Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time [Paperback]

What ideas this book may contain can all be gleaned from the reviews already written here on Amazon. There's actually more substance in some of them than in the entire book itself. I found myself shaking my head and angrily turning every page, frustrated that Tracy could get away with publishing a book so completely devoid of content. Fortunately this book is short; it deserves to be a pamphlet. A very short pamphlet.

That's not completely fair. The book has content, but it's either embarrassingly common sense, or startlingly unoriginal. Add in the fact that Tracy writes like, well, a second-tier motivational speaker and there you've got it. For example, here's a sentence from chapter 9, "Refuse to allow a weakness or lack of ability in any area to hold you back." Does that motivate you? Does it help you in any way? Me neither. Fill 113 pages with large type and a lot of white space with this empty, thoughtless, and above all condescending blather and you, too, can write a motivational book.

Oh, and don't forget to fill ten pages with blatant self-promotion ("Double your income, Double your time off!") just to beef up the page count and make the book a little thicker.

Perhaps you really are a desperate procrastinator (like myself) who's looking for someone to help him out of his overwhelmingly negative habits. You want to find a book to help? I'll recommend two: Rita Emmett's "The Procrastinator's Handbook", which, while not original is at least honest and readable, which is more than you can say about "Frog."

Perhaps on the top of the list is David Allen's "Getting Things Done" which is the absolutely best, most practical, applicable, and sustainable system for overcoming procrastination I've ever read. And it's not even a book specifically about procrastination. Yet it works. Magic. Based on the advice in "Getting Things Done" I've finished my bachelor's degree -- 14 years after I first enrolled in college.

The short of it: don't waste a nickel on "Eat That Frog", and spend you money on one of many much, much, much better books. You deserve it.

I saw three excellent things about this book:

1) A great system to help you overcome procrastination

When my girlfriend saw me reading this book, she said, "It's pointless to read a book about how not to procrastinate -- either you do it or you don't! What, is he going to give you strategies?"

Actually, that's exactly what Tracy does. I've done pretty much all of the things he suggested at one time or another -- make a list, write out your goals, plan out your day, etc. -- but he explains how to combine all these things together.

2) Clear, concise writing

I am so fed up with authors who blather on and on. This book gets it done in 113 pages of large type -- short and sweet. I especially like the way Tracy gets big ideas into short sentences -- I recall them in my head when I'm tempted to slip back to my old ways.

3) Positive attitude

Let me tell you, a life of procrastination can make a person feel pretty down -- about missed opportunities, failed obligations, etc. But Eat That Frog is positive without ever being condescending. Reading it actually got me excited about changing the way I do things.

Now, as any procrastinator knows, you can't just change in a day. I'm still not a model frog-eater myself. But I've seen definite improvement in my work habits since reading this book. My girlfriend has even relented and picked it up!

Brian is excellent.