Decide exactly what you want. Clarity is essential. Write out your goals and objectives before you begin.

Set the Table

Break large, complex tasks down into bite-sized pieces, and then do just one small part of the task to get started.

Slice and Dice the Task

Before to begin work on a list of tasks, take a few moments to organize them by value and priority so you can be sure of working on your most important activities.

Use the ABCDE Method Continually

Thin on paper. Every minute you spend in planning can save you five or ten minutes in execution.

Plan Every Day in Advance

Identify and determine those results that you absolutely, positively have to get to do your job well, and work on them all day long.

Focus on Key Result Areas

Identify the three thing you do in your work that account for 90 percent of your contribution, and focus on getting them done before anything else. You will then have more time for your family and personal life.

The Law of Three

Imagine that you have to leave town for a month, and work as if you had to get all your major tasks completed before you left.

Put the Pressure on Yourself

Make a habit of moving fast on your key tasks. Become known as a person who does things quickly and well.

Develop a Sense of Urgency

You must discipline yourself to treat technology as a servant, not a master.

Be your own cheerleader. Look for the good in every situation. Focus on the solution rather than the problem. Always be optimistic and constructive.

Motivate Yourself into Action

Your mental picture of yourself has a powerful effect on your behavior. Visualize yourself as a person you intend to be in the future.

Your most important tasks and priorities are those that can have the most serious consequences, positive or negative, on your life or work. Focus on these above all else.

Consider the Consequences

Set a deadline on your goal; set subdeadlines if necessary.

Organize your days around large blocks of time where you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks.

Create Large Chunks of Time

You can accomplish the biggest and most complicated job if you just complete it one step at a time.

Take it One Oil Barrel at a Time

Practice is the key to mastering any skill.

Twenty percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results. Always concentrate your efforts on that top 20 percent.

Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

Identify your periods of highest mental and physical energy each day, and structure your most important and demanding tasks around these times. Get lots of rest so you can perform at your best.

Maximize Your Personal Power

Since you can't do everything, you must learn to deliberately put off those tasks that are low value so that you have enough time to do the few things that really count.

Practice Creative Procrastination

Determine exactly what it is that you are very good at doing, or could be very good at, and throw your whole heart into doing those specific things very, very well.

Leverage Your Special Talents

Have everything you need at hand before you start. Assemble all the papers, information, tools, work materials, and numbers you might require so that you can get started and keep going.

Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

Use technology to improve the quality of your communications, but do not allow yourself to become a slave to it. Learn to occasionally turn things off and leave them off.

Get Out of the Technological Time Sinks

The more knowledgeable and skilled you become at your key tasks, the faster you start them and the sooner to get them done.

Upgrade Your Key Skills

Determine the bottlenecks or choke points, internal or external, that set the speed at which you achieve your most important goals, and focus on alleviating them.

Identify Your Key Constraints

Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task, and then work without stopping until the job is 100 percent complete. This is the real key to high performance and maximum personal productivity.

Single Handle Every Task

21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time.

The motivational classic with more than 1.5 million copies sold will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important things done—today!   There just isn’t enough time for everything on our to-do list—and there never will be. Successful people don’t try to do everything. They learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure those get done. They eat their frogs.   There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re done with the worst thing you’ll have to do all day. For Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task—but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life. Eat That Frog—Snapshots shows you how to organize each day so you can zero in on these critical tasks and accomplish them efficiently and effectively.   In this fully redesigned and illustrative edition, Tracy explains how you can use technology to remind yourself of what is most important and protect yourself from what is least important. But one thing remains unchanged: Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline, and determination. This life-changing book will ensure that you get more of your important tasks done—today!

productivity

Productivity

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

books

Books

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.Brian has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Set the Table

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1. First, write down your goals