How To Stop Procrastinating

Check out the book, Eat That Frog! For Students, adapted from Brian Tracy’s time-management bestseller, Eat That Frog, which has sold more than 2.4 million copies around the world.

This new edition addresses the specific needs of high school and college students, teaching them readily actionable time-management methods, techniques and strategies. Tracy, with Anna Leinberger also reveal 22 ways to stop procrastinating.

You’ll read the details behind the three pillars required for a successful mindset:

Self-Esteem
Personal Responsibility
Goals

Plus, you’ll discover how to effectively:

structure your own time.
apply the 80/20 rule.
study something you are not interested in.
motivate yourself into action.
practice creative procrastination.
take back your time from enslaving technological addictions.

Recently, Tracy shared his answers to the following questions:

Question: What inspired you to write this new book for students?

Tracy: Like many good ideas, this book was born of a need we saw in our readers. Amazon and Goodreads reviews were full of parents saying they bought a copy for their kids to read, and readers wrote to us personally saying they wished they could get their children to use these tools. But the original book just isn’t a good fit for a student. It was written for someone who had a workday, a long stretch of 8 hours to divide up themselves. A student’s life is completely different. They have to be in class during the day, dividing homework time between short study halls or evenings and weekends. You need a completely different approach to time management. Beyond that, most of the examples in the book were from world of business. A student isn’t going to be convinced that a tool will work for them when the example given is someone who tripled their income- the student needs to know that a tool will help them get a better grade, or help them balance school, homework, and their job.

High school and college are the perfect time to learn these skills. This is when you are growing from a child, dependent on your parents and subject to their decisions, into an adult who is responsible for and gaining more control over your own life. This doesn’t happen by magic. We all have to learn how to take responsibility, how to make choices about our time and goals and lives. Ultimately, a student’s job is to learn. And the new book is all about learning how to learn, about taking your education into your own hands, and about tools that will help you succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

Question: What are the primary reasons students procrastinate?

Tracy: Students procrastinate for the same reasons adults do! There are so many reasons, and we cover many of these challenges in the book- along with specific strategies to combat them. People often don’t recognize the real reason for their procrastination, they just beat themselves up for it. That doesn’t help anyone! Often, there is a rational reason for your avoidance. One example would be having a task where you don’t understand everything you need to in order to complete the assignment. In this case, you have to first realize that you are stuck because you don’t understand something (not because you’re lazy!), then identify what it is you don’t understand, and finally focus on learning the skill you are missing. If you do that, the procrastination will evaporate, and you will easily be able to complete your assignment.

Question: Do you find procrastination is more of an issue for college freshmen or college seniors?

Tracy: It would probably be too big a generalization to say. Hopefully seniors will have learned a thing or two about managing their own time since their freshman year, but a college freshman who has been taught excellent study skills might be better at time management than a senior who never benefited from that sort of instruction. And no matter what year of high school, college, or even graduate school a student is in, this book has tools that will teach you those time management skills even if no one has ever taught them to you. Most adults have not even learned great ways to manage their own time. If you use the tools from this book in high school or college, you will already be lightyears ahead of most other people around you.

Question: Why do you believe your original book, Eat That Frog, has been so successful?

Tracy: The original Eat that Frog! is successful for the simplest of reasons: it works. If you take the advice in the book and apply it to your own life, you will see drastic improvements in your productivity. I have been writing books and giving seminars and trainings for decades, and over that time I have seen first-hand how transformational these simple tools can be. They don’t take any special equipment or technology, and you can apply them to your life immediately. There is no greater value a book can give than the experience of trying something and seeing immediate results.

Thank you to the book's publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership . In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust. The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes. In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter. In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”: Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...

Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity And Foster Performance In The Workplace

“Given the research-validated outcomes and demonstrated financial impact belonging offers, organizations should make cultivating belonging a personal leadership imperative across the world,” says Brad Deutser , author of the book, Belonging Rules: Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity and Foster Performance . Furthermore, belonging predicts job satisfaction, engagement, and effort over and above employee’s perceptions of organizational culture or strategy, explains Deutser. So, what exactly is belonging? It’s: Belonging is where we hold space for something of shared importance. It is where we come together on values, purpose, and identity; a space of acceptance where agreement is not required but a shared framework is understood; where there is an invitation into the space; and intentional choice to take part in; something vital to a sense of connection, security and acceptance. As you read the book, you’ll discover vital information about the...

Teach An Employee Something New Today

Take the opportunity today to teach an employee something new. Nearly everyone likes to learn and is capable of tackling a new challenge. Teach your employee something that expands their current job description. Teach something that will help them to get promoted within your organization at a later date. Teach them a skill that uses new technology. Or teach them something that will allow them to be a more skilled leader and manager in the future. You can even teach something that you no longer need to be doing in your position, but that will be a rewarding challenge/task for your employee. The benefit to your employee is obvious. The benefit to you is you'll have a more skilled team member who is capable of handling more work that can help you to grow your business and/or make it run more efficiently. Be a leader who teaches.

Best Reasons For Doing Employee Exit Interviews

Don't be the guy in the picture when an employee leaves your company. Instead, conduct exit interviews and surveys. Leigh Branham explains in his book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave , what the most favorable conditions are for conducting the interviews and surveys. And, if you need convincing to read the book, take a look at these 11 best reasons for listening and gathering the data when an employee leaves : Bringing any "push-factor" root-cause reasons for leaving to the surface. Alerting the organization to specific issues to be addressed. Giving the employee a chance to vent and gain a sense of closure. Giving the employee the opportunity to provide information that may help colleagues left behind. Providing information about competitors and their practices. Comparing information given with the results of past surveys and employee data. Detecting patterns and changes by year or by quarter. Obtaining information to help improve recruiting. Possibly heading off ...

How To Be A More Human Leader

“To be most effective in today’s environment, leaders must be human leaders. Human leaders must be able to lead not only with their heads but also with their hearts and souls,” says veteran executive coach Hortense le Gentil , author of the book, The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World . She adds, “In addition to being respected, seen, and valued, employees also seek leaders who feel human, not distant and perfect beings with whom they can’t connect.” Additionally, leaders need to put the collective interest before their own and work hard to make other people’s good ideas happen. “And although the book focuses on leadership at work, each of us is a complete individual, not a sum of separate, isolated parts. As such, the process presented in the book applies to all areas of your life,” shares the author. She further explains that becoming a human leader is a journey, not a desti...

Debbie Laskey's Expert Insights On Marketing and Leadership

Debbie Laskey is one of my go-to experts when I seek advice about a number of business topics, including marketing, social media, and nonprofit marketing and leadership. So, it's my privilege to share today some of Debbie's insights on all these topics. However, before you read the answers to my questions to Debbie, we'll set the stage with her background: Debbie has an MBA Degree and 17 years of marketing experience in the high-tech industry, Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, insurance industry, and nonprofit sector. She’s created and implemented successful marketing and branding initiatives for nonprofits including the Foundation for the Junior Blind, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and Brides for Good; and in the B2B financial sector for an insurance company and CPA firm. Currently, she works with the Nonprofit Communications and Media Network and Special Olympics Southern California. ...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

Important Questions To Ask Your New Hires

In Paul Falcone ’s book, 75 Ways For Managers To Hire, Develop And Keep Great Employees , he recommends asking new employees the following questions 30, 60 and 90 days after they were hired: 30-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Why do you think we selected you as an employee? What do you like about the job and the organization so far? What’s been going well? What are the highlights of your experiences so far? Why? Tell me what you don’t understand about your job and about our organization now that you’ve had a month to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Have you faced any unforeseen surprises since joining us that you weren’t expecting? 60-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Do you have enough, too much or too little time to do your work? Do you have access to the appropriate tools and resources? Do you feel you have been sufficiently trained in all aspects of your job to perform at a high level? How do you see your job relating to the organi...

Why Your Middle Managers Are So Important

The book, Power To The Middle , shows how managers are the crucial link between a company’s ground floor and top brass. “Too often company leaders view middle managers in a negative light as expendable employees who can slow down productivity and overall strategy,” explain the book’s authors and McKinsey partners Bill Schaninger , Bryan Hancock , and Emily Field . “However, new KcKinsey research reveals that this outdated perspective needs to change and that well-developed managers are the strategy that companies must prioritize to succeed today,” they add. Most importantly, by the end of their book, the authors sum up their insights and provide a playbook that will help senior leaders let go of the command-and-control mindset that has hobbled their managers for so long. The authors define middle managers as the people who are at least once removed from the front line and at least a layer below the senior lead...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog