Hop To It…That’s Brian Tracy’s advice in the book “Eat That Frog!”
Tasks that have a positive impact are often those that align with your values, purpose, and vision. They may be the result of Purpose Planning. These tasks might come in two varieties: some are things you are eager to do (the gems), while others are so difficult that you dread doing them (the frogs). Gems may be tasks that you understand and that you have the skills for, and therefore are easier to do. While both types may be important, the “frogs” are much harder to force yourself to do. Tracy was inspired by the Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
FROGS
Frogs may be so big that you don’t know where to begin. (hint: learn how to break large projects into smaller action steps.) They may be things you’ve never done before and don’t really know how. Some frogs may have less impact but still be urgently necessary to accomplish. You will need to employ strategies to combat procrastination and overcome resistance. Resolve to develop grit and adopt a growth mindset. Like real frogs that have PLUNKED into your pond, you may wish to avoid them, but they will keep hanging around until you do something about them. Frogs may be:
- Painful
- Large
- Unknown and uncomfortable
- Need skills you lack
- Confusing
- Keep hanging around
- Extremely annoying
- Difficult and desire to avoid
GEMS
Gems are a real PLEASURE. They may be tasks that you enjoy, understand, and that you have the skills for, and therefore are easier to do. It will take less energy and willpower to accomplish these.
- Pleasurable
- Like doing
- Enjoyable
- Actually understand
- Satisfying
- Use skills you possess
- Relevance is obvious
- Easier
Brian Tracy’s advice is to just jump in and start with those unpleasant frogs that must be done right off the bat and get it done. You will feel such a sense of relief once it is over with, and then you can use that mood boost to move on to more pleasant things. Remember: it only gets harder the longer you put it off. It is easiest to tackle the hardest things earlier in the day when we have the most energy and willpower to overcome the procrastination that becomes so attractive when we want to avoid doing something that we are anxious about tackling.
After the frogs have been eaten, you can proceed with the more pleasant gems…but don’t get distracted by the attractive butterflies that are enjoyable things that are not needed, (perhaps social media?) or annoying gnats that nobody likes or needs to do! (some meetings, emails, and phone calls.) This is sometimes also known as the worst first method.
While “Do the hardest task first” is often advocated as a good strategy for dealing with priorities, there are some drawbacks. Maybe just a few easy wins to get going would be okay? There is also the sandwich method: start with a high priority task you want to do, followed by one you don’t want to do. This has the advantage of making you look forward to beginning your day, rather than dreading it.
Here’s a short video to watch about it.
See also: Start Your Day at the Top and It’s All Downhill From There at timemanagementninja.com, Eat That Frog at Asian Efficiency, and Dreading Your Next To-Do? at success.com.
Check out the Overcome Procrastination and Get Motivated Board at Pinterest…but not until you’ve eaten that frog!
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