The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status, and happiness in life.
It is easy to get sucked in to saying yes to every activity, every club, every sport until you are drowning in commitments. It is important to be intentional about the activities you choose and to make sure you are getting the most out of every commitment you make.
An average person who develops the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed quickly will run circles around a genius who talks a lot and makes wonderful plans but who gets very little done.
It has been said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.
if you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.
if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.
if you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.
The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first.
Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete.
the quality of “action orientation” stands out as the most observable and consistent behavior that successful people have in common.
Visualize yourself as the person you intend to be in the future.
All improvements in your outer life begin with improvements on the inside, in your mental pictures.
The truth is that if you do not believe something is possible, it never will be. You must change what you believe to achieve greatness. Once you allow yourself to dream big, you begin to see that your dreams really are possible after all!
Whenever you are faced with a choice, think over your values and use them as your guide.
If you are having trouble identifying your values, think about people you admire. Why do you admire them? What values and habits do they have that make you respect them? And what do you want people to say about you?
take complete responsibility for yourself at all times.
You will naturally tell the people around you about your goal, so when someone who has a resource you need hears you, that person may offer to help you.