Eat That Frog!

This book cuts to the chase; it’s all muscle!

 

Not only do I follow as many of the 21 techniques, but the book is amazingly inspiring, and I read it every night. It’s no nonsense, no fluff, and you can take action immediately.

 

All the positive talk in the beginning seemed like platitudes and empty words to me, but as I read more and more, I started repeating the mantras, really believing the words I was saying to myself over and over again.

 

I repeat these mantras every day over and over again until my body and being follow my mind naturally

 

1. 1. I can do it x3
2. 2. Do it now x3
3. 3. Back to work! x3

I learned of this book from a friend who has the older version of it. I glanced through her copy and noticed her notes. She said, 'You have got to get this; it will organize your life.' I purchased the 2nd edition version, read the book through, then reread it, marking the tasks that I feel will help me find the missing hours in a day, so things get accomplished, instead of being brushed under the rug. Sometimes it just seems to be amazing that it is the end of the day, the week, or even the month, and it seems that nothing or not a whole lot seemed to be accomplished. I work in Direct Sales, so it helps there also. It helps me find the time to take care of the household, spend time with each family member and take care of their needs, and still be able to spend time with clients to be able to service them better, allowing them to pass recommendations of me around. I also picked up his book Goals!, keeping them both close at hand so I can glance through and get that boost of energy again, with the "Yes I Can" attitude. "Eat That Frog" will get you out of procrastinating and working with goals, while "Goals!" will get you into setting goals, keeping them, and accomplishing them. It is such a win-win!

“Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy is very worthwhile, a small, easily digested morsel for those of us facing an overwhelming schedule. I read the whole book on a two-hour flight, which arrived early, no less, and was able to take notes on the topics presented. The basic thrust of the book is that you need to plan and implement the plan if you are to succeed. Too many of us procrastinate and therefore never achieve our goals. The key is to determine what the biggest frog in our lives is and start the day by eating it. Once that is done, the rest of the day is a cakewalk. At first, this seems a little simplistic, but Tracy spends his chapters giving you a ton of guidance about how to make this a reality. Much of the advice is stuff that you can find in other works by other people, but Tracy’s simple, clear prose makes this book well worth your time. The Appendix with the 21 principles summarized is particularly helpful. Books like this are books that need to be re-read once a year or so, just so the message continues to stick.

I am in sales management, and some of the keys in this book helped bring to life points that we probably know already through common sense. Organizing a day to increase productivity is something we all need, in business and in our personal lives. There are also sections that call to action, having you write down goals and other activities that make this an act of immersion therapy.

 

I also like that this book isn’t jabbed with fillers and time wasters. It’s good advice presented in a concise manner that can be read quickly.

 

While I think this can be helpful to people in all stages of life (I’m a 40-year-old sales manager), I think it would be extremely impactful for high school and college students organizing their studies.

I have been meaning to read this book since I bought it back in 2011, but because I am very good at procrastinating, I managed to put it off! It has proved its worth already because I have spent the last two days completing a complicated paperwork task, which involved putting together lots of information from all sorts of places and collating it into a coherent whole. I’ve been putting off doing this for the last two months. In the spirit of the book, I decided that this was the frog I really needed to ‘eat’ so that I could get on with my life. If it does nothing else for me, the book has proved worth its purchase price.

 

The book – as its title states – contains twenty-one ways to stop procrastinating and start doing those jobs that you really can’t face. If you do something you don’t like doing first thing in the morning, you will get such a boost from achieving it that you could find the rest of the day is much more productive than usual. Anyone who has read any literature in the field will be familiar with some of the suggested ways of bypassing your procrastination instinct, such as prioritising, making lists, and the Swiss Cheese method (i.e., attacking small chunks of a bigger task so that eventually the bigger task begins to resemble a piece of Swiss Cheese full of holes).

 

I found this book very readable, interesting, and inspiring. If you are a procrastinator, then you may find it helpful, especially if you are putting off doing something that you know will improve your life if you just get down and do it. You may find that the large frog is just not as big and as unpalatable as you think it is once you get started on it. Frogs don’t have to be eaten in one gulp, either, and can be eaten in bite-sized chunks over a period of time. If you only read one book on procrastination, then make it this one.

It would be hard to find a more tightly written and edited book.

 

It was tempting to read the online summaries, but the truth is the text resonates with a quality of thinking and a precision of sentiment that is powerful and motivating in a way that the summaries are not.

 

What the sequencing and arrangement of ideas does is set up a kind of matrix of thoughts around productivity. That makes it very easy to plan a practice. But make no mistake, the book itself is very inspirational.  

I would recommend making copious notes and a regular 21, 30, or 60-day plan to put it into practice. I would also recommend the third edition of his book on goals and his 32 unbreakable laws of money and success, which I am reliably informed is the financial version of this productivity book.

 

I also found the laws of luck to be a very useful presentation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's an easy read and provides tangible and practical tools to maximize your productivity. I liked how to reiterates some fundamental principles of productivity while also providing structured guidance and tools that were new for me. I highly recommend this book!

As soon as I finished this book, I put the principles into action, and I have already seen significant improvement in my work! If you struggle with ADHD, procrastination, perfectionism, or just plain ol' "I don't wanna", this book offers excellent counter-tools to work your way through all that to achieve success. Bonus: this book is short and sweet!