Eat That Frog

1. Eat That Frog

Your "frog" is the biggest, most important task you're most likely to procrastinate on. Do it first thing in the morning. If you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

2. A-B-C-D-E

Prioritize everything: A tasks (must do, serious consequences), B tasks (should do, mild consequences), C tasks (nice to do, no consequences), D tasks (delegate), E tasks (eliminate).

3. The Vital Few

20% of your tasks produce 80% of your results. Identify and focus on the vital few, not the trivial many.

4. What Happens Next

Long-term thinking drives good decisions. Before starting any task, ask: "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this?"

5. Swiss Cheese It

Break large tasks into smaller, manageable pieces. "Swiss cheese" the task by poking holes in it -- do small pieces in any order.

6. Single Handle

Once you start an important task, keep working on it without stopping until it's 100% complete. Single handling is the key to high performance.

7. Guard the Block

Schedule uninterrupted blocks for important work. Guard these blocks aggressively. The most productive people work in focused blocks, not scattered fragments.