Why is it important to perform unpleasant tasks first?
There are things in our lives that need can be quite a bit of time, but unpleasant. Call customer unfriendly; finally cause plumbing; ask the boss for salary increase, etc. "Frogs" are called in the time management such tasks.
"Frog" is often long delayed and threatened to grow into big trouble. It's a shame out: the task that required 5 minutes, was postponed for weeks and, therefore, has developed into a problem to be solved by will have to spend a lot of hours.
There is a saying: "Every morning, eats a frog." Indeed, starting from the day of being eaten by a "frog", you go all day cheerfully. About the rest, "frogs" you do not remember - they stayed for the next days. Conversely, if the morning, "frog" does not eat - it will be all day looming somewhere on the horizon and poison life.
Mark Twain once said that if in the morning to eat a frog, the remainder of the day is going to be wonderful, because the worst is over for today. Echoing him, an expert with a worldwide reputation for personal efficiency expert Brian Tracy advises anyone who wants to achieve something, every day in the first place to eat your "frog": to carry out the most difficult and most important of all future cases.
The main ideas
- Perform all tasks impossible without exception - but it is not necessary. It is enough to learn how to define your "frog" and start the day with their "eating".
- "Frog" - the most important work that we tend to put off.
- In order to properly set goals, enough to make 7 simple steps.
- It is important to learn how to sort tasks by importance.
Most of us will never have enough time for all things, even though we are torn into pieces. Brian Tracy believe that the pursuit of this chimera: we will always be waiting for more cases than we are able to alter. But this does not mean that we can not become masters of their time and their lives. Expert offers master invented their system, which can be called like this: "Eat your frog!".
Your "frog" - is the largest and most important work that you usually pulls. That's it, and we must "eat" in the first place.
When "eating frogs' important to follow two simple rules.
1 of the first two starts with the most frustrating
If you need to perform two important tasks, start with the most ambitious, complex and main. It is important to train yourself to be taken for it without delay, to bring the case to the end and only then proceed to the next. Resist the temptation to start with the more simple!
Remember, the most important decision that you take every day - what to do in the first place, and what - the second (unless, of course, be able to finish the first case).
2. do not loiter TOO LONG
The secret to high performance - in the habit every day in the morning, do not hesitate for a long time, to undertake major work. The habit, brought to automaticity!
We arranged in such a way that the end of the case brings us satisfaction and allows you to feel like winners. And the more important thing is, the more is our joy, confidence, a sense of their power.
At such times, our brain begins to produce a hormone of pleasure - endorphin. One of the most important secrets of success - "a useful habit" to endorphins and to the sense of clarity and confidence that they cause.
When this happens, you begin to unconsciously organize their lives so as to continuously perform from start to finish all the most difficult and important things to do. Through the power of this habit it will be easier to finish the job than to leave it unfinished.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR HOME "frog"?
Before you schedule the first "frog" and start its "eating", it is necessary to understand exactly what you want to achieve in life.
Clarity - perhaps the main component of personal effectiveness. And one of the main reasons why you hesitate and do not want to get to work, - confusion in the thoughts and feelings of uncertainty.
An important rule for those who want to succeed when pondering something, grab a pen and paper assistants. Of all adults, only about 3% are able to articulate their goals in writing. These people manage to do ten times more than their counterparts, maybe even more educated and capable, but do not bother to take the time to list your goals on paper.
Seven simple steps
How to set goals correctly? This is an effective recipe that will serve you for the rest of your life. You need to perform steps 7.
1. Identify what is required of you. It's amazing how many people continue to waste time on minor things just because they do not think about this question. In the words of a well-known specialist in personal effectiveness Stephen Covey: "Before you climb the ladder to success, make sure that it is leaning against the building to which you need."
2. "Think on paper." Writing is formulating the problem, you hone it, and gives it the material tangibility. While the target is not recorded, it remains just a wish or fantasy. Of all the possible targets, select the one reached where you change your life.
3. Set the time. The task for which are not defined terms, is not real - in fact, this thing without beginning or end.
4. Make a list of resources and actions to achieve the goal . Realizing that you need something else, add the item to the list. List will give you a visible picture of the scale of the problem.
5. Turn the list into a plan. Set the order of execution of all cases, and even better - draw a rectangle plan, circles, lines, and arrows that show the relationship between different tasks.
6. Immediately start to implement a plan in life . Start with what you want. Much better than average, but vigorous execution plan than brilliant, but that nothing has been done.
7. Carry out the work on a daily basis, and every day will be a stepping stone, brings you closer to the main goal. Do not miss a single day, all the time moving forward.
HOW TO EAT "FROG"?
Remember the famous joke about how to eat an elephant? The answer is simple: "Up the Pieces." Similarly, you can eat and their "frog". Break up the process into individual steps and start with the first. And this requires awareness and planning skills.
Do not be fooled by the excuses that you do not have time to make a plan. Every minute spent on planning saves 10 minutes of your labor.
To properly organize the day, you will need 10-12 minutes. Such a small investment of time will allow you to increase the efficiency by 25% or even more.
Each evening, make a list of cases for tomorrow. First, transfer all that could not be done today. Then add a new business.
Why is it important to do it the day before? Because then your unconscious works with him at night, while you sleep. Soon you will start to wake up full of new ideas that will help you get the job done faster and better than you expected beforehand.
In addition, the need to pre-compile lists for a month and all days of the week.
Sorts "FROG" in importance
Analyze lists drawn up and in front of each item put the letters A, B, C, D, E, depending on the priority.
The point labeled A - the largest and most unpleasant "frog". If the list a few of these cases are ranked according to their importance: A1 A2 and so on. If you do not perform the task of category A, it will lead to serious negative consequences if you do - you are waiting for serious positive results.
B - things that need to be done, but their fulfillment or non-fulfillment would entail not so serious.
In - cases that would be good to do, but the special effects in any case will not.
T - cases that can delegate.
D - items that can simply erase, and it is almost on anything not affect. These are once-important tasks that have lost value, and for you and for others. Often such cases, we continue to be engaged simply by force of habit, but every minute spent on them, you take away from cases that could dramatically change your life.
Your ability to analyze your list and find the task A1 - a springboard to jump to a higher level. Do not do chores marked B, until the work is done, marked with the letter A. develop a habit to focus energy and attention on the A1 fact, you will begin to make more than a few colleagues together.
And remember: the habit at the end of each week to spend a couple of hours on the organization of the upcoming week will help you not only to increase personal productivity, but also to change lives.