Are you ready to tackle something impossible this week?
I don't know how it is for you, but I often find myself with a major task I need to complete on my schedule on a given day. The problem is that it's hard to get motivated to take it on sometimes.
Time to "Eat That Frog!"
Now, I don't mean a literal frog. Your "frog" is the task that will have the greatest impact on achieving your goals and the task that you are most likely to procrastinate starting.
Tackling our daunting tasks can be compared to eating a frog in three ways:
1) If you only have one big thing to do today, do it first!
"If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!"
Putting it off until later in the day is a bad decision because it will loom over you all day long. In the back of your mind, you will know it's there, waiting to be done. And the longer you wait doesn't get it done any faster. Instead, we are more likely to procrastinate.
2) If you have more than one big task, prioritize!
"If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first!"
This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else. Start with the one you dread the most!
Resist the temptation to start with the easier task. Remind yourself that one of the most important daily decisions you make is your choice of what you will do immediately, and what you will do later or postpone indefinitely.
3) Don't overthink it!
"If you have to eat a live frog, it does not pay to sit and look at it for a long time!"
While I am all for creative problem-solving and finding new ways to achieve goals, there does come a point when you have to quit examining things and just do something!
The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. Don’t spend excessive time planning what you will do. You must develop the routine of "eating your frog" before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it.
Successful, effective people launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete. Following this approach can increase your productivity, reduce stress, and achieve your goals more effectively.
It's not always fun, but some days, we have to buckle down and tackle those big projects. Eat that "frog" in your day!
P.S. I cover this in more depth, plus a whole lot more, in my work-life balance presentation, "The Balancing Act". If you feel like this would resonate with your team, contact me and let's talk about bringing it to your company!
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