“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” - Mark Twain
I am a proud member of a secret and amazing Facebook group of Snack Fanatics who are hilarious and brilliant and irreverent about their love for snacks. Their posts and comments spark great joy in my heart.
Fortunately, this quote was NOT one of the posts on that page. This quote is referenced in Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog! With an amazing productivity tip that I use all the time, that I want to share with you.
You know how sometimes there’s that thing on your to-do list that jumps from today to tomorrow to the next day to the next week and it just keeps hopping because you really don’t want to do it and can always find something else so you don’t have to do it? It’s usually something that will take more time than most tasks, or more thought, research or other effort of some sort.
You have one of those on your list now? I know I do! “Update CRM” has been hopping along with me for….I'm not going to tell you for how long.
That’s my frog!
Mr. Tracy’s contention is that once you identify a frog on your to-do list, when you’re planning the next day’s workflow, plan to eat that frog first thing in the morning. There are a few reasons to do this.
1. You get it DONE, so it’s not staring at you any more! (because if you have to eat a live frog, you shouldn’t stare at it too long!)
2. You create an early win in your day creating momentum and motivation for the rest of the day!
So next time you see that little (or big) green task hopping away, grab it, and eat it (or part of it) first thing the next morning. It’s like a double espresso for your productivity.
Ribbit!
