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The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.
hello and welcome to the moonshots
podcast it's episode wait for it
268 I'm your co-host Mike Parsons and as
always I'm joined by the man himself Mr
Mark Pearson Fillin good morning Mark
hey good morning Mike good morning
listeners members subscribers viewers
thank you for joining us on as Mike says
episode 268
I'd say mike that's a perfect number
because there's something round there's
something satisfying about it and I
think satisfaction and the idea of
accomplishment and the idea of doing
something that you know makes you feel
happy is exactly I think part of the
outtake that we're going to have from
today's episode don't you think Mike I
think it's just like eating a frog in
the morning don't
you that's right Mike let's give it away
let's get our listeners and members a
little bit curious about what we mean by
today's title we're going to lean into
Brian Tracy's eat that frog now this is
not going to be an instruction manual on
cooking some French food although I'm
sure perhaps some of our members and
listeners would be quite interested in
maybe escargo the moonshots methodology
however today Mike let's get back to
business it's all about practicality
it's a guide eat that frog is a guide to
think and overcome
procrastination it's about considering
your high-profile tasks as well as maybe
even the most challenging things that
you've got to do and it's going to help
us understand about setting those tasks
into an order we can get them done
focusing on um working in a way that
makes our days just feel a little bit
maybe easier or at least more productive
I think there's a lot that we're going
to get from eat that frog and it's not
going to be a disgusting
meal no it's going to taste really good
but it won't necessarily be easy but the
end results are going to be great and
that's what eating the frog is all about
so whether you're a kind of early
participant in the world of productivity
or you're a seasoned veteran this
episode is for you because I believe
that this is one of the most
comprehensive productivity books Mark I
think this is so good because it touches
upon many things we've discovered across
different experts and gurus and
academics and authors but what Brian's
done is he's pulled it all together and
I think he's got some Essential Study
points to getting the most out of the
day and which is a proxy for being the
best you can be in life overall so Mark
I think everything you've said
sounds I think we should um Al go
straight ahead and get into the book of
Eat the Frog by Brian
Tracy fantastic Mike thank you for
continuing the puns on the food and the
French uh so guys uh maybe we need a
little bit more of an introduction into
what the hell Mike and Mark are talking
about with regards to e that frog FR so
let's hear from Brian Tracy himself he's
going to break down for us as our first
clip in today's episode a little bit
more about what eating that frog might
mean one of the most valuable time
management skills you can develop is the
habit of organizing your tasks by
priority I refer to this process as eat
that frog many of you are familiar with
this phrase but for those of you who are
not the eat that frog concept means
practicing the habit of tackling your
biggest most important Tas task first
this task or frog is the one that you
are most likely to procrastinate on it's
also the task that can have the greatest
positive impact on your life and results
at the moment it comes from a story by
Mark Twain by the way where he said if
the first thing you do in each morning
is to eat a live frog you'll have the
satisfaction of knowing that's probably
the worst thing that's going to happen
to you all day long and your frog is
your biggest ugliest task so we say do
the worst
first I'm writing here eat the Frog for
breakfast and it's so true M because
there's two there's a few things
happening here I mean first of all there
is the science that most of us are at
our best in the morning I mean how do
you feel in the morning compared to in
the late afternoon early evening Mark in
the morning it's the time when I'm most
focused not only am I rested hopefully
from a good night's sleep but also I'm
less distracted I haven't had phone
calls emails people coming around I
haven't had to go out and task myself
with let's say eating you know sometimes
after lunch I might feel a little bit
lethargic for me morning time similar to
you Mike I think that's when I'm highly
focused so for me at least when I'm
planning what I need to get done I'll
often weigh it heavier in the morning
because that's when I'm going to be a
little bit clearer yeah and there's a
second thing that he mentioned in his
clip
and that is pushing into the thing that
you're resisting now we've talked about
the resistance and the war of art we've
talked
about the obstacle being the
way and this one for me Rings really
true Mark that it's not just about
getting started early in the morning but
started with the CH most challenging
thing because like going to the gym if
your muscles are going to hurt a little
bit you're going to get a little bit
uncomfortable we both know that from the
work of Carol DW and her Masterpiece the
book called mindset which kind of
launched the growth mindset Movement we
know that if we want to take on a
challenge if we want to stretch
ourselves a bit being fresh and in the
morning is a far better way to do it in
fact you might remember we were
listening to a clip once talking about
the judges made better decisions in the
morning when they were fresh rather than
when they were a bit grumpy and hungry
in the afternoon hry hangry judges who
wants to meet one of them so here's
where I'm going um it's not just about
prioritizing um in addition to that it
is Having the courage to
tackle the obstacle and Ryan holiday
would be so proud of us right now
because we all know that the obstacle is
the way and that's what we're learning
already is to get your priorities sorted
and get after the big one early I mean
what a way Mark if someone had told me
this at the age of 20 in fact if someone
had given me this book in the previous
two shows books essentialism and the one
big thing man man I could have got a lot
done in my 20s don't you have that
thought I I have had it in every single
episode recently all of these books as
you just mentioned essentialism the one
thing as well as today with frog really
demonstrate the uh dissatisfaction or
the the the value that you um don't give
yourself when you procrastinate right
and when you're a student yeah there's a
lot of things going on but to be honest
there's going to be a lot of things
going on every day of your life and if
you can learn how to get satisfaction
from doing that difficult task get it
out of the way feel satisfied with it
and then move on that's the perfect way
to then keep yourself motivated because
as we're going to find out later in the
show accomplishing things taking things
off the list and getting those
high-profile actions ticked off and
completed is a great way of having
satisfaction and building motivation
yeah absolutely and I don't know how
many French members that we have Jun but
what I do know is we have people who
want to set their priorities and eat
some damn frogs in the
morning I'd say all of these individuals
all of our members that is uh eat their
frogs in the morning they consume their
moonshots podcast and the moonot
memberships for breakfast as well and
hopefully it tastes much better I would
say than than frogs um having said that
we'll have to let our members tell us
that information but I
digress please welcome in our amazing
members Bob Niles dietar Maran Conor
Lisa Sid and Mr bonjour Paul bur cman
Joe Christian samuela Barbara and
Deborah lass Steve Craig Ravi Iver rul
niikada and Ingram Durk venata Marco J
Roger Steph raw and Diana Kristoff
Denise Laura and Smitty Cory and Daniela
Mike Antonio Zachary and Austin Fred Ola
Andy Diana Margie Jasper Fabian guhong
and Edward guys thank you so much for
being part of the moonshots family it's
amazing to have you with us as well as
uh learning out loud all together as
part of the moonshots family yeah big
thanks and super grateful and if we
think we were getting exotic with with
our French cuisine don't worry we're
going to go back to the simple things
we're going to go back and do our ABC's
Mark that's right we're not only
learning how to cook today we're also
learning how to spell but the key
technique and the key tip here is
actually far greater and far more
important than that we're going to now
hear a very very practical um
productivity as well as prioritization
methodology that comes from Brian
Tracy's book eat that frog now Brian's
going to take us through this and I
think what all of our listeners are
going to have here is an actionable way
as we're going to explore shortly in how
to set up your day and get the most out
of it every single time now the best way
to organize your life is to use what we
call the
ABCDE method the ABCDE method is a
powerful priority setting technique that
you can use every single day here's how
it works you start off by making a list
of everything you have to do for the
coming day preferably make your list the
night before or at least the morning
before you start work never start work
without a list think on paper you then
go down your list and you place an A B C
D or E before each item on your list
before you begin the first task an a
item is defined as something that is
very important this is something that
you must do it has serious consequences
if you do it or you don't do it this is
a task that if you don't do it or fail
to do it like visiting a key customer or
finishing a report for your boss that
she needs for an upcoming board meeting
then it's going to be serious people are
going to be all over you these are the
frogs of your life these are the things
you've got to eat first a b item is
defined as a task that you should do but
it only has mild consequences if you do
it or not like returning a phone call
going for lunch with a coworker even
checking your email these are not major
tasks these are the tadpoles of your
work life this means that someone may be
unhappy or inconvenient if you don't do
a b task but it's nowhere as important
as an a task returning an in unimportant
telephone message or reviewing your
email as I said would be a bask the rule
is that you should never do a b task
when there's an a task left undone you
should never be distracted by a tadpole
when there's a big frog sitting there
waiting to be
now A C task is defined as something
that would be nice to do but for which
there are no consequences at all whether
you do it or not C tasks include phoning
a friend having coffee or lunch with a
coworker or completing some personal
business during work hours this sort of
activity has no effect at all in your
work life and you know something most
people spend 50% of their time in SE
tasks that have no relevance to their
work at all and then they wonder why
they're not getting ahead a d task is
defined as something that you can
delegate to someone else the rule is
that you should delegate everything that
anyone else can do so that you can free
up more time for the a tasks that only
you can do an eask is defined as
something that you can eliminate all
together and it won't make any real
difference this may be a task that was
important at one time but which is no
longer important to yourself or anyone
else often it's something that you
continue to do out of habit or because
you enjoy it but every minute that you
spend on an eask is time taken away from
a task or activity that can make a real
difference in your life the key to
making this ABCDE method work for you is
to practice discipline and start
immediately on your a task and then stay
with it until it's complete if you have
several a tasks list them A1 a A2 A3 and
start on your A1 first use your
willpower and your mental strength to
get going and keep going on this one job
the most important single task you could
possibly be doing eat the whole frog and
don't stop until it's finished
completely this alone can double your
productivity the very first day you
begin using this
system to think Mark that most people
spending 50% of their time doing things
with no real
consequence and not allocating it up to
the top to the A's that's frightening
but do you know why it's so frightening
mark because it's kind of relatable when
I'm not on my game and doing all that
kind of stuff it really hits home that
like how much energy and effort is
misdirected by people right ah
absolutely there's going to be so much
time if I was to go back and take a look
and be fly on the wall for a lot of the
projects a lot of the work that I've
done there will be undoubtedly hours
whereby I've prioritized maybe a d task
that I should have delegated maybe
there's habitual e tasks that I've just
got into the habit of continually doing
even though they're no longer relevant
and should be
eliminated I think this very simple
structure and we're going to explore it
a little bit more now I know is one of
those aha moments that I wish I'd known
and I wish I'd had the discipline to
really structure each of my days so that
when I was looking at my a tasks whether
it's A1 A2 or just a simple you know
overarching Northern Star that would
have helped me so much stay aligned be
productive and to be honest probably do
better work if I had known that I think
it's such a valuable lesson isn't it
yeah now to bring this alive um what I'm
going to do is I'm going to pitch you
some a
scenario and give you some examples of
ABCDE and we should discuss them and see
how they come I'd love to hear how you
see them in your daily work but also how
we kind of get to these evaluations of a
b c d and e all right so I want you to
imagine Mark and for all of our
listeners and viewers and members
joining here let's imagine that we
are a married busy executive so I'm
deliberately saying you got to good job
you got a great relationship so you got
a lot of stuff going on personal and
professional okay so now I'm going to
propose to you some examples of ABC D
and M I'll I'll give you some examples
and then we can discuss for each layer
the you know the tradeoffs and how we
get there and the messy stuff of Life
all right so these uh we'll start with
the A's these are the must do just
imagine this is the life to live for a
married executive and these are high
priority task and they have Mark serious
consequences M so a big one might be to
finalize the quarterly financial report
for the board meeting tomorrow that
feels like an
A1 A2 might be attend your child's
parent teacher conference in the evening
right third one might be to review and
approve the new product launch Plan
before the end of the day now what's
quite interesting here you've got
stakeholders above you below you and
most importantly your stakeholders at
home that you're you're caring for these
all feel like good ones right and I
think for
example the um the mistake I make is
something like the parent teacher you
know it's
important but sometimes you
don't make the right decision like if it
was an important business meeting to get
to and let's say it took you 30 minutes
when you look at the the map planner if
it's a really important meeting you'll
say let's leave at least 45 60 minutes
before and if this bad time whatever but
I've been victim of leaving oh it's 30
minutes till the meeting I'll leave
right now 30 minutes to go like it's
really tight but that's where I'm not
truly uh adhering to that priority like
for example to do it better what I did
today is an important meeting at 11: and
an important meeting at 12 both in
downtown
so what I did is I got uh into town and
took my 11:00 call where I could sit and
do the call properly in town already so
it was easy to transition right next
door to the to the meeting because if I
didn't prioritize that because I knew it
was they were both a1s for me today what
would have happened is I would have
found myself I would have compromised
one of the meetings so I think it's not
only saying something's important but
then it's also so the action of making
it an A1 I think that that's what trips
me up what trips you up with with your
A's when we talk about eating the
Frog similarly to I think a little bit
of a combination between eat that frog
and actually the one thing that we that
we studied last week and that's
identifying your a tasks as the ones
that have the most bang for your buck so
to speak and what I mean by that is they
are going to be so valuable to do that
it may May reduces uh some of the b c's
or D tasks further down in your list so
an example for me might be if you're
doing you know a renovation or you're
tidying up your house think about the a
tasks as core elements that will have a
positive impact on some of the other
work that you're doing right rather than
oh this is a small job I might as well
just get this done right now this might
take me 30 to 60 minutes that's going to
be easy to do that isn't necessarily an
aask just because of the e
of doing it instead the prioritization
for me with an aask will be what are the
things that I must do they're important
they're high priority but actually they
might have a fantastic benefit for me
later down the line because it might
remove some of those B's or C's as well
I love that build that you know when I
think about that renovation example for
me that is like making sure that the
roof is waterproof or securing the
foundations before you do the paint job
on the inside that's exactly before
building something from scratch make
sure that there's a solid foundation
because when you know if something's not
level you're going to realize maybe 6
hours into a job and then it's going to
fall over or worse and that I think only
comes from as we were hearing from Brian
Tracy just then understanding what those
tasks are really considering the
categorization of each of them you know
maybe as we learned from that first clip
doing it the night before or the morning
of and really thinking in your examples
Mike you know the parent teacher for
example right is that something I can
delegate no I've got to attend it okay
well where does that rank in you know my
A1 two three how do I then go out and
tackle it how am I going to make sure
I've got enough time to get to each one
yes you know it's really being
intrinsically detailed orientated isn't
it it is and I love the fact that what
you've proposed to me is almost the idea
that in your A's should be the one
things right um so literally taking our
previous episode and saying anything
that's an a A1 A2 should should adhere
to that all right so here's the next one
here are the be these are the should dos
Mark these are tasks with mild
consequence I'm going to read three to
you same use Case married executive and
this time you're going to pick the
hardest one and tell us why okay
responding to an email from a client
about a non-urgent inquiry review a
colleague's proposal that isn't due
until next week and arrange a service
appointment for the family car where do
you get tripped up on your bees on these
are the should
do oh this is a this is an interesting
one because
ordinarily I'd consider that email
aspect potentially being a very very key
um deliverable to hit likewise with
reviewing the colleague they're going to
be waiting on your
feedback so I'm going to think though
the family car because I wonder if that
was to be removed from the situation yes
it doesn't necessarily adher to the
business side it's much more of a life
admin situation so maybe it should be a
c but actually the detrimental effect of
maybe leaving that too late is that that
then impacts your ability to get into
your job that's a great Point that's a
great point just because you think are
servicing the
car you you you you might be tempted to
class it as a c right mhm but it could
have consequences this this Rings true
to me for example I um in the last for
this three Monon bracket I had my annual
Health checkup right so that was that
was like really really good to do I had
my annual dentist checkup and then my
next one is uh I'll go and get my eyes
checked you know being a slightly older
chappie uh the old eyes are getting a
bit foggy but here's my thing here's
what I do
is I prioritize them but I try to do one
one of these Health ones or one of these
bigger ones once a
month so that that feels somehow that
feels like the right Tempo the right
blend for me but you're absolutely right
because the thing is there are still
consequences you gave the car example
and I think it's really good because we
often deprioritize personal things but
actually if you think about it well
there's like safety
um then there's like also other things
like the efficiency of the car might be
deteriorating because it desperately
needs a service or an oil change I think
what I try to do is I I did my annual
health check a couple of months ago and
I shared with some friends I was like I
didn't realize how good I would feel
doing it right I wasn't falling over and
dying at the time so it wasn't like my
legs about to fall off can you fix it it
was just like oh I think I should get an
annual health check but actually I
Strang felt good ticking off a b because
it's something I should do with mild
consequences servicing the car servicing
the body right so this is I think
important and I think finding a way to
accommodate it in your calendar like
once a month is a good way to make sure
that B's don't drop for C's but Mike we
still got some C's here's some nice
to-dos all right here we go catch up
with a friend over lunch organize your
office or home work space and look at
vacation options for next summer
oh well again you're right those feel
much more in that c bracket you know
they're great to have nice to do but no
real consequence I think if I was to try
and prioritize those sort of things it's
probably going to be the organization of
your workspace you know I'm I'm a firm
believer in the idea of having a clear
workspace because based specifically on
even this the last few episodes we've
done Mike a cluttered mind a cluttered
life of distractions is a way of
becoming less organized so for me you
know if I've doing my parent teacher uh
situation and I'm thinking about my
quarterly reports then I'm making sure
my car sorted I need to get my house in
order as well I need to have a clear
desk I need to organize my workspace
before then chatting to my friends or
going out and planning a holiday so
here's what's interesting about what you
said I think you can personalize your
ABCDE right
I could totally argue pushing a C2 up
into the beast but here's the thing and
I think here's the real point to all
this imagine if all of us and I mean you
me and our thousands and thousands of
listeners all did this at least once a
week to plan their week can you imagine
the impact on the Universe I mean that's
a lot of people being a hell of a lot
more
productive it's it's funny you know
we've spoken a lot about to-do lists
we're firm Advocates of todoist you know
but it's very much a a build on this you
know even though you might organize your
to-do list tasks the prioritization
piece is is the key kicker here yeah
because without that you're looking at a
list I I often have a list of maybe 10
to 15 things to do every day and I'll
look at and think well I need to I need
to figure out where to start right and
that's the the key takeaway here isn't
it like you say it can be personalized
obviously it depends on the work
situation so on so forth but you're
right it needs to be considered and it
needs to be planned so that you do get
the most out of your days when you are
tackling these again I think it's all
about doing Justice to your time you
know again something we learned over the
last couple of episodes is if you don't
protect your time if you don't dictate
what you're going to do somebody else
will and that for me is just such a key
takeway from C Newport from um all of
the work we've done on productivity uh
Focus habitual habit making isn't that
Mike one of the key things that stands
out to you as
well yeah and and that's why I was
saying like imagine if you just did this
properly once a week imagine if you and
I just had a 30-minute call where we did
our ABCDE e together I actually think I
would be even more effective like having
to share that with someone and to think
it through to be challenged a bit also
like okay what are you eliminating
things like scrolling through social
media being in meetings that you don't
have any contribution to or here's a
classic
one um last night my wife and I watched
uh slow horses the awesome Apple TV show
and you watch one episode and then you
look at each other and you're
like could do another one
but we but we celebrate NOP let's be
geriatrics let's get into bed nice and
early let's not push it and then I woke
up and uh let me tell you mark without
showing off to you and all of our
listeners but because I made that
decision my sleep score last night on
the aura ring was 95 out of 100 wow okay
so you can make huge impact at the top
of the bottom of this funnel right
whether it's a or an e you can make that
difference right yeah you really can and
again I I like the build that you did
then which is sharing with others yeah
because as we've heard before sometimes
sharing tasks or or goals whether
they're creative or otherwise can help
you stay accountable and that can
provide Focus much like hey January is
coming along I want to get into you know
a healthier uh way of eating healthier
way of exercise well if you share that
with a love one or a friend then that's
going to help you stay motivated so it's
really just about finding whatever works
for you I'm the same as you Mike it's
all about getting a good early night's
sleep because then the next day when I
want to tackle my a tasks it's just that
little bit easier yeah good to go good
to go um I tell you what though Mark
once you've said okay I'm gonna eat my
frog in the
morning you've done your ABCDE E's the
next thing is going deep and getting the
job done a huge moonshot theme holy
smoke we can rattle off list after list
of experts authors and gurus that
recommend going deep and being efficient
with your time but hey Brian Tracy's
touching on that as well that's right
Mike we're gonna hear from a build on
Brian Tracy's eat that frog from Brian
Johnson another moonshots favorite of
ours this time he's going to help us
understand the idea a little bit of
accountability but also specifically
delving into the the uh issues and the
problems with switching costs and how we
need to stay
singlehanded if you remember in that
episode we talked about impulsiveness
that impulsiveness is the greatest
threat to our
productivity being distracted and he
said if you simply just take off your
notifications you'd increase your
productivity by 10% which would boost
your productivity in the course of a
year you'd basically add an additional
month of productivity that's crazy 10%
gain in productivity equals a month of
more productivity productive time over
the course of a year what crazy right so
we want to single handle things when you
start something finish it you start
something you finish it you start
something you finish it you don't start
something check your email or your
social feed and then come back to it
that type of multitasking is a horrible
waste of time you're constantly getting
your momentum back figuring out where
you left off and it takes you way longer
to do that than if you just single
handled handled it start finish start
finish get in the habit of finishing
things Nick Sabin the great football
coach Collegiate football coach that's
his whole thing their process is they
finish they finish a tackle they finish
an a workout regimen they finish a
practice they finish a play in a game
they finish a game they finish and that
leads to an extraordinary amount of
success so see if you have a habit of
allowing yourself to be distracted and
discipline yourself to single handle
things start finish start finish and
notice your productivity go way
up so this oh my gosh I see this mostly
with email it's funny how we even have a
world without email from Cal Newport as
a book to study but um to show you how
Brian Tracy's thinking is coming alive
here and how I use it my personal story
Mark is I do batch my email genu
generally three to four times a day with
a good two or three hours in between I
have no
notifications particularly in the
morning this is my Approach so you see
all email
right and because I work a lot with
different time zones my my first batch
can be pretty dense kind of stuff right
so I look read and then go right this is
an archive action so Step One is do I
archive it right I've got the
information I need I actually am a bit
old school I quite like um getting
notifications for example on one of the
the teams that I work with I get a a
notification every time one of their new
business deals um moves through the
pipeline I just find that very helpful
of getting a sense of the activity
that's happened overnight in Europe and
the US the next thing is answering yes
or no um I love the Gmail autor response
suggestions many of the times I can be
pretty brutally abrupt yes no or just
selecting one of the Gmail um um
autoresponders and then lastly I might
read something and then I use the snooze
function in Gmail so archive answer
snooze that's kind of ass as an
acronym yeah there you go you heard it
here first listeners and members yes new
email methodology hack we might need to
send that to our massive marketing
department
Mark that one up but archive anwers
snooze like here's the thing is I get a
look at that note that I need a longer
more thoughtful response or I need to do
work in order to respond and I snoo it
and I know that there is batch times
later in the day for me to address it
but I know subconsciously I'll start
working on that request what I also know
is there's no like really quick emails
where people are just like Mike can I do
I have approval whatever and I can go
yay or nay or maybe let's discuss um the
point here is I've handled it and the
getting to a zero inbox first thing in
the morning it's fine I've got the
snoozes I I I'm often uh changing the
snooze expiration times so sometimes I'm
pushing a day or two out because I know
I don't need to deal with this for for a
couple of days but this email batching
is a way to single hand handle things
because the worst thing for me would be
after I've archived and answered getting
stuck in the morning with 10 or 20
emails that really require a thoughtful
response from me and I could lose 90
minutes Mark 90 minutes of my pressure
eat the Frog time is just gone to email
responses to other people's questions to
me I didn't even work on my number one
priority so I'm not on A1 at all yeah no
you're totally right and and look I've
I've certainly experienced that a lot
with emails with slack with a lot of
mess not a fan of the slack it it does
become very another inbox just another
inbox well if if anything it's more
active than an inbox because it's
immediate and what that does in my
experience is that switching cost that
we were just hearing about in the
previous in the previous episode as well
as the clip just now that takes up so
much of your bandwidth and for me when I
want to go deep you know like we heard
with Rick rubben and the creativity
series if I don't eliminate distractions
and if I don't immerse myself in the
task that multitasking element will hit
my productivity to the nth degree
and the only way that I find Mike to
build on exactly the breakdown that you
were doing in terms of archive answer or
snooze with regards to emails when I've
got tasks I will plot it into my diary
so I'm looking at my diary right now and
I have pretty much eight the next eight
hours of items that I'm going to do in a
specific order because that makes the
most sense you know both geographically
from a time zone perspective as well as
factoring in you know Transportation
elements so really getting curious for
me and this is how it works getting
curious with with regards to how much
time I have to spend on each thing
knowing when maybe I need to uh hit the
snooze or hit the stop button and then
come back to it later that's a way for
me to be able to focus on the task at
each appropriate time and know similar
to you know scheduling in email batches
and reviewing your inbox every maybe a
few times a day is to then have the
reassurance in the back of my mind hey
don't worry about this task right now
you will come back to it you can see in
your diary that it's going to be in
another six hours time or maybe it's
tomorrow so then that anxiety for that
specific task goes down because I know
subconsciously I am going to come back
to it and I know when I'm going to come
back to it yeah so I think um when you
know something can be archived or
answered with a yay or a no I think that
clears out like 8 % of the inbox
right yeah and so you like you're
feeling good you've got that out you
know the other stuff you've got snoozed
and your considering so you can go to
inbox of zero and get on with things but
also I I think truly if you imagine you
have this precious resource in the
morning right which is the best quality
attention and energy let's just call it
9 to 11 you're at Peak right do you
really want to spend that most of that
doing email or do you want to write that
article do you want to think about that
plan or creatively explore um ways to
build your business or spend half an
hour reading a book and writing a little
Journal about what you read and really
ingesting that like it's really a a
question of how do you respect and value
your time and more broadly you have to
if you want to you know go as fast as a
Ferrari
you have to treat yourself like a
Ferrari you have to make yourself like a
Ferrari and know you that you need to
get all of the conditions right for you
to be at your best instead of being
tackled by slack and email and then
before you know it it's lunchtime you
didn't even get to your number one right
yeah you didn't even get then you've got
lunch hangover you're like oh too many
cars right it's it's like when you go to
the gym and you can see you know a
handful of people they're there they've
probably only got you know 30 to 60
Minutes to to hit their goals in the gym
but what they're doing in between each
set or each exercise is sitting on their
phone oh gosh choosing maybe texting
maybe taking photos or changing music
whatever it is to me that is a pure uh a
demonstration of that distraction yes
you're not immersing yourself in the
task because you're now wasting time
playing on your phone for me put away
the phone if you're only there there for
a certain amount of time do yourself
Justice honor the time that you've
dedicated and you've provided to that
task by sticking to it yeah I I totally
agree and I think that what we're seeing
here is is a nice build like get up at
the crackers really prioritize work on
your A's and as you go through your day
single handle things don't double touch
if you can archive if you can answer or
if it needs more like be clear and stay
to that what a build but I think I think
we need a little something Mark to bring
us home here how can we really and truly
smash this like how can we really embody
this thinking from Brian Tracy yeah good
question Mike and the good news for you
are listeners and members is I've got a
closer that's perfect for that question
let's now lean in let's think about how
we're going to bring this into our lives
each day but also let's find a little
bit of satisfaction from eating the Frog
even though it tastes Maybe a little bit
rough there are ways that you and I and
all of our listeners can train ourselves
to really get into the habit of
accomplishing those difficult tasks
early on so let's hear from Brian Tracy
one more time today all through e that
frog help us understand continual
productivity and the concept of getting
addicted you can actually develop a
positive addiction to endorphins and to
the feeling of enhanced clarity and
confidence and confidence that they
trigger when you develop this addiction
which you get from working and
completing your most important task you
will at an unconscious level begin to
organize your life in such a way that
you are continually starting and
completing ever more important tasks and
projects you will actually become
addicted in a very positive sense to
success and contribution you'll want
more and more of it and nothing else
will satisfy you setting short and
long-term goals will help you experience
this hooked feeling as the satisfaction
of accomplishing each task triggers the
brain's reward and pleasure
system the final takeaway is that there
are no shortcuts you must practice
practice practice practice is the key to
mastering any skill fortunately your
mind is like a muscle it grows stronger
and more capable with use with practice
you can learn any Behavior or develop
any habit that you consider either
desirable or necessary what is your frog
what is the one task that you despise
doing or try to get out of or put off
doing uh every morning once you have
chosen your frog make it a habit to wake
up every morning and do that task first
before anything
else I I
really like this idea of getting
addicted as strange as that might sound
I think um it has parallels with David
goggin's that you never finished right
it has parallels with making it not a
habit but a lifestyle Allah James clear
and at Atomic habits but more than
anything if you want to be a high
performer you just have to work on it
you have to practice on it and you will
become it through practice and habit and
to be really Frank
the the thing that Brian said there that
really hits home is there's no shortcuts
there really isn't in the end there is
no quick six-pack abs there's no like
Drop Shipping millionaire status after 3
months really in the end it's about
doing the work and this has presented us
with a series of steps that we can take
to do the work and I
think if we defer instant gratification
and do actually eat the frog in the
morning it's going to be
you know as Darren Hardy said the magic
of compound interest you're going to
wake up in a year's time and go dang I'm
a beast I am getting things done I am
creating the life that I wanted to
create and being the person that I
wanted to be I think that's what's
really on offer here don't you mate yeah
I think you're totally right and you
know building on that with James Clea 1%
a day that's all it takes so even if we
were to start today and just simply
start thinking about the tasks that
we're doing being a little bit curious
and start to have the idea of pro of of
prioritization even if you can't start
it today you know and you fall back into
your habits of maybe accomplishing D
tasks e tasks maybe with d tasks it's
pretty hard to delegate that's okay too
just practice put it into your mindset
and reflect on it each day because like
Brian told us just then the mind is a
musle it can do whatever you want it to
do and it'll get stronger the more you
stay curious with it the more you train
it and I love that idea Mike because I
think that's what you and I and our and
our members and listeners are doing you
know by getting curious with all these
books and methodologies I think we're
building some of those pattern
recognitions those habits in our own
lives and our minds which then enables
us to potentially put into practice some
of these tips but it does just take a
little bit of time doesn't it and that's
okay it does indeed it does indeed take
a bit of time and it is okay but what a
Playbook right Mark like pick up this if
you're a starter or if you're just a
maestro and you want to like calibrate
and check that you're not missing
something that you could optimize in
your life I I find this um just a
wonderful book to remind
us that Allah you know uh do you
remember Robin sharma's 500 a.m. club
right oh this is like the brother book
of Eat that
frog there are these proven approaches
that if you want to get the most out of
yourself and really go far in life then
it is simple things like early bird
catches the worm oh you know when that
clip was playing it reminds me of the
saying if you want to get something done
give it to someone who's
busy oh yeah because they're like yep
show up goes on the got a system bam I'm
eating the Frog
right yeah I like that I mean Mike for
me all these tips all these
methodologies that we've learned today
speak volumes and particularly off the
back of such stimulating shows on
essentialism and the one thing for me
even though I love the concept of
single-handed and handling things as
they come up rather than trying to
multitask I i' got to say this
prioritization framework of
ABCDE has really captured my curiosity
and I've already started one since you
know pulling together the show started
to really put that into um practice each
day and I think that's so valuable to
really scrutinize each one like you say
give the tasks to somebody else if
they're busy because we're going to jump
on it when you are in the mode of of
accomplishing things
if you can find those key tasks if you
can find the things that you can
delegate or even eliminate as ease that
for me speaks so much with regards to
you know how limited our time really is
it's the only way for me to really claw
back some of the bandwidth that I think
we have in our in our days when you
reflect on today's episode what are the
key what's the key uh takeaway the key
habit that you're thinking about
implement implementing into your life
now uh uh I think it's also with the
ABCDE and I think it's is it's saying to
yourself
what it's on both
ends so being tough on saying what's an
A and what's an e like I think I
flip-flop around a bit like trying to
reduce on the E
eliminate but then like I think I need
to work better on balance having a
balanced approach through the whole
alpab B you
know and I think there end's probably
the
rub um but made it we've got a lot of
homework to do and I hope our listeners
and our viewers and all of our members
are inspired by this we have mentioned
so many other books obviously go to moon
shots. to get any of our back catalog of
shows for any of the ones that we've
mention but Mark I want to say a huge
thank you to you for providing not only
a bunch of clips for today but helping
us broaden our culinary Horizons we've
eaten the frog in the morning We're Off
to the Races and I'd love to thank you
to our members our viewers and our
listeners here on what has been quite
the show show
268 where we got into Brian Tracy's work
eat that frog and we had four steps in
this journey we got up early at sunrise
to eat the Frog the hardest awkward the
challenging thing we do that for
breakfast we deploy the ABCD method to
ensure that we are putting our energy in
the right places and not the wrong ones
and when we are tackling things we do
them
singlehandedly we don't double handle or
triple handle and lastly we go Way
Beyond habits we go Way Beyond
checklists we practice this daily we get
addicted we
become the lifestyle we want to have we
don't just practice habits we build a
life worth living that's what we are all
about here on the moonshots podcast
that's a wrap