Eat That Frog

 
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Eat That Frog!  Review your list of tasks, activities and projects 
regularly. Continually ask yourself, “Which one project or activity, if 
I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest 
positive impact on my life?” 
Whatever it is that can help you the most, set it as a goal, make a plan 
to achieve it and go to work on your plan immediately. Remember 
the wonderful words of Goethe, “Just begin and the mind grows heated; 
continue, and the task will be completed!” 
 
 
 
 
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Chapter 5 - Practice the ABCDE Method Continually 
 
“The first law of success is concentration – to bend all the energies to one 
point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right or to the 
left.” (William Mathews) 
The more thought you invest in planning and setting priorities before 
you begin, the more important things you will do and the faster you 
will get them done once you get started. 
The more important and valuable the task is to you, the more you 
will be motivated to overcome procrastination and launch yourself 
into the job. 
The ABCDE Method is a powerful priority setting technique that you 
can use every single day. This technique is so simple and effective 
that it can, all by itself, make you one of the most efficient and 
effective people in your field. 
The power of this technique lies in its simplicity. Here’s how it 
works: You start with a list of everything you have to do for the 
coming day. Think on paper. 
You then place an A, B, C, D or E before each item on your list before 
you begin the first task. 
 
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An "A" item is defined as something that is very important. This is 
something that you must do. This is a task for which there can be 
serious consequences if you do it or fail to do it, like visiting a key 
customer or finishing a report for your boss that she needs for an 
upcoming board meeting. These are the frogs of your life. 
If you have more than one "A" task, you prioritize these tasks by 
writing A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on in front of each item. Your A-1 
task is your biggest, ugliest frog of all. 
A "B" item is defined as a task that you should do. But it only has mild 
consequences. These are the tadpoles of your work life. This means 
that someone may be unhappy or inconvenienced if you don't do it, 
but it is nowhere as important as an "A" task. Returning an 
unimportant telephone message or reviewing your email would be a 
"B" task. 
The rule is that you should never do a "B" task when there is an "A" 
task left undone. You should never be distracted by a tadpole when 
there is a big frog sitting there waiting to be eaten. 
A "C" task is defined as something that would be nice to do, but for 
which there are no consequences at all, whether you do it or not. "C" 
tasks include phoning a friend, having coffee or lunch with a 
 
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coworker or completing some personal business during work hours. 
This sort of activity has no affect at all on your work life. 
A "D" task is defined as something you can delegate to someone else. 
The rule is that you should delegate everything that anyone else can 
do so that you can free up more time for the "A" tasks that only you 
can do. 
An "E" task is defined as something that you can eliminate altogether 
and it won't make any real difference. 
This may be a task that was important at one time but which is no 
longer relevant to yourself or anyone else. Often it is something you 
continue to do out of habit or because you enjoy it. 
After you have applied the ABCDE Method to your list, you will now 
be completely organized and ready to get more important things 
done faster. 
The key to making this ABCDE Method work is for you to now 
discipline yourself to start immediately on your "A-1" task and then 
stay at it until it is complete. Use your willpower to get going and 
stay going on this one job, the most important single task you could 
possibly be doing. Eat the whole frog and don’t stop until its finished 
completely. 
 
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Your ability to think through, analyze your work list and determine 
your "A-1" task is the springboard to higher levels of 
accomplishment, and greater self-esteem, self-respect and personal 
pride. 
When you develop the habit of concentrating on your "A-1," most 
important activity, on eating your frog, you will start getting more 
done than any two or three people around you.