I finished another book for this month. Yay! Read my learnings from the previous book I read here. Although I have started this earlier this year. I found myself starting a lot of books and never finished it.
Majority of the books I picked up are self-help books. I believe that reading is a brain exercise at the same time, it helps me relax and practice my thoughts.
Eat that Frog
The book is about how to stop procrastinating and how to get more important things done every day. It has 21 tips that you can apply altogether or you can choose your top 5.
I am listing down my top 7 favourites that I can instantly apply with hopes that you’ll try to do in your daily lives too.
#1 Plan every day in advance
This is true in all forms because if you plan your day ahead the next morning is more relaxed. I say relax because you won’t be cramming with all the task you have and can push back.
I plan on a weekly basis and do daily planning in the morning.
#2 Practice creative procrastination
This tip tells us to remove the task that doesn’t add any value so you will have more time to focus on what really matters.
For example, instead of endlessly surfing the net or binge watching a TV series you could already have your exercise or plan your meal.
We cannot do everything at once so might as well do things that will yield better results.
#3 Apply the law of three
I found this way better than listing an endless to dos each day and end up being stress out when I do not finish them.
The law three means choosing your top three core task for your business or organisation
You can ask yourself “What is that one task that you can do all day long that would greatly contribute to the success of your company?”
This law is also applicable to all aspects of our life such as health, relationships, and financial goals. If we are to figure out the top three and focus on completing them we will have more time for activities that will give us happiness and satisfaction.
#4 Prepare before you begin
This tip says that you must have all the things you need for work before actually beginning it.
You must have all the information, reports, props, and other things needed so you do not cut your task in between just to get the things you need to accomplish them.
For example, writing a blog post like this. It is better to have the photos edited, uploaded, and labelled before driving into writing so you won’t be interrupted when you write the post.
If you don’t do this, you will see yourself not finishing the post because you still need time to sort out the photos, edit them, then upload them.
Make sense?
#5 Upgrade your key skills
I love this tip. I didn’t know it can immensely affect your productivity by upscaling your key skills.
If you upgrade your skills, it will help you finish the job faster because you will learn new tricks. You will find new tools to help you, and you can teach someone else so you can start delegating some tasks to others.
In order to do this, you must spend at least one hour reading about your field. Take time to enrol to online courses and finish them.
Decide to be the very best at what you do
Page 62, Eat that frog by Brian Tracy
#6 Focus your attention
Stop interrupting yourself. If you must turn on aeroplane mode so you won’t be disturbed. Inform your colleagues, family members, and friends that for a particular window time you are working on something.
If you focus your mind to one task at a time you can finish them faster giving you more time to spend time with them.
#7 Motivate yourself into action
Stay optimistic and constructive. Focus on the solution and not the problem. At the end of the day, we are the master doer of the tasks we listed. We should cheer ourselves up in order to accomplish them.
Conclusion
Make these habits a permanent part of your life. Practice time management in order to be productive than ever.
I tell you it is hard at first and I am still in the process of focusing my energy into tasks. As a freelancer, this helped me perform better for my clients.
Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts.
This book is available on leading bookstores nationwide at Php 295
