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Eat that Frog – A Contemporary Approach to Time Management
Mark Twain once said – “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”. As yuck as it sounds, there is a deep meaning behind this which still goes on to rule the modern world. The world has undergone drastic changes over these years in terms of digitization, economy, professionalism, working culture etc. But the underlying essence of what this renowned author once said, still holds true, of course, in its modern-day form now.
This article talks about an effective productivity method or a time management method that is named after the old saying. This productivity approach is named ‘Eat the frog’ and has turned out to be one of the most popular ones today, in enhancing productivity and managing time with effectiveness.
The Terminology of ‘Eat the Frog’ – How Did It Origin?
The very first question that arises in our mind is ‘why a frog?’, something that brings a frown or ugly feeling on your face. Not to worry! Eat the frog meaning is not about actually eating a frog. In this case, a frog indicates the task that we fear the most or tend to postpone it because we are not keen to do it. It means the most important task that you may be deferring due to various reason. What Mark Twain meant was that you must take up such tasks first and attempt to finish them so that your mind is then free to think of the rest.
Based on this, years later, Brian Tracy wrote a life-changing Eat the Frog book on productivity – ‘Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time’ that talks about confronting your most difficult task (the frog) first in the day and arranging the day in such a way that you can, on a positive note, zero in all your important tasks and achieve them effectively. This, according to him, is the best way to garner happiness and success in life and hence one of the ideal ways to proper time management. He also shows different approaches to implement it in our daily lives
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 seem to be naturally motivated to continue.”
–Brian Tracy
Eat the Frog – Target Audience
This technique is meant for all those who are handing businesses and looking for faster and accurate means to enhance their productivity levels and manage time to its best. All those who are handling multiple projects simultaneously, having deadlines all through the week, are not used to a fixed schedule, have problems maintaining focus on tasks or prioritizing them are a perfect fit to implement the ‘Eat the Frog’ approach.
Identification of Frogs
It is a tough call to ascertain which of our daily tasks can be considered as frogs, i.e. must be prioritized, and performed early. These tasks are such that we would be avoiding them due to some reason, as mentioned below:
A frog could be
- An extremely difficult or boring task
- A time-consuming task
- A seemingly unachievable task
Different Ways You Can Eat the Frog to Get Best of Results
There are different ways you can choose to implement effective ways to eat the frog, i.e. give priority to your most important or complicated task, here are they:
- Develop a habit of ‘eating the frog’ on a regular basis
- Have a positive attitude filled with confidence and accuracy
- Set short-term and long-term objectives and monitor their achievement
- Don’t go always by the short routes, they usually tend to fool you
- Put in desired efforts in completing any tasks, hard work always pays
- Have one frog at a time – in case of multiple complicated or tough tasks, choose the one with maximum severity and do that first
- Possess self-discipline in such a way that don’t leave the task till it achieves desired results
- Don’t just plan and think, implement actions immediately to get outcome
- Master the art of planning through various planning tools
- Segregate and divide major tasks into smaller chunks
- If possible, plan for the frog the previous day
- Fulfil the 80-20 rule – get 80% of your results from 20% of your work
Key Advantages of ‘Eating the Frog’
- Creates a positive and encouraging attitude
- Instils confidence in completing other tasks during the day
- Simplifies the work of prioritizing tasks
- Manages time effectively and lets you perform more activities
- Stimulates a deep work habit
- Helps in planning your day in advance
- Makes sure that you set your own schedule
- Complete leverage of working hours
- Flexible and simple to understand and use
Eat the Frog – The Process
- From amongst the list of tasks, find out the frog
- If the frog is too big, break it down into smaller tasks
- Work on your ‘frog’ as early as possible
- Achieve success in completing the ‘frog’ task
- Shift focus on the other activities and if needed, choose yet another frog
- Repeat this activity everyday in the morning and stay adamant on not leaving this cycle
There are many software applications that help in implementing this technique. For e.g., Clockify, Todoist etc. are good time management systems that helps implement ‘Eat the Frog’ approach.
As a routine guiding assumption, it is a good idea to implement this technique with a positive attitude. Though ‘Eat the Frog’ has many pros, there are certain gray areas that is has. It makes the start of the day quite a tough one. It may act impractical and rigid for certain cases in which case it may not get the desired results.
But the underlying message that it conveys is valuable. If you wish to succeed in your life, you must learn to take immediate and required action without overthinking much. Nevertheless, there are many advantages, and it is surely worth a try!
The post was originaly published on ..productivitybuzz.com
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Time Management Games-Vital for increasing Productivity
Time management is crucial to accomplish tasks in a limited time frame. Time management games prove how to plan your day to be productive to be of great help in boosting productivity and accomplishing targets on time.
A time management game is a real-life, online, or offline game/video that can be enjoyed either individually or as a group to fulfil certain goals, in a specified time with limited resources, following a certain workflow. Playing time management activity games is a good way to unwind yourselves and augment teamworking capacity. Such games can be enjoyed while the break is on or before/after working hours
Effective time management and organization is a skill that is must for everyone alike – be it on a personal level or a professional level, be is employees or employers. One effective and simplistic way to embed time management skills in your routine is time management games. As the world understands the importance of gaming beyond entertainment, this genre is coming up as the apt way to increase productivity, complete activities on time, enhance profitability and collaboration.
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A writer, a productivity guru, a podcaster – Merlin Mann coined the term ‘Inbox Zero’ as a modern-day philosophy of email management to handle incoming emails regularly and ensure none are left unattended. The major objective was to keep the inbox completely empty or attended. The terminology ‘zero’ does not mean having nil emails in the inbox.
The basic purpose of having an Inbox Zero method is to waste the least of time in going through the messages in the Inbox. It is highly important since users will never miss any important email while using this method.
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How to Plan Your Day to Improve your productivity?
“Failing to plan how to be more confident is planning to fail” – Allen Lakein Do these questions bother you daily? What did I do all day long? Why couldn’t I finish my tasks? Am I focussing on my priorities? Where is my time going whole day? If yes, this is the perfect read for you. This article focusses on how to plan your day for the best of productivity and satisfaction. Most of us do realize that time is money and how important planning is but tend to drift away from working on a fruitful plan. Starting your day without a plan is not always right. Yes, there could be some days of leisure to rejuvenate but to attain a productive week, planning is very important.
Many of us want to plan and achieve our goals but get stuck up in how to plan your day at work or at home. Let us go through the nuances of how best to plan and achieve success in reaching your goals – be it daily, monthly, yearly, and so on. This article will help you understand the importance of regular planning
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“To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable.”
– Cal NewportToday is the world of businesses running successfully irrespective of size, segment, and location, creating value and skill. For any business to offer the best of results, one of the major factors is garnering optimum productivity. Whiling time over emails, meetings and chats may not facilitate efficiency. To become unique and gain acknowledgment, it is essential to embrace a different methodology altogether.
One modern-day capability that is shining bright is Deep Work. It is a new age terminology that has been showing its charm, for all those who are looking for centred success in a preoccupied world. Let us understand this terminology in detail and its impact on today’s business era.
What is Deep Work?
If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are― Cal Newport
Coined by a famous author and professor at the Georgetown University – Cal Newport, Deep Work is the competence to focus without any distraction on a cognitive job. It talks about the professional activities that are done in a state of concentration that help in thrusting your cognitive competence beyond capacities. These actions help in creating value, enhancing skill, and increasing productivity.
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