Eat That Frog

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Chapter 16 - Practice Creative Procrastination 
 
“Make time for getting big tasks done every day. Plan your daily workload 
in advance. Single out the relatively few small jobs that absolutely must be 
done immediately in the morning. Then go directly to the big tasks and 
pursue them to completion.” 
(Boardroom Reports) 
Creative procrastination is one of the most effective of all personal 
performance techniques. It can change your life.
The fact is that you can't do everything that you have to do. You have 
to procrastinate on something! Put off eating smaller or less ugly 
frogs. Eat the biggest and ugliest frogs before anything else. 
The difference between high performers and low performers is 
largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.
Since you must procrastinate anyway, decide today to procrastinate 
on low value activities. Decide to procrastinate, outsource, delegate 
and eliminate those activities that don't make much of a contribution 
to your life in any case. Get rid of the tadpoles and focus on the frogs. 
Here is a key point. To set proper priorities, you must set 
posteriorities as well. A priority is something that you do more of and 
 
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sooner, while a posteriority is something that you do less of and later, 
if at all. 
Rule: “You can only get your time and your life under control to the 
degree to which you discontinue lower value activities.” 
One of the most powerful of all words in time management is the 
word "No!" 
Say "No" to anything that is not a high value use of your time and 
your life. Say it early and say it often. The fact is that you have no 
spare time. As we say, "Your dance card is full."
For you to do something new, you must complete or stop doing 
something old. Getting in requires getting out. Picking up means 
putting down. 
Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately 
deciding upon the exact things you are not going to do right now, if 
ever. 
Most people engage in unconscious procrastination. They 
procrastinate without thinking about it. As a result, they 
procrastinate on the big, hard, valuable, important tasks that can 
have significant long-term consequences to their lives and careers. 
 
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You must avoid this common tendency at all costs.
Your job is to deliberately procrastinate on those tasks that are of low 
value so that you have more time for those tasks that can really make 
a difference in your life and work. 
Continually review your duties and responsibilities to identify those 
time consuming tasks and activities that you can abandon with no 
real loss. This is an ongoing responsibility for you that never ends. 
For example, a friend of mine, when he was single, was an avid 
golfer. He liked to golf three and four times a week, three to four 
hours each time. 
Over a period of years, he started a business, got married and had 
two children. But he still played golf three to five times a week until 
he finally realized that his time on the golf course was causing him 
enormous stress at home and at the office. It was only by abandoning 
most of his golf games that he could get his life back under control. 
Continually review your life and work to find those time consuming 
tasks and activities that you can abandon with no real loss. Cut down 
on television watching and spend the time saved with your family, or 
reading or exercising, or doing something that enhances your life. 
 
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Look at your work activities and identify the tasks that you could 
delegate or eliminate to free up more time for the work that really 
counts. Begin today to practice creative procrastination, to set 
posteriorities wherever and whenever you can. This decision alone 
could change your life.