I’m kind of fond of frogs. My maiden name was a little bit froggish (well it had a “croak” in it!) and I used to love the Mercer Mayer books about that mischievous wee froggy and his shenanigans with his boy.
Anyway, there is a lot of advice shared about eating frogs in the productivity-sphere of the internet. It all comes back to a quote from Mark Twain, who said:
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
A hundred-something years later, Bryan Tracey wrote a book called “Eat that frog” which says you should identify the most difficult (strangely crunchy, raw and wriggling) task on your to-do list and do it first thing in the morning instead of having it wreck your day by twitching around the place while you studiously try.to.ignore.it.
When I started writing this I realised it fits in exactly with the post I wrote about getting cracking with your suckiest tasks in 15 minute chunks – only with the added exhortation to do them first thing in the morning. Then you can settle down to browse tumblr other productive uses of your time with an easy conscience.
As usual with Sensible Productivity Advice, other sensible people have written excellent articles about it, so here we go:
- Do your Worst Task First from Gina Trapani on Fast Company
- Start Your Day By Eating a Frog on Simple Mom
- Eat That Frog – Do Your Most Important Tasks In The Morning on Asian Efficiency
- Do the Hardest Things First on I’m an Organizing Junkie
Extra for Experts:
