Swallow the Frog

Mark Twain has been given credit for making the following statement, “Eat a live frog the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

From that statement has come a business/work philosophy and self-help concept written about in a number of books. In fact, one book by professional development trainer Brian Tracy is actually titled “Eat That Frog.”

The idea related to this statement is that when it comes to the tasks you face each day, you should find the worst one (your frog), the one that you least want to do, and do that one first thing. There are several benefits of doing this:

• You get it out of the way and it will not eat at you for the rest of the day.
• Getting it done can motivate you to get even more accomplished.
• You are doing it when you have the most energy and emotional reserve.
• It helps you not procrastinate the problem into the next day, week, or month.
• You now have time to focus on the tasks you enjoy or want to do.

A couple weeks ago we talked about making your bed each morning and that this is a “keystone” habit because it positively impacts other aspects of your life. Swallowing the frog, completing that one task that you are avoiding and do not want to do, is another keystone habit that pays off in many different ways.

So as you get up each morning, say to yourself, “Time to swallow the frog.” You might even want to put a picture of a frog on your bathroom mirror or your car’s dashboard to remind and motivate you to do it. The more you do this, the easier it will become, and pretty soon you will eat your frogs each and every day with greater and greater ease.