This is a book I have just finished reading and I thought you would appreciate a summary of the ideas and practical tools that are particularly relevant for teachers.

I have also included some questions from the book that you can ask yourself straight away.

In a busy school where virtually every member of staff is working, at least, at 110%, this book sets out a clear simple and practical set of steps we can all use to get much more done in less time.

If you think of your most important goal/task, often the one that you are most likely to procrastinate on. When will you actually do it?
Brian Tracy suggests that you 'brand' this task as a frog, a big ugly frog. Then eat it - immediately. If you can eat your biggest and ugliest frog first thing in the morning then this is probably the worst thing that will happen to you all day long - how great would that feel?

Questions for Reflection

• Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?
• What one skill, if developed and did in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest postive impact on my career?
• If you had an enormous amount of money, perhaps due to a lottery win, what work would you choose?

Hear for yourself - What is a frog and why eat one for breakfast?

Why should I read this book?

This book will save you time.

Personal and Professional Development are the best time savers there are.

A major reason for delay and procrastination is a feeling of inadequacy, lack of confidence or inability in a key area of the task. The steps in this book help you to conquer procrastination really effectively.

I want to remember

Get clarity on your goals and objectives by 'Thinking on Paper' in 7 simple steps:

1. What
2. Write
3. Deadlines
4. Activities
5. Plan
6. Act Now
7. Everyday

Prioritise your 'To Do List' daily with the ABCDE Method:

Click here for the full mindmap (drawn using iMindMap)

Significant learning for busy teachers

Eliminate tasks that are no longer relent to you or to anyone else, often something that you continue to do out of habit or because you enjoy it. (i.e. create yourself a 'Stop Doing List')

As a visual learner I love discovering new ways that describe the previously indescribable.

This is what my 'Guilt Chip' looked like.

Three years ago I found an image to describe the feeling of guilt that was at my core. It was amazing! As soon as I found an image I was able to describe so much more about the feeling and what was associated with that feeling.

I have tried out several talking therapies and it was in a Hypnotherapy session that I came up with this image. I didn't write any notes during the session, but was compelled to draw a mind map of what I had articulated, felt and thought.

It did the trick and got me out of the hole I was in and the mind map stayed on my office wall. It was only three years later did I realize that I had started talking about my 'guilt chip' in the past tense. This prompted me to look again at that mind map with fresh eyes. I realized that although my 'guilt chip' had now stopped being a major driver for my thoughts and feeling, the drivers that I had described in the session were still very much in evidence. I have come to realize that an imbalance in my approach to life was getting me into holes that were hard to get out of. This was one of the triggers that helped me to decide to embark on a learning journey to increase my self awareness, challenge automatic responses, and ultimately to

'replace the operating system in my head'.

(Thank you Derek Sivers suggesting this phrase in the July 2011 "Anything You Want" Duct Tape Marketing Podcast.)

Albert Einstein famously said:

"Insanity = doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

And this is what I had been doing over and over again, focusing on getting out of my hole rather than really understanding what got me in the hole in the first place.

I have made a choice to approach life in a different way and it is already making a huge difference to how I see myself and how I respond to others, I am looking forward to learning more about what makes me me as I continue to craft a new operating system in my head over the coming months.