2. Doing Away With Procrastination.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)

Byline: Linda Stockman-Vines

Tackle the most difficult, unpleasant task first as you journey toward your goals and you'll achieve them faster and more efficiently.

Tackling the toughest task first is sort of like eating a live frog when you wake up in the morning, says sales coach and author Brian Tracy in his book "Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time" (Berrett-Koehler, 2001).

Both might be difficult and distasteful; however, once they're done you can take comfort in the fact that the worst part of your day is probably over.

Most people have a big, ugly "frog" or two -- a series of sales calls to make, a walkway that needs to be redone or a report that needs to be written, for instance -- hanging around that they don't want to do. Identify your frogs and you have a choice, says Tracy: You can either step around them and listen to their endless guilt-inducing croaking, or you can pick them up -- one at a time -- and eat them, simultaneously moving closer to your goal.

"You must develop the routine of "eating your frog' before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it," he said.

How do you know which task represents the frog of the day? It's easy, Tracy said: Your daily frog "is your biggest, most important task -- the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it now.