Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy | Book Summary

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

Mark Twain

Do you feel like there are never enough hours in the day to get your professional tasks accomplished? In life, there will always be something to do. With long to-do lists, tight deadlines, and a demanding workload, it’s sometimes hard for professionals and business owners to stay organized and efficient.

Fortunately, Brian Tracy’s essential productivity book, Eat That Frog, provides powerful strategies and insights to help entrepreneurs and high performers maximize their time, overcome procrastination habits, and complete projects with ease.

This “Eat That Frog” summary will cover the key points of this must-read guide so that you can start implementing transformative tips into your working life today!

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Introduction

You will never have enough time, so you need to focus on your more important or challenging tasks to produce the most significant results. One of the biggest issues that hold people and organizations back is the failure to take action on their most important priorities.

In Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Brian Tracy’s main idea is about eating that frog, meaning:

Frog – “biggest, most important task; the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it”

Tracy claims that the key to success is to choose your most important task, concentrate on it, do it well, and finish it completely. In the book, he outlines 21 ways to stop procrastinating and increase your personal productivity.

Chapter 1: Set The Table

In Chapter 1 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy helps you set the table by gaining clarity on your work. First, you need to have a vision or clarity on what you want in terms of goals and the steps you will take to accomplish the vision.

Tracy outlines the following steps for setting and achieving goals:

1. Decide on the high-level goals that only you want.
2. Write the goals in the present tense, positive voice, and in the first person singular.
3. Set deadlines and sub-deadlines for your goals.
4. Make a to-do list of all individual tasks that you will have to do to achieve your goal.
5. Create a plan by ordering your list by priority and sequence.
   1. Priority – what is most important
   2. Sequence – which task you must complete in order
6. Take action immediately on your plan.
7. Work to take action every single day to move toward finishing your major goals.

For more, check out our post on setting and achieving SMART Goals.

Action Item: Write your goals and action plan down to motivate you to take action.

Chapter 2: Plan Every Day In Advance

In Chapter 2 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy helps you leverage proper prior planning to overcome procrastination, eat that frog, and become more productive. If you plan for 10 minutes the night before, you will save two hours and increase output by 25%.

Make a master list of your should-do tasks and emphasize the frog or your most important task. Also, Tracy recommends planning and creating the following task lists: 

• Master List – write down everything you want to do in the future
• Monthly List – make at the end of the month for doing the monthly planning
• Weekly List – spend a few hours planning your entire week

A lot of successful execution can be largely determined by reviewing the prior period, figuring out how to improve, and planning for the next period.

Action Item: Spend 10 minutes the night before to plan your day. Make a list of the 3-5 most important tasks with an emphasis on your frog.

Chapter 3: Apply The 80/20 Rule

In Chapter 3 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy introduces Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 Rule:

80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) – People, in terms of money and influence, are divided naturally between the “vital few” and the “trivial many.”

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is one of the most widely accepted concepts in business management and forced efficiency. It suggests that 80% of our efforts yield only 20% of the results, while a mere 20% of our efforts produce 80% of the outcome.

Tracy builds on this principle by claiming that your frog or a major task can have a much great result compared to nine lesser or other tasks. Thus, you need to focus on your most challenging task to have the most rewarding payoffs.

Ask Yourself: How can I apply the 80/20 rule to figure out my most important priorities?

Chapter 4: Consider The Consequences

In Chapter 4 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy argues that it is essential to consider the potential consequences of any task or activity to determine your priorities in life and work. Your frogs, or key tasks, will have the greatest implications, both positive and negative.

“Future intent influences and often determines present actions.” Thus, successful people have a clear long-term vision, delay gratification, and make short-term decisions accordingly.

Ask Yourself: What are the potential positive and negative consequences of doing or not doing this task?

Chapter 5: Practice Creative Procrastination

In Chapter 5 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy helps you practice creative procrastination. He states that you can be more productive by creatively procrastinating on smaller low-value tasks:

Creative Procrastination – the art of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact few things that you are not going to do right now, if ever

High performers and leaders use their time wisely by prioritizing high-value activities and outsourcing, delegating, or deleting these low-value activities. So continually review your life and work and look to procrastinate on key tasks and remove all the other tasks that are time-consuming and low-value.

Ask Yourself: What can I say no to right now that is absolutely not vital?

Chapter 6: Use The ABCDE Method

In Chapter 6 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy suggests using the ABCDE method to prioritize your tasks for the day:

ABCDE Method – priority setting technique, in which you list everything that you want to do that day and label each item with A, B, C, D or E in terms of value and priority:

• A – very important task that you must do with serious consequences
• B – important task that you should do with mild consequences
• C – nice-to-do task with no consequences at all
• D – task that can be delegated to someone else to free up more time
• E – task that you can eliminate and would not make a real difference

You can create subtasks using a dash and numbers, like A-1, A-2, and so on. Your frog, or most difficult task, should be labeled A-1, so start your day by eating that frog.

Action Item: When planning your days, use the ABCDE method to prioritize tasks and emphasize on your A-1 task.

Chapter 7: Focus On Key Result Areas

In Chapter 7 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy recommends examining your key result areas and continuously working to improve them:

Key Result Area – activity under your control that produces products and output that contributes to the work of others

After determining your key result areas, give yourself a grade for how well you execute your key result areas. Remember, it is your weaknesses that hold back all your other skills. Thus, you need to never stop learning and work to improve your weakest key result area.

Ask Yourself: What are my key result areas, and how can I work to improve them?

Chapter 8: Apply The Law Of Three

In Chapter 8 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy says that you can use the law of three to identify your three most important goals:

Law of Three – your three core tasks that will result in most of the value that you contribute to your organization

You can use this law to figure out your three goals in wealth (finances and career), relationships (friends and family), and health (fitness and nutrition). You will seldomly achieve balance, so it is essential to focus on these goals to make a significant contribution:

Contribution – the value of the results that are proportional to your financial and emotional rewards

Action Item: Apply the law of three to identify your top three goals in a given area of your personal life.

Chapter 9: Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

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In Chapter 9 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy suggests being prepared by having only the few things necessary to eat that frog. So you should clear and set up your work environment and desktop to be comfortable and attractive. You should gather the tools, papers, and information needed to complete the task at hand. Lastly, remove all distractions and turn off digital notifications, as these will distract you.

Action Item: Prepare your workspace and digital environment before beginning the task at hand.

Download the PDF Book Summary for Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Chapter 10: Take It One Oil Barrel At A Time

In Chapter 10 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy discusses a story, in which travelers used oil barrels to journey through a large desert. Travelers could only see two oil barrels at a time and had to brave the trip one barrel at a time to survive. Thus, you need to focus on eating that frog, one at a time, when trying to accomplish a large, complex project.

Action Item: Focus on the smaller task at hand, and don’t worry about the more extensive, daunting project.

Chapter 11: Upgrade Your Key Skills

In Chapter 11 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy states that over time, knowledge and skills will become obsolete, so you need to upgrade your key skills:

Key Skill – your expertise or ability to do something well

You need to identify what you are great at and what you can do better and then focus on improving these special talents. The better you become at specific skills, the more motivated and confident you will be to eat specific frogs faster and excel.

Additionally, Tracy outlines the following three steps to achieving skill mastery:

• Read about your field for at least one hour every day
• Take every course and seminar available on the special talents that can help you
• Attend business meetings and conferences
• Listen to audio programs during your commute

Ask Yourself: What skill, if only I had developed it and did it well, would positively impact my work?

Photo by Branko Stancevic on Unsplash

Chapter 12: Identify Your Key Constraints

In Chapter 12 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy states that we all have key constraints (bottlenecks or chokepoints) that get in the way of eating that frog:

Key Constraint – factors that set the rate at which you achieve your goals

We need to identify the limiting factor that holds us back:

• 80% of constraints are internal, or those that exist within you or your company; examples include personal powers, qualities, ability, habits, disciplines, or competencies
• 20% of constraints are external, or those that exist outside you or your organization; examples include competition, markets, governments, or other factors

Since most limiting factors are internal, we need to accept complete responsibility for our lives, issues, and actions.

Ask Yourself: What is it within me that is holding me back?

Chapter 13: Put The Pressure On Yourself

In Chapter 13 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy claims that successful people self-induce healthy amounts of stress on themselves to perform at a high and continuous level. Thus, you should set high standards and form the habit of putting pressure on yourself. Don’t wait for someone else to come along and do it for you. When you perform under your own pressure, you will feel accomplished.

Action Item: Choose your frogs and then make yourself eat them in order of importance.

Chapter 14: Motivate Yourself Into Action

In Chapter 14 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy recommends optimism can be one of the most important qualities you can cultivate for success in your work and personal life, as optimists:

• Look for the good in every situation
• Always seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty
• Always look for the solution to every problem
• Think and talk constantly about their goals

Thus, you should work to stay motivated by staying optimistic about yourself with encouragement and positive self-talk. You should resist the tendencies to criticize, complain, or place blame.

For more on taking massive action, check out The 10X Rule (book summary) by Grant Cardone.

Ask Yourself: How can I be more optimistic about myself to motivate myself to take more action?

Chapter 15: Technology Is A Terrible Master

In Chapter 15 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy states that technology can be our enemy, especially when we want to eat the frog. Thus, for you to perform at your best, you should detach from tech regularly. Turn off your notifications, put your devices away, and unsubscribe from unwanted email newsletters.

In the long run, you will see the benefits of improved memory, deeper relationships, better sleep, and clearer decisions.

Ask Yourself: How can I reduce my dependency on technology to get more done?

Photo by Domenico Loia on Unsplash

Chapter 16: Technology Is A Wonderful Servant

In Chapter 16 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy suggests technology can also be a tool to enhance our lives and improve our productivity. You can use these tools to remind you of your priorities, tasks, and appointments. You can protect your time by using tools to block websites, disable notifications, and schedule technological time in your calendar. Thus, you should master and incorporate technology to work for you and get more done.

Ask Yourself: How can I master technology to get more done and stay connected?

Chapter 17: Focus Your Attention

During our day, many distractions give us dopamine hits, like responding to emails, texts, and DMs. In Chapter 17 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy recommends you should focus your personal powers on eating that frog first thing in the morning and minimize distractions by: 

• Not checking your email and messages first thing in the morning
• Checking quickly, if you need to, and getting back to work
• Resolving to check your email only two times per day

Do not multitask or work on multiple tasks, as people can only focus on one task at a time. “Multitasking” is really task shifting, which causes you to have poor performance, work harder, and get less done with more mistakes.

Action Item: Spend the beginning of your day, focusing your attention on your most important task.

Chapter 18: Slice And Dice The Task

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In Chapter 18 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy shows you how to slice and dice your complicated tasks. When dealing with significant, complicated activities, we can deconstruct them into small, digestible pieces with these two methods:

• Task-based Method – layout the activity in more detail, writing down all steps in order, and resolve to do one task at a time
• Time-based Method – set aside a specific period of time, and decide to work on a single task for that period

When you work on just one slice of work at a time, you will develop forward momentum on your larger goals.

Action Item: Break down your large, complex activities into small, bite-sized tasks or time blocks.

Chapter 19: Create Large Chunks Of Time

In Chapter 19 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy helps you utilize time management to create large chunks of time when planning your day. You can do so by scheduling deep work blocks in your calendar for the most critical tasks. Within each work block, eliminate all distractions and focus on eating that frog. With proper time management, you will accomplish these high-value, highly productive tasks to significantly contribute to your work and life.

Action Item: During your nightly planning session, schedule deep work blocks in your calendar for your most important tasks.

Chapter 20: Develop A Sense Of Urgency

In Chapter 20 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy claims that successful people take quick, bold actions on their most important priorities. Thus, we need to develop a sense of urgency by taking action on what we need to get done. When you work on your key tasks, start immediately to get into flow:

Flow – the amazing mental state in which you function with clarity, creativity, and confidence to be most effective

We can develop urgency for our day by overcoming procrastination and eating that live frog first thing in the morning.

Action Item: When you see an opportunity or problem, take action on it immediately.

Chapter 21: Single Handle Every Task

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In Chapter 21 of Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy shows that successful people will fully accomplish what they need to get done whether they like it or not. So you need to make a habit of altogether eating the frog, meaning:

Eat That Frog – the ability to select your most important task, start working on it, and concentrate on it until completion

You need to discipline yourself to continue working on eating that live frog without diversion or distraction until the task is 100% done.

Action Item: Set clear priorities, immediately start on your most important task, and continuously work until the job is 100% done.

Download the PDF Book Summary for Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

Next Steps: Get a Copy of Eat That Frog!

Thank you for checking out our “Eat That Frog” summary! As the saying goes, eat the frog first. When it comes to completing hard tasks or achieving a major goal, it’s essential to “Eat That Frog!”

This book by Brian Tracy is full of practical advice and useful tips that can help you tackle the biggest challenges in life. From developing discipline and managing your time effectively, all the way to cultivating success as through habit formation, this book will guide you all the way.

It’s filled with positive energy and contagious optimism that will make you feel inspired and empowered to take action. With actionable tips for having more focus and working smarter, “Eat That Frog!” should be in every person’s library!

So don’t wait any longer with this Eat That Frog summary; get your own copy of Eat That Frog now! And start taking charge of your destiny and living life on your own terms! For more eat that frog quotes, check out our post on productivity quotes.