Frogs, Butterflies and Productivity

Posted on September 13, 2010 by
Categories: Productivity

I am taking a week off to recharge my batteries. Enjoy some updated posts from the archives!

Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

Photo by jurko87

Several years ago I went through a Frog phase, partially due to my reading Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. Around the same time, a great little article about classifying things into quadrants (sadly, no longer available on the web) came across my blog reader.

The image of “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day” comes to mind. It’s funny but true, and a great way to remember the things that have to be done.

The quadrants are as follows:

  • Things you don’t want to do, but don’t need to do = GNATS
  • Things you don’t want to do, but need to do = FROGS
  • Things you want to do and need to do = GEMS
  • Things you want to do but don’t need to = BUTTERFLIES

The mnemonic that went along with this article is great for remembering it: squash the gnats, eat the frogs, and stop chasing butterflies in your pursuit of the gems.

What a great take on productivity!

Photo by jurko87

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