Eat that Frog!

What’s your next frog?

You know, the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results right.this.moment?

Let’s identify it and let’s eat it.

Rory Vaden echoes this wisdom. In Procrastinate on Purpose (see Notes), he tells us that what we’re working on is either our #1 priority or it’s a distraction.

Specifically, he says: “Until you accomplish your most Significant priority, everything else is a distraction.

That brings us to the critical question you have to always be asking yourself: ‘Is what I’m doing right now the next most Significant use of my time?’

Is it the thing that is moving you toward creating the best results? Is it the thing that is moving you toward making your greatest contribution? Is it the thing that is moving you toward making the impact you want to make?

Is it the thing that is making the most of the available time that you have? Is it the thing that is enabling you at that moment to be your highest self?

If not, then it is a distraction. It is a temptation. It is a pressure. It is someone else’s priority and not your own. It could be a million things, but what it definitely is not is your priority.”

Happy frog hunting! :)

P.S. Remember this from Brian: “The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is for you to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of ‘eating your frog’ before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it.”

That’s from Chapter #1.

And, that’s worth repeating (and taking literally!):

THE NUMBER ONE REASON why some people get more work done faster is because they are absolutely clear about their goals and objectives and they don’t deviate from them.

Which begs the question: What are you goals and objectives?

These are my goals and objectives:

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________

Awesome.

You sticking to them or are you consistently allowing yourself to get distracted and deviate from them?

P.S. The last Note I worked on was The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel. Here’s how he articulated the importance of goals in dealing with procrastination/dialing in your motivation:

“Goal setting—proper goal setting—is the smartest thing you can do to battle procrastination. Though every other technique discussed so far has its place, goal setting alone may be all you need. Along with making your goals challenging and meaningful, follow these remaining steps. Regardless of what other books say, this is what’s proven to maximize your motivation.

• Frame your goals in specific terms so that you know precisely when you have to achieve them. What exactly do you have to do? And when do you have to do it by? …
• Break down long-term goals into a series of short-term objectives. For particularly daunting tasks, begin with a mini-goal to break the motivational surface tension. For example, a goal of tackling just the first few pages of any required reading can often be enough to get you to finish the entire text.
• Organize your goals into routines that occur regularly at the same time and place. Predictability is your pal, so open your schedule and pencil in recurring tasks. Better yet, use an indelible pen.”

Brian is an EXERCISE-GENERATING MACHINE!!

Seriously. He cranks out a *ton* of great questions + exercises. In this book, each of the 21 mini-chapters comes with its own little exercise and they’re all really powerful.

For now, let’s do this exercise.

What are your Top 10 Goals you’d like to accomplish in the next year?

1. ________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________

7. ________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________

10. _______________________________________________

Fantastic.

Now, let’s identify your NUMBER ONE Goal.

This is the #1 Goal for the next year that, if I achieved it, would have the most positive impact in my life:

___________________________________________________________.

Wonderful.

Time to create a plan and execute it!

This is great.

Gary Keller says essentially the exact same thing in his phenomenal book The ONE Thing (see Notes).

Here’s how he puts it: “Pareto proves everything I’m telling you—but there’s a catch. He doesn’t go far enough. I want you to go further. I want you to take Pareto’s Principle to an extreme. I want you to go small by identifying the 20 percent, and then I want you to go even smaller by finding the vital few of the vital few. The 80/20 rule is the first word, but not the last, about success. What Pareto started, you’ve got to finish. Success requires that you follow the 80/20 Principle, but you don’t have to stop there.

Keep going. You can actually take 20 percent of the 20 percent of the 20 percent and continue until you get to the single most important thing! No matter the task, mission, or goal. Big or small. Start with as large a list as you want, but develop the mindset that you will whittle your way from there to the critical few and not stop until you end with the essential ONE. The imperative ONE. The ONE Thing.”

So, write down everything you want to do. That’s your To Do List.

Then identify the top things that will REALLY drive value. That’s your Success list.

THEN identify THE #1 thing that will drive the most value. That’s your ONE Thing. That’s the frog it’s time to eat! :)

#nomnom

P.S. We also have a whole Note just on The 80/20 Principle. Check that out for more!

Baby steps.

That’s where it’s at.

We’ve talked about telephone poles, island hopping, dominoes, kaizen, gradualism, incremental improvement and romancing your discomfort zone.

We need to break our goals down into smaller chunks.

And we can cross the biggest desert one oil barrel at a time.

How can you break YOUR big goal down into increments?!

Want to produce a ton?

Then start with your energy.

If your energy kinda wavers, there’s *no way* you’ll create at the levels you could if you were plugged in and shining with radiant energy.

In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (see Notes), Dilbert creator Scott Adams tells us we’re like moist robots that can be programmed for awesome.

Scott says: “Exercise, food, and sleep should be your first buttons to push.”

How’s YOUR exercise, nutrition and sleep?

And, specifically: What’s your #1 non-negotiable self-care habit?

Seriously. What is it?

Let’s make it truly (!) non-negotiable!

You start something…

Do you FINISH it?

Or do you get distracted and then have to come back to it again and again?

We’ve gotta *know* that starting and stopping and “multi-tasking” is HORRIBLY inefficient.

As Piers Steel tells us in The Procrastination Equation, impulsively allowing ourselves to be distracted is THE #1 way to destroy productivity. He estimates that simply removing your email notifications would boost your productivity by 10% which, shockingly, equates to an EXTRA MONTH of productivity every year.

#finish #finish #finish!!!