Who Is Linus Ruzicka?

“If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!”

This morning, I received an e-mail from a motivational source I subscribe to – “Simple Truths.”

Today’s entry is about “Eat That Frog”.  Brian Tracy author of “Eat That Frog” says that your “frog” should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one you’re most likely to procrastinate on most.

I agree with his research on this.  Prior to reading the e-mail I received this morning on this, I had already begun to apply this principle in my online business – and really – life in general.  And what a difference it’s made in accomplishing different things throughout my day.

Up until just a few weeks ago, one of my biggest frustrations has been poor time management.  Missed tasks, not finishing things in a timely manner, and getting frustrated because of it.  I decided to make a focused campaign to prioritize my day as far as tasks to be accomplished.

And much like Brian describes, when you eat that “frog” first, it’ll give you the boost you need to for the rest of the day. But, if you don’t…and he sits there all day long staring at you while you accomplish more UN-important things, it will drain your energy and you won’t even know it.

In “Eat That Frog”, Brian dives into the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline and determination. In 21 steps that he outlines what it takes to get more of the important tasks done…today!

Here’s a small sampling in Brian’s chapter titled: “Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything.” Enjoy!

“The 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. It is also called the “Pareto Principle” after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the “vital few”, the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the “trivial many”, the bottom 80 percent.

He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times or more than the other eight items put together.

Number of Tasks versus Importance of Tasks
Here is an interesting discovery. Each of the ten tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of any of the others.

Often, one item on a list of ten tasks that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.

Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments
The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done.

Before you begin work, always ask yourself, “Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?”

The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of your mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.

Motivate Yourself
Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination. Time management is really life management, personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events. Time management is having control over what you do next. And you are always free to choose the task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.

Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average person and are much happier as a result. This should be your way of working as well.”

To view a short 2 minute movie on “Eat That Frog” click here.

By the way, I’m taking up the 30 day challenge at the end of the video.  I challenge you to do the same thing as well!  If you’re going to do it, let me know.  I want to hear about it now and at the end of 30 days to see how it worked out for you!

So, props to Brian Tracy for a quality read on time management and prioritization.  I hope it motivates you for better results in your day.  So that’s why I pass along quality information to you so others benefit from it as well.

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