📕 "Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time" by Brian Tracy (Sunday Book Review)
SBR #2: Conquer procrastination and get more done by starting with the most important tasks first using this super easy method.
In this Substack, I will walk you through the process of starting, operating, maintaining, and — if needed — selling or closing your own small business.
And, in today’s Sunday Book Review, I write about a fantastic book on procrastination and productivity that has left a lingering, savory-but-sweet taste in my mouth:
…I dunno? …do frogs taste like chicken? 🤣
📕 Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Author: Brian Tracy
* This is an affiliate marketing link to Amazon.com.
♥️ Your purchase helps to support this FREE substack community. ♥️
Book Overview
If you’ve ever struggled with procrastination or felt overwhelmed by your to-do list, Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog offers a simple yet powerful framework for getting more done in less time.
From the Amazon book summary (they said it better than I can):
There's an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you're done with the worst thing you'll have to do all day. For Brian Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task—but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Eat That Frog! shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively.
…for Entrepreneurs & Freelancers
As a business owner or freelancer, your productivity directly impacts your income, opportunities, and success.
Unlike employees (people who work for someone else), no one is handing you a list of tasks with deadlines. You must prioritize, stay disciplined, and make smart choices about how you spend your precious time.
This book will help you develop a structured approach to tackle your to-do list more efficiently and avoid procrastination.
📌 It may feel good to put checks in those little boxes on your to-do list…
✔️
…but, are you getting the most important items done, or just checking boxes to feel good?
#1 Biggest Takeaway
Tackle your most important and difficult task first (your "frog").
The core message of the book is simple: Identify your most important task - the one that will have the greatest impact on your success - and do it first thing in the morning.
Getting this high-value task done early will:
help you build momentum
reduce stress, and
set yourself up for a productive day.
5 Key Insights
Clarity is key. The clearer you are on your goals, priorities, and deadlines, the easier it is to take action.
The 80/20 rule applies to tasks. Focus on the 20% of tasks that yield 80% of your results, rather than getting bogged down in low-value work.
Procrastination is a habit you can break. Replace procrastination with disciplined action and make efficiency a daily practice.
Technology can be a productivity killer. Reduce distractions like social media and unnecessary emails to focus on meaningful work.
Action breeds motivation. Instead of waiting to "feel" motivated, take action first—momentum follows effort.
What You Can Do
Here are 10 recommendations from the book to conquer procrastination, get the most important tasks done first, and boost your overall productivity
(1) Each morning, write down your top three daily goals.
Prioritize these and work on them first.
Don’t waste time knocking off the easy stuff first because the easy stuff is often the least important stuff and takes time away from the important stuff (the frogs).
(2) Identify your "frog" each day.
Choose the most important and difficult task and complete it first.
Sure, it may be the hardest tasks or the most time-consuming task - that’s why you want to start here and give it the attention and effort that it deserves.
You may be surprised that, after a while, you will get faster or better (or both!) at doing the stuff you dread doing.
And, over time, the stuff you dread doing has already been done so you will be able to focus on things you enjoy doing instead!
(3) Use the "ABCDE" method.
Rank your tasks by importance.
Label your tasks A (most important) to E (least important) and focus on A tasks.
Ranking tasks in this way helps you focus on priorities and fight the urge to do the easy stuff first.
(4) Apply the 80/20 rule.
Spend more time on high-value tasks and eliminate or delegate low-impact ones.
If you spend 80% of your time on 20% of your tasks, you will be shocked by how much more productive you can be.
And don’t beat yourself up for not finishing 100% of your daily tasks (no one can!).
(5) Set a deadline for every task.
Deadlines create urgency and help prevent procrastination.
Be your own boss and assign due dates for the important tasks to stay on track and not succumb to the procrastination monster.
If there is no due date, then it’s never due and won’t get done.
(6) Use time blocking.
Allocate specific time slots for deep work and avoid ‘multitasking’.
Life is complicated and you have to stick to many other commitments with their own deadlines.
Don’t let everyone else’s expectations of you consume your day when you have things you need to get done for yourself and your business.
(7) Limit distractions.
You can only focus on one thing at a time.
There is no such thing as ‘multitasking’, but ‘task switching’ is more realistic.
Turn off notifications, close unnecessary browser tabs, and focus on one task at a time.
If your attention were a $10 Bill, and $9.00 is spent doing things that don’t get you to where you need to be, you only have $1.00 left to focus.
(8) Start your day with a win.
Completing a major task early in the day sets a productive tone.
Those easy check boxes are not helping you get to where you need to be - they are just a cheap endorphin rush.
If you knock out a big task first thing of the day, everything else feels like a bonus.
(9) Adopt the "Swiss Cheese" method.
Break big tasks into smaller pieces and tackle them one by one.
Instead of trying to complete a massive project all at once, you "poke holes" in it - like Swiss cheese - by making small progress in different areas.
(10) Review your progress daily.
Celebrate the wins, and learn from the losses.
Reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and adjust your approach to maximize efficiency.
“Celebrate small victories. They will eventually lead to something great.” – Unknown
For more book recommendations to Bootstrap Your Business, check out my list of:
If you enjoyed this Sunday Book Review, let me know in the comments, or please restack this post for others to enjoy!
These are all good tips. I've heard many of them before, but I especially like this one which I failed to do today ha ha: The core message of the book is simple: Identify your most important task - the one that will have the greatest impact on your success - and do it first thing in the morning.
I get overwhelmed by all the little tasks. Batching certainly helps. I am trying to set up a schedule on this platform I have called DoBoard. It's kind of like Trello. Anyway, maybe that will help!