Books Like
Eat That Frog

If you liked Eat That Frog, the closest books are The Now Habit by Neil Fiore, Solving the Procrastination Puzzle by Timothy A. Pychyl, The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, You Are Capable of More by Chris Sund, Getting Things Done by David Allen, Deep Work by Cal Newport, Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, and Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. The Now Habit is the natural next read, because it explains the feelings behind procrastination that Tracy mostly skips past.

What Eat That Frog does well, and what it leaves to you

Tracy took one memorable picture, the idea that if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning nothing worse will happen the rest of the day, and built a short, friendly book around it with twenty-one practical ways to stop putting off your most important work. The gift of the book is how quickly it gets you moving, because you can read a chapter on your lunch break and use it that same afternoon. That is rare in this category.

What the book leaves to you is the why. It assumes that once you know which task matters most you will do it, and it says much less about the worry, perfectionism and tiredness that make the frog look so big in the first place. When I surveyed more than 200 working adults for my own book, 78 percent said they delay action they know they should take, and 71 percent said they fall short of their own expectations every week. Most of those people already know what their frog is. What they need is a gentler way to sit down and start.

One

The Now Habit by Neil Fiore (1988)

Fiore, a psychologist, treats procrastination as a way of protecting ourselves from fear of failure, fear of judgment and the feeling of being forced, and his answer is surprisingly kind: schedule your play and rest first, then fit short bursts of real work in around them. It fills the exact gap Tracy leaves, and it is the most natural next read.

Some of the examples feel dated, and his planning system takes some effort to set up. It rewards readers who give it a few weeks rather than a few days.

Two

Solving the Procrastination Puzzle by Timothy A. Pychyl (2013)

Pychyl has spent much of his career researching procrastination, and this short book boils that research down into plain advice, starting with the idea that we put things off to feel better right now, and that the best cure is simply to begin. It is the most honest, research-based book on this list that you can finish in an evening. It treats you like a capable adult.

Because it is so brief, it can feel like a summary rather than a full book. Readers who want stories and depth may want more than it gives.

Three

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (2013)

Keller and Papasan push Tracy’s idea of doing the most important task first even further, by asking one focusing question: what is the one thing you can do right now that would make everything else easier or unnecessary. If the frog idea clicked for you, this turns it into a way of setting priorities for a whole life. It is easy to remember.

The book repeats its central idea many times, and some of its advice, like guarding a long block of time every day, will be hard for people in jobs where the day belongs to someone else.

Five

Getting Things Done by David Allen (2001)

Allen’s method asks you to get every task and worry out of your head and into a trusted system, then decide the very next physical action for each one, so your mind can rest on the work in front of you instead of juggling everything at once. Where Tracy helps you pick the frog, Allen helps you find it among all the clutter. Many people find the relief real.

The system is detailed, and setting it up can become its own way of avoiding the real work. It suits people who like structure more than people who need a quick start.

Six

Deep Work by Cal Newport (2016)

Newport argues that the ability to focus without distraction on hard work is becoming both rarer and more valuable, and he offers practical rules for protecting that kind of focus from email, meetings and phones. It answers the question that comes right after eating the frog, which is how to keep your attention on it long enough to finish. It is a convincing case.

It is written mostly for knowledge workers who control their own schedules. Nurses, drivers, retail workers and parents of small children may find much of the advice hard to apply.

Seven

Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (2018)

Two former Google designers suggest choosing one highlight for each day, the one thing you want to look back on and be glad you did, and then offer a long menu of small tactics for protecting it from distraction. It is the lightest and most playful book here, and its daily highlight is a gentle cousin of Tracy’s frog. You can try it tomorrow.

Many of the tactics are light, and a good number are about phones and apps. Readers looking for depth on why they procrastinate will not find much here.

Eight

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman (2021)

Burkeman starts from the fact that an average human life lasts about four thousand weeks, and argues that the endless push to get everything done is part of the problem, because there will always be more frogs than mornings. It is a calm and honest counterweight to every productivity book on this list, including Tracy’s, and many readers find it a real relief.

It is more philosophy than method. Readers who want a clear system for tomorrow morning may find it frustrating, though it often changes how they use the system they already have.

Which one to pick

If you want one, read The Now Habit. If you are tired of reading about procrastination and simply want to get unstuck this week, the answer is usually smaller than you think, and there is a gentle place to start in how to stop procrastinating.

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