this into your frog schedule.
- Your calendar makes a wonderful servant but terrible master. Never automatically click on an invation – ask yourself if it really fits your priorities before accepting.
- Put the pressure on yourself – imagine that you have to leave town for a month or exhibit at a major trade show – that will help concentrate your mind on the major tasks/frogs.
- Time chunking – great big chunks in your diary to complete tasks – minimum 1 hour and don’t keep dipping into your email in this time period.
I hope that you find these tips useful – we are all busy people and if these tips can help you get some more time into your life then that is great.