2023 has started. I'm sure you have a lot of things to achieve. Have you prepared your goal list? If not, go watch this video where I explain how to create goals for your life and make a vision board for yourself - https://youtu.be/pCStb0IJ1p0.
Now, in this blog, I'll explain HOW you will achieve them.
Are you someone who’s ready with their goals and struggle in actually achieving them? Then “Eat that frog” by Brian Tracy is the book for you. It talks about 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time. It teaches to help us tick off goals from our to-do lists.
So, let’s get to the learnings:
1. Plan every day in advance: We can do many things in life if we know the way. Brain Tracy says, “If you are smart you will avoid mistakes by learning from someone who has already done the mistakes and of course learning from their successes as well.” The first thing you should be doing is planning everything in advance. List down every single task you have to do tomorrow. Start making lists. That will make you a ‘planner’. Next, arrange the tasks according to the priorities. The tasks with high priority would be tackled before the lower priority ones.
2. 80/20 Rule: This is such an important rule and can be applied in each of our lives. You will feel that all 10 tasks in your to-do are important, but that’s not the case. It’s only the 20% of the tasks that matter and are important. 80% of the results come from 20% of the tasks. So, the smartness lies in figuring out the 20% of those tasks of your list which will lead to the accomplishment of 80% of your goals. This is your sign to start applying 80/20 rule to every area of your life. The reverse to this is that there are 20% of those tasks that will take 80% of your time, avoid them.
3. Creative Procrastination: While procrastination is often seen as a bad thing, Tracy suggests using creative procrastination to your advantage. Yes, procrastination is good. How? You procrastinate on things that are not good for you. Milind Soman too, used this by procrastinating smoking. Now, when it comes to achieving your goals, become a creative procrastinator. From the task-list you have prepared figure out the non-important tasks. The next time you sit to work upon them, ask yourself “Is it okay if I skip this?” If the answer is yes, procrastinate doing that as those are not so important tasks. That’s how you save yourself from burnout and keep yourself focused to things that are moving the needle for you.
4. Rule of Three: If you apply the learnings of this book in a disciplined manner you can double your income in a month’s time. Read this example he gave in the book: A female employee joins a course where she is given the guarantee that within 12 months her income will double if she follows the course. The first thing she was asked to do was to list down the important tasks of her job. Secondly, she had to highlight the most important task from the list. The task which she does the best and is very important for her job. Next is to figure out 2 more such important tasks and from now onwards that’s what she is supposed to do, the best and the most. The rest of the tasks which are not so important can be delegated, ask a team member or hire someone to do it. So, the rule of three tells you to focus only on the top three things that will help you grow. And by just applying this, the female employee was able to double her income within the first month.
5. Upgrade your key skills: When you are looking at your goals and the tasks that you are doing to achieve those, figure out your key skills. Every day, spend at least 30-60 minutes reading about those particular key skills that are important for your growth. Brian suggests getting better every single day – be it by reading, enrolling in courses, listening to audiobooks, watching insightful YouTube videos or by reading blogs.
6. Identify key constraints: We all have a set of obstacles that resist us from reaching at the top. What are those obstacles that are not allowing you to reach your goals? Be it money goals, relationship goals or so on, identify the key constraints. You know what, the 80/20 rule applies here as well. When you list down your constraints, you’ll come to know that 80% of the obstacles are within, they are internal. Only 20% of your problems are external. So, identify the key constraints and work on them.
7. Slice and Dice the task: It often happens that we’ve set a goal for ourselves but it gets difficult to do it. For example, You’ve to complete a 5km run, but you can’t get out of the house. Here, this beautiful technique comes to our rescue. For the 5km run, the only first step you need to take is to get ready, wear your shoes and step out of the house. You don’t have to think of the 5kms right now, just do a ‘slice’ of the task. So, the author Brian suggests breaking down large tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. Try to do this today itself. Pick up a task you’ve been procrastinating for a while on. Slice it into small tasks. Complete the slices. Human tends to look for that completion and this is where slicing the tasks help.
8. Develop a sense of urgency: Do you know what’s the difference between achievers and non-achievers? Achievers always have this sense of urgency of doing tasks. So, when you start your day, have that sense of urgency that you have to complete your tasks rapidly. Set deadlines and resolve to complete your tasks within a certain deadline.
Now apart from these 8 tips from the book, there’s so much to learn from the author as well. Here are the top three learnings from the author.
1. Way of writing: The book is written in a very simple and lucid manner. People from all age groups can easily benefit from it. Even an 8th standard student can easily understand and grasp knowledge from this.
2. Way of structuring: You’ll get the glimpse and understanding of the chapter contents just by reading the book. The structure is logical and sequential in taking you to a high.
3. Simplification: The way the author has simplified the concepts is amazing. One of the major reasons for the book being a best-seller, even after so many years of its publication, is simplification. It’s the beauty of the book. You can just read smoothly and apply the lessons.
The next step is to go and grab your copy of the book. If you are looking to write your own book and get published, I conduct a workshop on how to write and get published. I’m Sweta Samota, India’s leading book coach, who has helped over 5000 people with their books. If you are ready to become a ‘best-selling author’, here’s the link to register to my bootcamp -learn.swetasamota.com