This week I tested whether Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy could improve my productivity. I determined the most impactful task I could complete and did that first and continued to identify and “eat” the next biggest frogs throughout the day.
How Eat That Frog Saved My Sanity This Week
Relieved guilt. When I’m researching something that isn’t urgent or I’m experimenting with blog plug-ins, I feel really guilty. I know I should be doing something else. By doing the most important things first, I felt no guilt, which was wonderful for a change!
Helped me feel in control. Before this week, my tendency was to do a bunch of little tasks first–presumably because I would feel like I was on top of my to-do’s. But doing the easiest tasks first actually left me with my big, undesirable tasks that often didn’t get done and contributed to overwhelm. Finishing the big frogs first helped me feel that I was doing well, even if I were to be interrupted later in the day.
Got me thinking. I really thought about what would make the biggest impact on my day (or life). On one day, I realized that I was avoiding tasks I didn’t like (returning things) that would actually pay me to do them. Thinking of them that way got me to quit procrastinating and get them out of the way.
Resolved my desire for electronic and paper lists. This benefit isn’t really related to Eat That Frog, but Brian Tracy’s suggestion to “write everything down” had me looking for a means of doing that. I continued using IQTell to create my digital lists and then printed off the list for each day. I put a dot in front of the top 20% of tasks and then circled each dot as I identified it as the next frog to eat. I found it very rewarding to cross completed tasks off, giving me the benefits I’ve found with both list forms.
Gave me the satisfaction of working to completion. While I love working little-and-often, there is something deeply satisfying about marking a task complete and knowing you don’t have to see it again. There was a good discussion on Mark Forster’s forum about the balance between little-and-often and working to completion that may be of interest to you.
How Eat That Frog Made Me Crazy This Week
Didn’t want to do the tasks. I really had to make myself eat the frogs and had to use a goodly amount of willpower to do them at first. However, I was delighted when I did and found it got easier each day.
Burned out without breaks. At first, I completely forgot about my plan to use 50/10 Pomodoros while eating frogs. I started working my way through the frogs and was ready to scream because I wanted to do the more appealing tasks. Then I remembered I could do those appealing tasks on my breaks and all was well.
I didn’t always get to determine the frog. I had my frog identified for the day and I was ready to eat it when my husband decided we would clean out the basement instead. I find I’m unable to stop in the middle of projects like this, so the frog had to wait until the next day. Honestly, every productivity hack I try will always be at the mercy of my family and circumstances. But I bet I’m not that unusual that way.
Didn’t always want to name the frog. Some days I know what I have to do and I do it. I don’t want to waste time reviewing a list and dotting and circling the frogs. And I think that’s O.K.
Can’t eat the frog first thing. There is a sense in which I eat the frog first nearly every day. By that I mean, I have time for prayer, teaching, and exercise in the mornings. These activities make the most impact on my life. Because I have a routine that works, I can’t supplant it by eating other frogs in the first part of the day–unless they’re truly urgent. I can only eat the other frogs during the first part of my task time and that’s later in the day when a lot of my willpower has been used up.
Did Eat That Frog Help Me Get More Done?
Without question. More importantly though, I got more of the right things done. There is something about identifying tasks that will have the most impact that works for me. Throughout the week, variables like money, commitments to other people, and size of the project contributed to a to-do being identified as a frog. I found it much easier to leave the frivolous items until the end of the list, eliminate them, or do them on breaks than I have with any other approach.
I would like to continue working in this way because it’s so powerful.
**UPDATE**
I do the most important work early in the day — exercise, writing, devotions, chores, and teaching. After that, it becomes more of a challenge. But Skedpal helps me with Eat That Frog by choosing the frog for me. Usually I eat what Skedpal tells me to eat. 🙂
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 15
This week I’ll be taking a vacation.
The concept. Research shows that vacations really do increase your productivity. We tend to come back from time off more refreshed and ready to work. I almost always return excited about a new goal or project.
The great thing is you don’t have to be going on an out-of-town trip to experience the benefits. You can work toward getting work done early so you can take time off, enjoy a special event, or have some relaxation time at home. For example, you can plan a weekend vacation at home where you have to do nothing but relax and enjoy. To do that, you’ll have to get all housework and other work done during the week and avoid everything that distracts you.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read this article about vacation-inspired productivity and plan a real or imagined vacation. Work hard so you can play hard! I’m going to give you two weeks to do it with my report appearing week after next.
Click here to see if taking a vacation helped my productivity.
If you’ve tried Eat That Frog to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
I am really enjoying the great posts I read on link-ups, Google+ and Pinterest. Be sure to follow me and share what you think is hot in homeschooling, so I can include it in future updates. Now on to what’s hot…
Our weather has been so volatile lately. I’d like to just sit and whine about it, but an even better thing to do is study it! These colorful free printables and weather study links are just what we need.
Summer is a great time to take advantage of the many factory tours available. This website lists them by state, so check out those close to home or incorporate them into a road trip.
Many homeschooling families are anticipating having students in high school soon. This article details one family’s remarkable accomplishments, but has good advice about including advanced work on a high school transcript, regardless of students’ age.
This post is a great adjunct to my Once-and-for-All Meal Plan ebook. She recommends a meal planning app I’d like to try and notice the simplicity of her breakfasts and lunches!
I’ve had some discouraging days this week. That’s why I love this idea from Faith, Fun & the Fergusons. Definitely a project you can get the kids involved with!
The most precious gifts I receive from my children are their words. Using these questions, you can have someone interview your child about you and you can enjoy the hilarious results on Mother’s Day.
Speaking of Mother’s Day, I’d like to wish all of you a very happy day. You inspire me and are blessing the world by raising the next generation. I hope you get lots of love this Sunday!
This week I tested whether Personal Kanban could improve my productivity. I used the traditional method of Post-It notes and a dry erase board. Scroll to the end of last week’s post for more details.
How Personal Kanban Saved My Sanity This Week
Helped me visualize my work. I’ve learned that I benefit from having an offline picture of my work in as big a format as possible. I decided to use my large vanity mirror for my Backlog color-coded notes. I could scan them and choose the ones I wanted to work on by category. I also discovered that I have a LOT of blog-related tasks.
Gave me a reward for completing tasks. It’s a good feeling to move those sticky notes across the board and into the Done column. I was motivated to remove as many sticky notes from my mirror as possible (my teenage son thought I was really weird).
Was portable. No, I did not put my dry erase board in my purse. But when I knew I would be at the dentist’s office with my laptop for three hours, I quickly pulled the sticky notes I knew I could work on, added them to a piece of paper, and popped them into my laptop bag.
How Personal Kanban Made Me Crazy This Week
Sticky notes not so sticky. I did have to restick them quite often when they fell off the board. It wasn’t a deal breaker. I did read about people who used magnetic cards instead. I would have to have dozens and dozens of magnets!
Didn’t limit my work. One of the main reasons I was excited about Kanban (besides visualizing my work) was to force me to limit the amount of work I took on. The problem is there aren’t any limits on the work being fed into the system, only on the tasks being worked concurrently. I’ve discovered that isn’t an issue for me. I don’t tend to flit from thing to thing when I’m actually working on them.
Work is never complete. Routines, Do it Tomorrow, and Scheduling tasks all gave me a sense of completion at the end of the day. With Kanban there is a never-ending stream of work coming into the system through Backlog. I started to feel hopeless. Then again, maybe it’s the winter that refuses to end!
Did Personal Kanban Help Me Get More Done?
Yes. For the better part of the week, I was motivated to complete as many tasks as possible. It was when I realized I would never finish them all, that the approach broke down for me.
While I don’t want to continue using Personal Kanban, I see a lot of value in having a visual representation of work. Using it to track projects could be very beneficial. I’ve created forms I use for blogging that use checklists for every phase of a post that remind me of Kanban.
A friend sent me a picture of her Kanban board and thanked me for the idea. In no way would I want to discourage anyone from using an approach that works for them. That’s the point of this series! I’m finding what works for me and hopefully you are, too.
**UPDATE**
Although I do not use Personal Kanban for all my tasks, I use it for writing curriculum. I have a large dry erase board at my desk. I have columns of tasks that have to be completed for each lesson (some of which others on my team have to do). I find it motivates me, organizes me, and gives me great peace of mind. Highly recommended for work that goes through a process.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 14
This week I’ll be using Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy.
The concept. Brian Tracy argues that having a written list of tasks to do the next day will increase productivity by 25%. Furthermore, choosing the top 20% of tasks that make the most difference in your day, work, or life allows you to get the most results for your efforts. Brian says that most people do easy tasks to try and “warm up” to the day, in essence wasting valuable time.
Eating a live frog first thing in the morning is the analogy for choosing to do the worst task first. The work may be repulsive to you because it’s a big, time-consuming task or is just something you don’t want to do. But to be a “frog,” it must be the most important thing you could do that day. Once that frog is “eaten,” you can continue to work your list by identifying the next most important task. This way of working is not only supposed to improve your self-control, but will increase productivity by 50%.
I’m one who has really resisted eating the frog first thing. I read this Pick the Brain article by Tom Casano (who also sang the praises of doing the worst first) and realized that I could probably get myself to do this now that I use a 50/10 Pomodoro. If I know I can take a break after 50 minutes to do some fun tasks for 10, I might be able to stomach a frog or two.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read about the basic philosophy of Eat the Frog and watch the short video. Make a list of the next day’s tasks. I’m going to make an electronic list which I then print, but you can use any method you like. I think you could choose your most important tasks the night before, but I prefer to do that in the morning. It’s amazing how different things look overnight! Then eat that frog. I’m going to try and eat the frogs in successive order of importance, but my main goal will be the top frog.
Click here to read how my week of Eat That Frog went.
If you’ve tried Personal Kanban to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
Hello, Homeschool Homies. I pray this edition of What’s Hot in Homeschooling finds you well! I have some great articles and ideas for you this week. What I don’t have is a link-up. I think bloggers are better served by choosing well-established link-ups. The good news is that I read these link-ups and will find your great articles no matter what! Please contact me if you’re interested in pinning content to the What’s Hot in Homeschooling Board on Pinterest. Now on to the good stuff!
As the school year comes to a close, it’s easy to panic that your child isn’t done with the 2nd grade book. Or worse yet, he hasn’t even started it! Homeschool Heart and Mind has comfort for your crisis.
I really knew next to nothing about charter homeschools before reading Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s article. If you need a change in your homeschool, check it out.
Speaking of needing a change, maybe you need to focus on your mission. I’ve read about mission statements before, but this article by Renee Gotcher at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler shares the difference having one can make in your decisions. Homeschoolers can always use help making decisions!
If you’re a subscriber to Psychowith6, you already know my philosophy on meal planning. (Don’t have the book? Click here). Having a once-and-for-all meal plan makes it much easier to include kids in meal preparation. Simply Living for Him takes it one step further to include kids in the shopping, too. I can’t wait to try it!
My children have grown up with mostly contemporary Christian music. That’s why I love teaching them not just the hymns, but the stories behind them. Contented at Home offers freebies for teaching the hymns that you don’t want to miss!
As you may know, I’m big into productivity. Every week I try a new method of managing my time and tasks better. I think you’ll appreciate this article from Under the Golden Apple Tree as I did.
If you’d like to share what’s hot in your homeschool, please comment below. God bless your week!
This week I tested whether the Repeat Test would improve my productivity. The Hourly Chime iPhone app reminded me to determine if I was happy with how I spent my time in the previous hour. If not, I wrote down what didn’t work next to that hour on a piece of paper. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post to read more about my planned test.
How The Repeat Test Saved My Sanity This Week
Helped me realize that I’m happy with my time management. While I know I have too many commitments, I was surprised that most of the time I felt I was using my time in the right way–even when I was indulging in leisure activities.
Helped me to limit time wasters. Knowing that I would have to ask myself if I was using my time in the best way kept me from spending too long online, for example.
Enabled me to identify areas for improvement. The only times I wasn’t happy with time usage was when I was doing activities that should have been multi-tasked. For example, while I felt the phone calls I took were valuable, sitting while talking wasn’t. I could have easily gotten some cleaning or laundry chores done and would have felt better about the hour.
How The Repeat Test Made Me Crazy This Week
Not a long-term solution. I loved the meekness of the hourly chime and I did remember to consider my time usage. But I can’t see continuing this beyond this week. The motivation won’t be there. However, I think doing this again in the future would be a good idea.
Doesn’t consider the long view. I had one occasion where I was happy with my hour, but when I was pressured about a deadline because of how I spent my time, I reconsidered. However, I don’t see any problem with recording time wasters later in the day if you change your mind.
Did The Repeat Test Help Me Get More Done?
Unequivocally, yes. I found it to be one of the more pleasant weeks, because the overhead of the method was low and the metric makes the most sense. Who cares if you get lots of tasks done if you aren’t happy that you did them? Of course, I can see potential problems with people who are happy with how they’re spending their time, but their colleagues and families are ready to wring their necks! The thing is, I doubt this irresponsible type would use this test anyway.
**UPDATE**
While I haven’t used the Repeat Test specifically, I believe the 5 Minute Journal app and the scheduling method I use on Skedpal serve the same purpose. I am always asking myself if I am using my time in the best possible way. I think the Repeat Test is an excellent analog solution for procrastination.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 13
This week I’ll be using Personal Kanban. I’ll be using a small dry erase board I purchased at Target and small Post It notes.
The concept. Personal Kanban is a means of visualizing and limiting your work using Post It notes and a dry erase board. It’s been used successfully in the workplace for teams, but is useful for personal productivity as well. The labels of the columns vary depending on your work, but at minimum there should be a place (even off the dry erase board) for backlog tasks. There is a column for work that is ready to be done or that you are wanting to work on soon. The Doing column is for active tasks. This is where limits are required. I will be working with a limit of 3. In other words, if I have three tasks I’m working on and find yet another I want to do, to be true to the method, I would have to complete one of the tasks, moving it to the Done column. I can’t wait to use this as an excuse when my family wants me to do something for them. 😉 Although the idea is that everything you do be included in the system, so you see all the work you have in progress, I won’t be dismantling my routines or taking the time to add them to the board. I will, however, use different colored notes for the major areas of work I have.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read about the basic philosophy of Personal Kanban. Decide what you will use to track your tasks. Doors, walls, windows, and file folders (putting the Doing and Done columns on the bottom of the file folder) are all options. This online Personal Kanban has a free trial. Decide which columns to use. I’m adding a couple. I have a Today column and a Pen column for tasks that can’t progress because I’m waiting on someone or something. Decide how many tasks you’ll allow to be in Doing at a time. Add your tasks to the backlog. For a week of testing, I’m only including tasks that I want to complete in the coming week. I’ll be adding more as they come up. Work your tasks through to being done. If you want more inspiration, read this series of blog posts about using Personal Kanban.
Click here to see how my week of testing Personal Kanban went.
If you’ve tried The Repeat Test to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
This week is all about preventing and solving problems. I LOVE the posts my fellow bloggers are linking up. I can’t include them all, so be sure to check them out on the site if you’re reading via email.
If you haven’t been online much the past few weeks, you may not know much about the Common Core. These YouTube videos are a great place to start. But I love this post from 7 Sisters Homeschool that encourages us to keep it in proper perspective.
I’ll admit it. I’ve believed that if I just planned the perfect homeschool schedule, I’d be a perfect homeschool mom. Heather Bowen of Upside Down Homeschooling turns that idea, well upside down!
Speaking of scheduling…when you’re doing any kind of work other than homeschooling, that’s a challenge, isn’t it? Jamerrill Stewart, a gracious and very busy WAHM, shares her story.
All this busyness in our day may lead to forgetting one very important person: our husbands. As a psychologist, I can’t stress the importance of marriage maintenance enough. Women Abiding shares these words of wisdom.
I did my doctoral research by driving to libraries, lugging heavy journals up and down floors, and making hundreds of photocopies. What a blessing that our kids don’t have to research this way. The National Digital Public Library is a new resource that makes studying anything easier.
Now it’s your turn! What’s hot in your homeschool this week? Please use my blog button (bottom right) or link to this post. Visit the link before you if you can and say thanks.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
