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011 - Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done - Eat that Frog

Hello there!

Kevin here, with another episode of the Feel Good English podcast. How are you doing? What are you doing? I hope you’re feeling wonderful while listening to this episode wherever you are out there you are in the world.

The book we’re going to talk about today is about frogs. It is called “Eat that Frog,” by Brian Tracy. It’s going to be all about procrastination, time management, how to feel better at the end of the day, how to feel happier and how to be more productive by doing the right tasks at the right time.

The book, ‘Eat that Frog’, let’s get into it – here we go!

So, you ever felt swamped? Do you have personal things to get done work is stressful, so many things at work; your boss wants you to do this, your manager wants you to do something else, and you’re just feeling swamped and overwhelmed. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we feel that we just can’t get everything done.

So with me, I’m starting this new podcast Feel Good English. And with that comes a website, comes marketing, comes branding, making the website look pretty, making good podcast episodes; there are a lot of tasks that need to be done. I started developing things for Feel Good English probably three months ago. And since then, it’s just been a constant struggle of things to do. What do I do first? do I do this? Do I do that?

Damn! What should I do next? Well, that’s kind of why I am talking about this book, because it is also useful for me. I need to really plan my day based on the tasks that are most important. When I do get the things that I know are important, that need to get done when I get those things done, I often feel much better. I feel happier, I feel relaxed, almost like you take a deep breath. [Sigh] And the rest of the day is better. Have you ever feel that way? Once you something done that you’ve been wanting to get done? You feel great after you do it.

So in the book, he talks about two different rules of what to do. You might be thinking, what do I do first. How do we know what tasks to get done?

So the first rule is, eating the biggest frog first. So, you’re going to go out into the field and you’re going to find a frog, and of the biggest one you find, you’re going to eat it. No, not really! The frog, we’re using ‘frog’ as a metaphor. So if you think about a big ugly slimy frog, imagine having to eat that. You wouldn’t want to eat that, it’s gross, it’s hot and slimy and probably tastes absolutely horrible. You probably know the thing that’s on your mind the most and I’ve got to get this done! But, it just seems so hard.

Well, that’s the big ass frog you’re going to eat first, eat it! Get it done first thing in the day.

Rule No. 2, thinking about eating the frog is the worst part. Imagine literally looking at a frog that you have to eat like those crazy TV shows where you have to do crazy challenges. Imagine you’re going to get $10,000 if you eat a frog. So thinking about is the worst part. And then you eat it. No, it’s not fun, but once you’ve done it, you’re done. Rule No.

2, is not just sitting around thinking about eating the frog; you just go for it and do it. This takes discipline, this takes motivation, but attack that frog.

Eat that damn frog without thinking about eating it. Just go for it! Like Nike says, “just do it,”

Getting the biggest tasks out of your mind will give you more energy and confidence for the rest of the day. So now, I’m also going to give you questions you can ask yourself to help you decide what tasks to take care of first. What tasks you’re going to destroy first, what are the big frogs you’re going to eat?

Well, first question to ask yourself; what are the highest value activities?

What are the highest value activities for you? What would bring the most value? Maybe your boss is telling you what you need to do. That’s kind of the benefit of working for somebody, they tell you what to do. But for me for example with my podcast, nobody’s telling me what to do. But you know what, the most value tasks for me are, doing what I am doing right now recording episodes for you. Teaching you lessons from books, on Ted talks that I have watched and love. and answering your questions on the weekends about English specific issues. This is what’s the most important.

This is what’s always my biggest frog.

Another question you can ask yourself, what can I and only I do that will make the biggest difference? So here, you’re to hear you’re bringing in your own skills your own traits that you can offer that something else might not be able to offer. And this will show you what activities might help others the most.

I’ve been teaching English for many years, I’ve thought thousands of hours of classes and I’ve also been reading books on personal development and business leadership for years. So, this is something that I’m good at and I can bring value to you through this. So think about your best skills. What can you do best?

So, if you still don’t know what tasks you should do first thing in the morning, if you’re confused; well again, what’s the most important for your boss or company or whatever that’s obviously something that needs to get done, what can bring the most value to the future? What can help things get accomplished, as opposed to just having stupid meetings and wasting time talking about things. What can you do actually bring results?

And then, a little practice you can do, imagine you’re going on vacation the next day. You’re going to go on vacation you won’t be working, so what do you have to get done before you leave tomorrow on your vacation?

Something you can tell yourself. Then this comes from the book. You’re going on vacation tomorrow, what needs to get done today!? If I was going to go on vacation tomorrow, that would be great. I would like to have a vacation it’s been a while. I would record as many episodes as possible. So then while I’m on vacation maybe sometimes I could come and edit them and put them online and those things that are secondary. But the biggest thing is recording them.

Okay, time for action!

You out there listening to this sitting on the bus, walking on the streets, running in the gym, climbing a mountain, wherever you are, what is the most important thing, what is that thing on your mind that you’ve been trying to get done, but you just haven’t, it’s been stressing you out? It’s always in the back of your mind, it’s always hanging out in the back of your mind, causing a little anxiety. Well, that’s what you’re going to do. Do that the first chance you get. Eat that big ass frog! That task has been anxiety.

Maybe it’s something in English. Have you been wanting to prepare for an exam? Maybe IELTS or the TOEFL something like that, and it’s causing you anxiety? Well, go online download a guide and just start reading about it, do it. Then see how you feel. Feel a little less anxiety right? We can actually become addicted to this feeling. This is a good addiction. It’s not like addicted to crack! It’s addicted to feeling accomplished. Feeling addicted to the sensations after getting the most important tasks completed. Let’s get addicted to feeling good, not crack. Again, remember the Nike phrase, when you’re looking at the big ugly slimy frog, just do it, just eat it, just do that big task. Getting the biggest tasks out of your mind will give you more energy and confidence. The very famous author Mark Twain says, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s introductory to frogs it’s best to be the biggest one first,” Bam!

Going over vocabs from today’s episode: first one is a phrasal verb. Maybe you’ve heard this in another episode. The phrasal verb is, ‘put off.’ To put off is to postpone to not do it now. To save it for later. Don’t put off eating that frog anymore. Don’t put eating that frog off anymore.

Next one is to be or feel swamped. What’s a swamp? Swamp is where you have alligators, water, free wets. You find them in Florida, maybe in your country you have an area that’s swampy. The swamp man lives in the swamp. If you feel swamped, it means you feel overwhelmed with things to do. You have too many things to do. You can’t do everything. You’re feeling stressed, but it’s more than stressed. Swamped means you’re just covered in tasks. You have more things to do than you think it’s possible to do – it’s not a good feeling. I’m so swamped today.

Next one is, stressed out. I’m stressed out. It’s like stressed. I’m stressed out. I’m stressed. Same thing. Something can’t stress you out, something can stress you out. God! She really stresses me out. She just doesn’t stop talking. She’s annoying, she stresses me out. What stresses you out? Also Slimy, what’s slimy? S-L-I-M-Y a slimy frog. Imagine if you touch a frog, that’s slimy. Slimy frogs!

So that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed eat that frog. If you want to know more, there’s a lot more lessons from the book, Eat that Frog. If you want to go deeper. obviously, this is only a quick summary of the book.

Sometimes to really get the ideas from it, you have to read the entire book. Go to my website, you will find the book there. Eat that Frog, by Brian Tracy. You can also go to the www.feelgoodenglish.com and find the transcript to this episode and eat the transcript, whatever that means.

And your joke for the day:

Why a frog is so happy? Because they eat whatever bugs them.

See you next time!