Eat That Frog | Day 02

Plan Everyday in Advance- A break down on chapter 2

Action without planning is the cause of every failure. – Alex McKenzie 

How do you eat a frog? The same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. Can you imagine what it would be like to have to eat a frog? You certainly wouldn’t want to. And the more you would think about it, the less you would want to eat it. Our daily tasks can be the same way, and if we wait too long, we will never get our tasks done. So what we are going to do is break it down by step-by-step so procrastination doesn’t have time to sink in.  The better the plan you have, the easier to overcome procrastination and keep going. When I wake up in the morning I think I will workout in a bit. First I want to eat, then I want to put things away. Oh look, it’s time to get the kids up, and take molly to preschool, I will work out later. Later rolls around and it is time to pick up Molly, make dinner, run errands. As the day goes on, the workout is still not complete. At some point I say to myself…. I will just start tomorrow. That is an ugly process that happens daily. But once I do it, and succeed at it, I will be more likely to do it again. Get it out of the way first and you wont have to put it off until tomorrow.

Tracy1 says That it only takes about 10-12 minutes to plan your day. But it can save you 2 hours in wasted time. So we are going to follow the Six P RuleProper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. I want you to make a list of everything you have to do before you begin your day.  Even better, make out your list the night before.  This will allow you to process it in your subconscious and will allow you to have the best start to your day. As strange or contradictory as it sounds, the more time you take to make lists in advance, the more effective you will be.

There are a couple lists you should begin making.

Master List: All ideas that come to you, tasks, and projects to be worked on.
Monthly List: Made up at the end of the month to prepare for the month ahead.
Weekly List: Plan your week in advance, writing down each activity for each day.
Daily List: Specific activities for your day, even the small stuff.

You will feel great as you start checking tasks off, or you can cross them out like I do. It seems more official! As you being to cross things off, you will feel motivated as you see the progress you are making.

They say the first 10% of time planning and organizing your work will save you as much as 90% of the job once you get started. You will find it easier to get going and keep going if you have a plan in place.

Two Exercises for Today:
1. Begin today planning out everything you need to do for the next 24 hours. Make a detailed list of all the things you will do in your day, and follow it until most of your tasks are crossed off. If there are tasks left over, move them to the next 24 hours.
2. Lay out each of your major goals or projects by priority. Start with the end in mind.  What is it that you want to accomplish?

 

Citation:
1Brian, T. Eat that frog. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007. eBook.

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