What frog? You know, the biggest ugliest task on your desk… the one you keep putting off. Do it first and your day will become much easier.

As a business owner or self-employed freelancer, the growth and success of your business rests on your ability to plan and achieve the most important tasks first.

In his book, “Eat That Frog: 21 Ways to Stop Procrastination”, Brian Tracy recommends writing out your bigger goals monthly, and then every night before work write your task list for the next day. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in a diary, computer-based organiser or PDA, as long as you write it down in the one place.

Apparently, people who take 10-12 minutes to plan their day free up to two hours in wasted time ‘muddling around’ and getting distracted. How much time do you currently spend looking for files, looking at marketing email, or surfing the web – the world’s most distracting medium?

The division of priorities Mr Tracy suggests goes like this:

A task: Very important task, if you fail to do this you will be in trouble. Prioritise these if there are more than one.

B task: Slightly important tasks, with mild consequences. Never do a B task if there is an A task to do.

C task: Nice to do, but no consequences if you don’t do it. E.g. telephoning a friend.

D task: Something you could delegate to someone else. So free yourself up.

E task: Something you can eliminate, perhaps a habit you don’t need to have that just wastes time or energy.

Write up a list of tasks that you regularly do. Then place an a,b,c,d,e in front of your everyday tasks on the list.

If you are still thinking “all too hard”, remember that those who complete important tasks get a payoff… a burst of energy, enthusiasm and self-esteem. This ‘endorphin rush’ is also followed by a boost of confidence.

When you keep on conquering your most critical tasks (ones that you signed up for), the good feelings grow and results arrive. So you may even “get addicted” to the positive habit of starting and finishing important jobs. Wouldn’t that be something?