15 Minutes to Eat a Frog?

BusinessFeatured Expert
Written By Bibi Goldstein
bibi goldstein 1.jpg

Many of us have heard the analogy of “eating a frog for breakfast” for those projects or things we just procrastinate doing. While the image of it makes me want to gag every time! I’m a big fan of the idea, with my own twist to make it a little more digestible by eating that frog 15 minutes at a time.

Years ago I built a program 15 Minutes from Overwhelmed to Organized™, it was a step by step way for someone to get rid of clutter in piles of papers or to clean out their email inboxes. I’ve always used this method with housework (my least favorite thing to do ever) and started applying it when working with clients that had too much in front of them to even get to a place of delegating to an assistant. 

Now combining this method with the frog for breakfast gives even greater results, which is basically by tackling those tasks first thing in the morning 15 minutes at a time creates clarity with a minimal time investment in order to keep your focus. You might notice that even if you believe the overall project will take you 2+ hours with a small chunk of focused time you are almost 40% more likely to get it done faster.

I’ve timed myself in writing this article and finished it in two sittings with writing, review/editing in just under 24 minutes. The method works for those that can stick to the rules of stopping at 15 minutes no matter where you are in the process, I think my husband thought I was trying to drive him a little crazy when I would wash everything except maybe one dish - but my 15 minutes was up so I stopped. The only other rule is that you have to do something completely different and maybe a little more enjoyable for you from what you were working on for the next 15 minutes before continuing this, this rule brings clarity and perspective back to the original project. 

I know this doesn’t work with everyone or with every type of project or task you might need to tackle, however I do believe that if you can use this even 50% of the time you’ll see a difference in what you can accomplish. 

Bibi Goldstein

Bibi Goldstein is the founder and CEO of Buying Time, LLC - a Virtual Administrative Support Solution for entrepreneurs. She is a time management and systems expert, speaker, author and works with many entrepreneurs to automate and systemize their businesses in order to maximize their time.

In addition to helping businesses with expert implementation and virtual administration work, She's also a regular speaker and workshop facilitator. Through fun, informative sessions, she helps business owners learn how to let go of all the day-to-day tasks that either don’t suit them or waste their time. They are suddenly free to work “on” their businesses, not “in” their businesses. Once they begin working this way, many experience significant growth in revenues as well as improved company morale.

She is an active member of her business community in the South Bay. Currently Bibi is the chair for 2 local non-profits major fundraising events, the SBBWA's South Bay Women's Conference and and Walk With Sally's White Light White Night event, and also serves as a board member for the Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach Chambers of Commerce

Bibi has strong lifelong ties to the South Bay community, she lives in Redondo Beach with her husband Mark and has a daughter Julie who is a hairstylist and a local entrepreneur.  

http://www.buyingtimellc.com
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