Eat That Frog!

by Brian Tracy

THE FIRST RULE OF FROG EATING: If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.

THE SECOND RULE OF FROG EATING: If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.
Self-Discipline Is the Key

Elbert Hubbard defined self-discipline as “the ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

In the final analysis, success in any area requires tons of discipline.  Self-discipline, self-mastery, and self-control are the basic building blocks of character and high performance.

Starting a high-priority task and persisting with that task until it is 100 percent complete is the true test of your character, your willpower, and your resolve.  Persistence is actually self-discipline in action.

The good news is that the more you discipline yourself to persist on a major task, the more you like and respect yourself, and the higher is your self-esteem.  And the more you like and respect yourself, the easier it is for you to discipline yourself to persist even more.

By focusing clearly on your most valuable task and concentrating single-mindedly until it is 100 percent complete, you actually shape and mold your own character.  You become a superior person.

You feel stronger, more competent, more confident, and happier.  You feel more powerful and productive.

You eventually feel capable of setting and achieving any goal.  You become the master of your own destiny.

You place yourself on an ascending spiral of personal effectiveness on which your future is absolutely guaranteed.

You have a virtually unlimited ability to learn and develop new skills, habits, and abilities. When you train yourself, through repetition and practice, to overcome procrastination and get your most important tasks completed quickly, you will move yourself onto the fast track in your life and career and step on the accelerator.

And the key to all of this is for you to determine the most valuable and important thing you could possibly do at every single moment and then Eat That Frog!

Action Exercises:

1.    Take action! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately.

2.    Once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to persevere without diversion or distraction until it is 100 percent complete. See it as a test to determine whether you are the kind of person who can make a decision to complete something and then carry it out. Once you begin, refuse to stop until the job is finished.

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations. He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. Find out more, or order his programs, at http://www.briantracy.com/?lid=logo