Moonshots Podcast: Superstar mindsets and success habits

Are you ready to supercharge your productivity and eliminate procrastination once and for all? In Episode 268 of the Moonshots Podcast, hosts Mike and Mark discuss Brian Tracy's timeless wisdom and best-selling book Eat That Frog!, guiding you through practical and proven techniques to master your time and achieve your goals.

Brian Tracy’s philosophy revolves around tackling your most important and daunting tasks first—what he calls “eating the frog.” This approach builds momentum early in your day and creates a sense of accomplishment that powers you through to even greater success. This episode is packed with actionable insights and strategies you can apply today.

💡 Key Concepts and Takeaways:

 1. Eat the Frog First:
 • Kick off your day by focusing on the most challenging, most important task you’re most likely to procrastinate on. By getting this done first, you free yourself from the mental burden of avoidance and set a productive tone for the rest of your day. Tracy’s metaphorical “frog” is the task that will bring the most significant reward once completed, helping you stay focused on long-term goals.
🎧 Clip: [Live frog for breakfast (53s)]

 2. The ABCDE Method:
 • This powerful system is one of Tracy’s critical productivity hacks for prioritizing tasks. It helps you rank your to-dos from A (most critical) to E (least important or distractions). Mike and Mark unpack how this method can help eliminate confusion from your workday, ensuring you focus on high-value tasks that drive actual results.
🎧 Clip: [ABCDE method (3m43)]

 3. Single-Handle Tasks:
 • Tracy emphasizes finishing what you start without switching between tasks. Known as the single-handle approach, this technique helps you stay focused, minimizing the wasted time and mental energy of multitasking. Mike and Mark explore the neuroscience behind this and how it increases efficiency and satisfaction.
🎧 Clip: [Single-handle things (1m35)]

 4. Get Addicted to Productivity:
 • The episode closes with an inspiring insight from Tracy: productivity, once mastered, becomes addictive. By experiencing daily wins and consistently achieving critical tasks, you create a positive feedback loop that builds motivation and confidence. Mike and Mark discuss how this “addiction” can lead to a lifelong habit of success.
🎧 Clip: [Get addicted (1m36)]

🎧 Ready to listen? Start transforming your day now!

👉 Listen to Episode 268 here

In this episode, you’ll discover practical tools for mastering time, building productivity habits, and achieving more daily. Whether you’re looking to optimize your workday or conquer procrastination, Eat That Frog! Offers timeless strategies to help you succeed.

📚 Want more? Dive deeper with the Eat That Frog! Book summary:
If you want to get more out of Brian Tracy’s approach, check out this comprehensive book summary, which breaks down the core concepts from Eat That Frog! Into actionable insights:

👉 Book Summary: Eat That Frog!

📺 Prefer to watch? Catch the episode on YouTube:

For those who like to watch and learn, you can enjoy the Moonshots Podcast Episode 268 on YouTube. Join Mike and Mark as they discuss the power of focusing on high-priority tasks and creating lasting productivity habits:
👉 Watch on YouTube

💪 Take Action & Become a Moonshot Member!

Hungry for more actionable advice? By becoming a Moonshots Podcast Member, you’ll gain access to exclusive content, deeper dives into productivity, and personal development resources. Mike and Mark are dedicated to helping you unlock your full potential, and as a member, you’ll get the inside track to creating meaningful change in your life.

👉 Become a Member Today on Patreon

🌟 Final Thoughts on Eat That Frog!:

Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy is a must-read (and must-listen!) for anyone serious about taking control of their time and achieving their biggest goals. With simple yet powerful techniques like the ABCDE method and single-handle tasks, this episode will give you the tools to stop procrastinating and make real progress. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just beginning your personal development journey, this episode will inspire and equip you to push through barriers and achieve lasting success.
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What is Moonshots Podcast: Superstar mindsets and success habits ?

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

email

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