Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tackle the Most Difficult Items on your List First

We naturally avoid the most difficult things on our ToDo lists...

> Auditors enjoy doing "cash" first on audits. It is easy. It gets us warmed up. we feel good about getting something .... anything done.

> Consultants sometimes jump right into the work without gathering all the important requirements and doing proper planning.

The problem with that is usually the easiest thing is also one of the least important things. It is easy for a reason. There isn't much judgement involved. It's fast. It can be done with little thinking.

Here is a link to an excerpt about Brian Tracy's book Eat That Frog! where he gets a point accross about tackling the most difficult thing first in your day....

http://www.simpletruths.com/nws/arc/08/080603-FROG.htm

A senior manager who I talk to at Hein and Associates in Houston Texas ... he was using this term before I even heard of the book. "Eat your frog in the morning" he professes. Simple but very good advice....and a catchy term! Discipline is sometimes about doing things we do not like to do, so we can do the things we enjoy. Getting that one thing done that you have been avoiding, which many times is impotant, out of the way first thing makes the rest of your day down-hill!

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