Well, it's another Monday morning and you're probably working your way through a list of important tasks. Or, you might be sitting looking at the computer, talking to your friends on facebook, and thinking, "I know I've got to start making these phone calls," or, "I know I've got to respond to these messages," or, "I know I've got to start writing that report…"
You're almost ready to do it. Then you take a deep breath, pause, and then get up to make yourself another cup of coffee. By the time you have been through one distraction after another, the morning has gone. You can't understand it though, because you've been so busy!
I'm sure that all of us, at one time or another, have been familiar with this scenario. Not getting on with things because of fear or lack of motivation is commonplace. However, the only way to cure this, as Brian Tracy says in his book, is to "Eat that Frog!"
For those of you who are not familiar with the book, the "frog" is the hardest task of your day. Brian's advice is to "eat the frog" first, and then everything else in the day becomes easier. There's no simple way round this…you just have to start taking instant action. Action cures fear though, and once you make the first step, you immediately start to feel a sense of relief.
What do you do when the frog is more like an elephant? Simple, just break it down into chunks. You've heard the saying, "You can't eat an elephant all at once." Once you've broken it down, set timescales for each chunk, and focus on completing each one.
With any task, big or small, ask yourself who can help you. Get used to delegating parts of tasks, or even whole tasks in some cases. The most successful people in business are those who are able to leverage their time, and can motivate their team to good effect in order to achieve this.
Take a really good look at other ways of managing your time. Are you spending too much of it travelling when you could be getting more people to come to you, or doing phone appointments or maybe a video conference? Do you take work with you that you could be getting on with while waiting for an appointment? Are you making the maximum use of technology to get multiple things done at once? And do you have enough discipline to keep focused and not distracted by time stealers?
Which frog have you chosen to eat today?
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