Brian Tracy explains why you should tackle your biggest, hardest task first thing in the morning. He argues that most people confuse busy work with real progress, and that completing difficult tasks builds momentum and a positive addiction to finishing things.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about some of the top takeaways from my global bestseller, 10 million copies, 46 countries eat that Frog. With excellent time management, you get more living out of life, more time for the people and things that you enjoy. If you haven't read it, click the link on the screen for a free transcript of some of the best takeaways from the book. Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that's going to happen to you all day long. Your frog is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it and get it done. This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you start with the biggest, hardest and most important task. First, discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else. 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. This habit is well adopted by many successful people, so much so that I consider it an essential leadership quality for any CEO or person who wants to be successful, who intends to accomplish great things. The next takeaway from Eat that frog is that you must take action immediately. Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single mindedly until those tasks are complete. Failure to execute is one of the biggest problems in organizations today. Many people confuse activity with accomplishment. They talk continually, hold endless meetings, and make wonderful plans. But in the final analysis, no one does the job and gets the results required. Your dream and all of those potential benefits from achieving your dream will not do anyone any good until you take action on your thoughts and feelings, set the goal, and then get going. A third takeaway from my book is to develop a positive addiction. You can actually develop a positive addiction to endorphins and to the feeling of enhanced clarity and confidence and competence that they trigger. When you develop this addiction, which you get from working and completing your most important task, you will, at an unconscious level, begin to organize your life in such a way that you are continually starting to and completing ever more important tasks and projects. You will actually become addicted in a very positive sense to success and contribution. You'll want more and more of it and nothing else will satisfy you. Setting short and long term goals will help you experience this hooked feeling as the satisfaction of accomplishing each task triggers the brain's reward and pleasure system. The final takeaway is that there are no shortcuts. You must practice, practice, Practice. Practice is the key to mastering any skill. Fortunately, your mind is like a muscle. It grows stronger and more capable with use. With practice you can learn any behavior or develop any habit that you consider either desirable or necessary. Now, I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is what is your frog? What is the one task that you despise doing or try to get out of or put off doing every morning? Once you have chosen your frog, make it a habit to wake up every morning and do that task first before anything else. Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future, take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about how to eat that frog, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.
