“The ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, status, and happiness in life” says the author, and considers this “key insight” as the heart and soul of this book. Launch directly into your major tasks, eat that frog first, stop procrastinating, overcome procrastination with the habit of setting priorities, especially starting by putting them in writing. In practice, above all, start your productive day each day by working on your most important task. Drawing from the author’s own experience and the experience of successful people who inspired him, the book presents 21 practical ways to stop procrastinating in 21 sharp-witted chapters. As such, those ways, are “methods” or strategies to be practiced and learned. Chiefly among them, the importance of turning off occasionally technological devices, i.e. distractions, which are good servers but terrible masters. Most importantly, set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task, and then work without stopping until the job is 100 percent complete.

Eat that frog! : 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time. Brian Tracy. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2007.

Talk about sound mental health habits to combat those bad habits (13 specific ones) that keep us from getting success. “Developing mental strength”, says the author: “is about improving your ability to regulate your emotions, manage your thoughts, and behave in a positive manner, despite your circumstances.” Whether some people are more predisposed to develop this type of strength, or whether genes, personality or life itself play an important role, you actually must be tough to tackle with grace all the curves that life throws at you. However, it is is not about positive thinking, or ignoring your emotions or feelings, but rather, embracing them, ‘controlling them’.

Personally I can attest to the power of a strong mind (or should we just say, the ‘power of the spirit’?) and this book breaks down into 13 chapters the strategy to become mentally strong, a strategy that indeed has also served me well. Don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself, don’t give away your power, don’t shy away from change, focus on what you can control, don’t worry about trying to please everyone, take calculated risks in a fearless way, don’t dwell on the past, turn the page, avoid making mistakes over and over, as if you never learned your lesson(s), do not resent other people’s success or talent, and don’t expect immediate results, since even failures are part of the road to success.

13 Things mentally strong people don’t do : Take back your power, embrace change, face your fears, and train your brain for happiness and success. Amy Morin. New York: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2014.