A Michael Myers kind of frog

          

Everybody knows how easy it is to start something and how difficult it is to finish it.

I’d say that even more difficult than finishing it, is to maintain it they way you want.

This is something I’ve recently realized through the Time Challenge… I’m not good at maintaining certain things. It usually goes like this: I do something and I like to do it well, and when I finish it, I cross it from my to-do list and forget all about it, after all it’s all done and over with :)

Time passes and now I’m totally focused on something else right? I’m working on finishing the next task when suddenly, I look around and there is the frog I just finished eating, very much alive, staring at me as if I had never even touched it!

And that is a big problem when it comes to proper time management, finishing something but not keeping it that way.

It’s just like cleaning your house. You can take a whole day to clean it from top to bottom, to organize everything and leave it the way you like, but then if you don’t keep it organized, next week when you separate a day to clean it again, it will take you the same amount of time to finish it, or even more.

That’s the cycle may people have fallen into. They never have time for other things, they never seem to have spare time for anything new or even to do the most important things they have to, because their current responsibilities and the things they are used to doing takes up all of their time.

Solution? Maintenance. Do something, finish it and work to maintain it that way. If it is cleaning your room, clean it and keep it that way until you have to clean it again. If it is your clothes, wash it, iron it and put them away and keep it organized until you have to do it again. Same with your house, same with everything you start and finish.

This is what I will be working on throughout this month. If you are my partner in the Time Challenge or would like to be, you should as well ;) I will be coming here at the end of each week to tell you (in the comments section) how my “maintenance” is going and I would love, love to hear from you as well.

Remember: A frog when eaten has got to remain dead; otherwise it’s like having a “Michael Myers” kind of frog in your life. No matter how many times you kill it, when you turn around, it is still coming for you O_o 

What is the Time Challenge?

People have been asking on my Facebook Page what’s the Time Challenge all about. So here are a few question and answers to help you understand it better:

What is the Time Challenge?

It is a challenge to help us change or improve the way we manage our time.

How does it work?

The Time Challenge consists of tasks that are sent to all participants every week. The completion of these tasks is monitored by me and the other partners. All participants must strive to complete the task given by the end of each week. Those who don’t will get eliminated from the Challenge by the end of the month.

How did it all start?

Click here to know more.

Are you an expert?

No. I’m just like everyone else who is fighting to do the most they can with the time they have. And just like them, I’m fighting to use my time in a way that allows me to do what I must and what I want.

Who can participate?

Anyone who struggles with time management. All they need to do is register ;)

They have to be ready to be challenged and to persevere until they get the results they want.

How do I register?

Just click here.

We have a new round starting every 3 months. The next will start in September and will be the last one for 2013. So, if you want to participate, hurry! There are only few spots left.

Got more questions about the Challenge?

Ask them in the comments below.

Do what you have to so you can do what you want to

This has been one of the objectives in this Challenge.

There are so many things that require our attention every day, all the time that we forget why we do them.

So a few weeks ago we had a very interesting task in the Time Challenge. All the participants had to choose something they wanted to do to relax and have fun :)

Here’s one of them:

This is Nanda Raissa. She decided to spend some quality time with her twin nieces and watch a movie with them.

It seems like they had fun, doesn’t it?

For more pictures, visit my FACEBOOK PAGE.

Click here ro register for the next round of the Challenge. 

The famous "little list"

“I’m afraid to write my list lol, I have the tendency to leave my responsibilities aside… Having to FACE everything I have to do will not be easy!”

This was a comment left by one of my partners in the new round of the Time Challenge and it spoke to me a lot because it reveals the truth about many of us.

For those of you who don’t know, the first task in the Time Challenge is to make a to-do list and after that, the challenge really begins. But who has never heard of the famous to-do list?

I had heard about and even done it many times but it was not something I did often and do you know why? First of all because writing a to-do list shows your reality, it makes you see everything you have to do and have been postponing for who knows how long.

This list can really be dreadful. Sometimes it seems to work against us because most of the time it shows that we simply don’t have time.

It’s also the list that shows our failures, everything we couldn’t do or didn’t have enough time to do. One look at all those undone items and we can almost hear that voice inside us:

“See? You can’t do it! Look how many things left undone! It’s no use…”

That’s why most people adopt the out-of-sight-out-of-mind method. They prefer to never make the list so that they are never reminded that they failed.

But that’s exactly what we need to do if we want to change the way we manage our time. We need to do like my partner described above, we need to FACE everything we have to do, face the truth about where and in what we’ve been spending our time and see where we need to improve/change.

To face the truth about ourselves is no easy task, but totally necessary if we want to cause any change in our life.

And that’s one way the Time Challenge has been helping us: To see where we need to change and how to go about it. So let’s do something, shall we? Even if you are not taking part in the Time Challenge, try making the list this week. Make a daily list of all the things you have to do. Start with the worst one, the most difficult one or the one you simply don’t want to do. Do not go to the next one until you finish it.

After you finish it, cross out that item and go to second one and so on and so forth. See how you do it :)

So, are you up to the challenge of the list? If yes, come back here at the end of the week and tell us your experience ok? If you do well, maybe… maybe I will post one other task that has been helping us oh so much… let’s see ;)

Time Challenge - New Round

I started this Challenge because I wanted to improve my time management skills and help whoever I could do the same.

But it was when I received this comment on my blog that I understood that this could REALLY help people in many different ways:

"I made my list on Saturday night and yesterday I managed to eat the biggest of all the frogs I had… For about ONE YEAR I wasn’t able to go to church on Sundays but yesterday I was able to wake up when my alarm went off and I went to church. I am soooooooo HAPPY! Let’s go all out… 2013 is going to be a good year! This challenge is a blessing!"    Phaty

I remember one time in my life when I too was overwhelmed with too many things to do and didn’t know what to do or where to start. Until a friend of mine showed me a light at the end of the tunnel…

And that was when this whole frog idea started :)

We started a new round of Challenge this week and those who persevere in following the tasks will also see the results in their life.

So for those starting with me, welcome to the Time Challenge. Expect to be challenged indeed.

And for those who would like to join us next time, here’s the link. 

Does it really work?

Take a look at what my partners are saying about the Time Challenge:

"This challenge has helped me write everything down, that I need to get done and I haven't been forgetting what I need to get done on my to-do list. Also it has been helping me get things done that I used to leave for "tomorrow's last minute." Overall it has been helping me keep more ORGANIZED!"

Danielle Ramos, United States

"The time challenge is THE opportunity to learn how to be an organized woman! Now, I can say that find myself at the end of the day without complete any of my important tasks is totally behind me!"

Leslie Ntoya, United Kingdom

"I'm positive that eating all those frogs did pay off ... thank you for letting me be part of this challenge! At last I started it and didn't give up half way and will keep going until I finish it. I remember the very first one, I forgot all about it and then didn't keep going cause "I didn't have time" but this challenge is the one that is making me have MORE time for many other things."

Triana Saucedo, United States

  

If you want to be one of my partners and challenge yourself to manage your time better, it's easy!

Just sign up here. 

The 21 days

My partners and I have started last Monday a 21 days exercise to help us lock-in our new habit of eating our frogs.

No, we don’t eat actual frogs; we eat… tasks. No, we don’t eat them. We do them.

We complete tasks that are like frogs, get it?

No? I know… is sounds complicated/weird right?

But it really isn’t :)

Just click here and you will understand… kind of… lol.

And the winner is...

And the winner of our Frog Eating Competition is:

Triana Saucedo with a total of 37 frogs eaten this week!!

Congratulations Triana!!

And congratulations to all my other partners! We might not have won the competition, but I’m sure that eating our frogs paid off ;)

Now, on to the 21 days!!! Time to lock-in our new habit ;)

Here are the first 5 places in the competition:

1 – Triana Saucedo – 37 frogs

2 – Raphaela Castro – 29 frogs

3 – Leslie Ntoya – 26 frogs

4 – Jessica Aguilar – 19 frogs

4 – Sarah Ng – 19 frogs

5 – Bianca Lima – 18 frogs

The Frog Eating Competition

My partners and I continue strong in our Time Challenge.

Last week we started a very especial ‘diet’ where the more you eat, the better it is, right girls? Hehehe

This week we entered into a competition and we will see who manages to eat the most by the end of the week.

May the best partner win!!

And here are two more of my beautiful and brave partners:

Jasmine de Los Rios

Bianca Lima

P.S.: If you want to join us in the next phase of the Time Challenge, you can subscribe here.

Time Challenge – Meet my Partners

So this month I decided to finally go back to the Time Challenge and some brave people decided to do it with me!

Together we are going against our old ways, our old habits and everything that steals time from us.

Together we are challenging ourselves… We are challenging our own limitations… We are challenging time itself.

It’s hard but it can be done. It’s difficult but we will do it together!

Here are some of my beautiful Partners doing their first task ;)

Bruna Araujo

Jazmin Cazares

           

Julissa Rojas

Leslie Ntoya

Sarah N

Triana Saucedo

Selene Vital

       































If you’d like to join us in the next phase starting in March, just click here.

Ready, set…

So we are starting the Time Challenge this week, but I’m making a few changes to the way we go about it.

1.     I will no longer be posting the weekly tasks here on the blog. Only those who subscribed to the Challenge will receive it by email. 

2.     After this Thursday no one will be able to subscribe to the Challenge. So, if you haven’t yet but would like to, please fill out the form on this link: Click here for the form.

3.     If you are new to this blog and have no idea of what I’m talking about, please click on the links below to know more and if you would like to be part of it, just subscribe. You have until this Thursday ;)

 One of my major Flaws

Are you ready to start Again?

May the Challenge begin!

Time Challenge - Are you ready to start again?

Yeah… I know you thought this was over and that I had given up.

But I have not and will not until I achieve what I purposed myself right about this time last year.

So, here’s what I propose:

FORGET THE PAST!

Forget what you failed or didn’t fail to do. 

Forget if you joined me in this Challenge and have long ago forgotten about it.

Forget if you gave up half of the way.

And please, forget the fact that in the past 7 months I haven’t posted anything about it hehehe…

Let’s focus on now and on the future.

So those of you who started this Challenge with me back in January and would like to continue start again, please fill out the form below and will be receiving more instructions this week.

If you weren’t very interested before, but would like to join us now, please fill out the form.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check this post - Time Challenge - and then if after that you decide to join us, fill out the form.

Let’s start afresh. Let’s start again. The first step?

Fill out the form lol

Click here for the form.

Time Challenge Step # 6 – Deadlines

If you’ve been following this Challenge since the beginning, then you will probably have written down all the projects you will be working on for the next couple of months. But when do you plan on completing them?

A mistake we often make is to work but not have a specific time to finish it. We adopt the ‘as long as it takes’ attitude and that’s quite bad for our time management skills.

If you work or study, then you know that there is a deadline for every single thing you do at school or at work. There is a set time for you to submit that paper or finish preparing those reports.

Why do you think that is?

Why do you think teachers and managers give us deadlines to finish our work?

Because we would never get them done otherwise! We would simply leave it for “later” or move on a more pleasant or easier task.

The problem is that many of our projects are personal, which means nobody will ever give us a set time to finish them. And that’s where the 6^th Step of our Challenge comes in. Here’s what you will do:

Look at the list of projects you wrote on Step # 2.

Make a list of everything you will need to do in order to accomplish each one.

Based on this list and all the steps you will need to take in order to achieve what you want in you project, calculate the amount of time you think it’s going to take to finish each one.

And finally, set a date, a deadline for each project. Make sure to write the date in front of the title of each project.

You have to be realistic about the deadline, but it’s also important that you challenge yourself to complete your project soon, because the sooner you get it done, the sooner you will have what you want and the sooner you will be able to move on to other things.

You should also have deadlines for small tasks you do everyday. Have a specific time/day you want to finish each task (including eating your frog), and you will see that you will be more focused and faster than ever!

Now, let’s get to work! 

Time Out

This week I will not post the next step for our Time Challenge. My partners and I are using this week to regroup and reorganize ourselves.

See you next week!

Time Challenge - Old for the New

After what it seems like months, I’m back to writing daily here on my blog.

To my partners in the Time Challenge, I would like to apologize for my absence and almost two weeks of silence. The Challenge continues, because like I said in January, it will last until I completely change, and I haven’t completely changed yet. So, let’s continue moving forward!

To the followers of this blog, please forgive me for not posting the movie reviews you voted for. Will dedicate this week to do just that.

If you were following the series about Twilight, know that it has not ended. There are actually 5 more chapters to go and I will post the third one this Thursday.

Time Challenge Step # 5 - The 10-minute tactic

This week’s step is very simple and yet very practical.

If you’ve been following the steps of this challenge, then you have already begun to see lots of results. Your life is supposed to a little more organized, but still you might notice that some of the things you need to do are always left undone.

Do you know those little things you need to do, but because they are not as important as your everyday frogs, you never get to do it? Like organizing your documents/papers, organizing your closet, replying to a friend’s email, organizing your bathroom cabinets or organizing your husband’s sock drawer lol?

The problem with little tasks is that at first you think ‘this is not so important right now, so I’ll leave it for later, tomorrow, next week’, and when you see, the little task has become a big one or even a frog but with everything else going on in your life, you just can’t separate an hour or a few hours to work on it.

And here’s where Step # 5 comes in. We will start creating ‘chunks of time’ from this week on.

Starting   today, you will separate 10 minutes everyday to do some kind of little task. All you need to do is choose a time during the day and work on it for 10 minutes only.

The secret is doing that everyday. E V E R Y D A Y.

By the end of the week, you will have worked on your little task for 1 hour and 10 minutes without having to separate 1 hour during your busy week to have it done! There will be progress on the task you are working on (who knows, maybe you will even have finished it) and the great thing is that it doesn’t feel like a task at all!

Choose one task, separate 10 minutes of your busy day and get to work. Once you finish the one you will start today, choose something else and something else after that  :)

Let me know how it goes by leaving your comment here.

P.S.: I’ve already left a comment saying what little task I’ll be working on. What about you? Come on… II really want to know!

Time Challenge Step # 4 - Learn to Prioritize

The last few weeks have showed me what challenging myself really means. Some of my plans didn’t work as well as I would have liked them too, others went down the drain completely. For a while it seemed that my frogs were the ones controlling my time lol.

A lot has happened, especially in the last few days, that brought the idea that perhaps this Time Challenge doesn't and will never work.

But this is my heart talking, because if I use my head (and I did), I will see that I have accomplished in the month of January things that I haven’t be able to do for months, some for years, and others that I have never been able to accomplish.

So, even though the last couple of days didn’t go so well, I must say that the results I had were incredible and I should be satisfied... but I am not. 

Last week I wrote a passage that says there is a time for everything and everything has its time. I believe that 100% and that’s why I am here. That’s why I have determined that February will be even better than January and so it will!

Now one thing that you need to understand is that although there is a time for everything, you will never have time to do everything. That’s right. You will never have time to do everything, because if that were possible, everyone would already have achieved everything they want in life, everything will be done. But the truth is, there’s always something to be done, even if you go through your whole list if to-dos today, there’s always something to be done still.

But that doesn’t matter… as long as you do what’s really important.

If you come to the end of the day and you have done all your most important tasks, will it really matter than you haven’t done everything on your list?

You need to determine what your most important tasks for each day are.

So let’s do some exercise here, shall we?


Write on a notebook everything you need to do today.
Highlight your frog or frogs for today.
Now see which of your tasks are really important.
Write 1, 2, 3, 4… in front of each one, according to their order of importance.
Write your list again, following the order of the numbers. 

By doing this exercise, you might see that there are some tasks that can be left for tomorrow or that your frog was actually towards the end of the list, when it should be first or even that some tasks are not really that important and don’t need to be done at all.

We will do that everyday this week, starting today.  Make a list tonight of all the things you need to do tomorrow following the steps I just gave you.

This exercise will help us prioritize so we can spend our time in what's really important. And that will make all the difference this month.

I’m moving forward, what about you?

P.S.: Partners who haven’t received my email yet, don’t worry. You WILL be receiving it this week ;)

Time Challenge - It's time to revise!

It's time to revise everything we learned in the month of January. Bu now you should:

1. Have a very important reason as to why you want to manage your time well.

2. Have written down all your projects and choose which ones you are going to be working on right now and which ones you will leave for later.

3. Be eating at least one frog every day.

4. Do what you have to do even you don't fell like it.

If you have signed up to be my partner in this Challenge, you will be receiving extra help this week, so check your inbox often ;)

For now I will leave you a message that has everything to do with the fourth step in our challenge. Read, think about it and be ready for next week!

There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: 

   A right time for birth and another for death, 
   A right time to plant and another to reap, 
   A right time to kill and another to heal, 
   A right time to destroy and another to construct, 
   A right time to cry and another to laugh, 
   A right time to lament and another to cheer, 
   A right time to make love and another to abstain, 
   A right time to embrace and another to part, 
   A right time to search and another to count your losses, 
   A right time to hold on and another to let go, 
   A right time to rip out and another to mend, 
   A right time to shut up and another to speak up, 
   A right time to love and another to hate, 
   A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Time Challenge - The key

If you have been applying yourself to this challenge of making time to do all you have/need/want to do, it's important that you understand a few things:

Changing your behavior is not like changing clothes. It takes time. It will take time. Don’t dismay.

You need to be committed 100% and make this a priority in your life.

You will not always feel like doing what you need to do.

Some days you will wake up in the morning all energized for the day ahead. You will have all your frogs written down and you will not only be ready to eat them, you will WANT to eat them. Your alarm will go off in the morning and your immediate response will be I'M READY!  

But sometimes you don't even feel like getting up from the bed and throughout the day you just feel too tired to do anything difficult.

Sometimes you want to work hard, sometimes you just want to watch TV.

There are days that everything goes according to plan and there are some that everything turns into a total DISASTER.

Some days you feel like this is working and sometimes it just feels like a waste of time.

And here's the secret to succeed in spite of the bad days:

You must ignore what you feel.

If you rely on the way you feel, you will always be going back to square one.

So, whether you feel like it or not, you MUST press forward, you must continue with your tasks, you must carry on with eating your frogs. This is not a step but the key to succeeding in this Challenge. 

If you’ve tried to do something important before and failed, if you signed up for this challenge on December 26th and are not doing very well or have already given up, just look back and you will see that the reason was exactly this: You didn't feel like doing everything written here or you didn't feel like it was working, or you didn't feel like trying anymore or you didn't feel like you could.

You don't feel like going on? Go on anyway!

Don't feel like making that list of things you need to do tomorrow? Do it now!

Feel like doing everything else on your list but eating that giant, ugly, fat frog? Take the first bite!

Most often than not, YOU WILL NOT FEEL LIKE doing what you need to do, but you MUST DO IT ANYWAY.

If you can overcome your own feelings, then you can overcome everything else in your life. If you can't...

Time Challenge Step # 3 - The Frog Diet

A few years ago I read this very nice book about time management and it taught me one of the most important lessons on how to organize my time.

It taught me to eat frogs.

Yes, if I wanted to get a lot done throughout my week, I should eat at least one frog every morning.

Here's what the book says:

'It has been said for many years that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.'

How true is that? 

Your frog is the most important task you have to do today, the one that you will most likely leave for 'later' (and you and I know very well that later means never, or some day when you cannot postpone it any longer because everything got out of control). This is usually the most boring task, the one you DON'T want to do, that one you feel tired just by thinking about it, but also the one that will have the greatest positive impact on your day and life and will bring the most results.

We usually tend to do the opposite. We choose the easier and enjoyable (or at least less boring) tasks first and after they are completed, we are simply too tired to do the long, boring, tiresome and more important one. No wonder we are always leaving it for the 'next day' (which also means 'never').

If from all the hard things you need to do today, you choose the hardest and stay with it until it's completed, you will go on with your day with a sense of accomplishment and relief since your most important/difficult task is already done.

'If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first'. 

Here's another thing, many times we are surrounded by frogs, especially if we've been postponing eating them for a long time, so if you have two or more very hard tasks to do today, choose the hardest one and do it first.

Last but not least:

'If you have to eat a live frog, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long.'

Which means you have to do your most important/boring/hard task first thing in the morning so you can get it over with.

We all have frogs to eat today and everyday and the longer we take to eat them, the fatter, bigger and uglier they get. So, here's what we will be working on everyday this week:

1. Make a list of everything you have to do tomorrow  

 2. See what your most important task is, the one that if completed will have the most positive impact on your life today - usually the one you tend to postpone

3. Do it before you do any other tasks. Do it first thing in the morning and don't start anything else until you have finished it

  

I've already been using this method and it really works. So, let's agree on something, shall we?

Everyday this week we will come here at the end of the day and leave our comments on how our day went. We will say how many frogs we managed to eat, what is working and what is not working ok?

Writing this post is one of my frogs for today :) So, this one is eaten... on to the next one!

P.S.: If you’d like to join us in the next phase of the Time Challenge, just click here.