Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
Bleh. Gross. And no thank you. But I get his point.
The point being, do the thing you are most avoiding first. You know, the thing you want to do least that requires the most amount of work or energy. Or not even that. It’s the thing you are dreading.
That phone call. That tough conversation. Responding to a nasty email. Starting that project.
Worst thing, first thing. (thank you for that, Glennon Doyle!)
But why would we do that? Well, let’s look at it this way: what happens when we put off that hard thing? We anticipate doing it. We spend all of the time we put off doing that hard thing in dread. But if we do it right away, we spend less time in dread. It causes less suffering because it shortens the time of dread.
That’s the key: less suffering.
This isn’t necessarily about being more productive, it’s about creating less suffering in our lives.
How do we do this? Well, you can use the 5-4-3-2-1 … GO! method I mentioned in a recent blog. Actually, that’s all I’ve got right now. LOL. You just have to do it and get it done. Because you know what? Afterwards you will feel soooooo much better that it is done and you don’t have to think about it anymore. And then reward yourself. Don’t eat a whole bunch of frogs at once. You need to pace it out. Take a break. Do something you enjoy. Or here’s another: best thing, next thing.
Worst thing, first thing. Best thing, next thing.
This could also apply to something you know will make you feel better. That you will feel good after you have done it. Like a workout. Or taking a walk. Or meditating. Or reading. After taking time to do any of those things, very rarely do any of us say “Gosh, I really regret doing that!”
“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
~Mark Twain
What frogs do you need to eat today? 5-4-3-2-1 and get it done! You won’t regret it.