Eat Your Frogs…
May 17, 2012Written by Susan Stewart, organizing guru, of Perfectly Placed, http://www.perfectlyplaced.org/?page_id=97
Have you heard the saying that if the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day? Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog, writes that your “frog” should be your most difficult task on your To Do list—the one you are most likely to procrastinate on. If you eat that first, it will give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. If you don’t, and that frog stays on your list, you’ll spend all kinds of time doing unimportant tasks while you try to avoid eating it. Not only does avoiding your frog waste time, but as you you are busy distracting yourself with a more pleasurable task, thoughts of your frog keep creeping back all day long, bringing stress along with it. By the end of the day the frog is still there and you are mentally exhausted.
I remember when I first came across these amazing thoughts by Brian Tracy. They resonated so deeply with me! You may think that a professional organizer doesn’t ever procrastinate, but of course I do! We all try to avoid things that are difficult, boring or scary. Those are the things that tend to be the frogs. Knowing this, knowing I’m not alone, and knowing I have a choice in it, has brought me freedom and that’s why I’m sharing it with you. I want YOU to experience the freedom of eating the frog too. When I get up in the morning, I look over my to do list and pick 2 or 3 things that I know are my frogs for the day. When I admit they are frogs and confront them first thing, it is amazing how that affects my day! I have more energy, get more done and feel much more in control. I feel proud of myself when I eat those frogs! My question to you is this- what are your frogs today and what will you do about them? The only way to get rid of them is to eat them. Will you eat them first or will you let them sit there all day, hoping they’ll hop away? The choice is up to you. I encourage you to eat them first and enjoy the freedom and success you’ll feel when they’re gone. By the way, I just finished eating mine.
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Thanks so much Susan!
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jeff
on May 18, 2012 9:50 amvery good and a related thought is: If you ever have to eat crow, do it fast. It goes down easier when it is warm
Anne Schenendorf
on May 23, 2012 2:12 pmI loooved this article! I’ve been meaning to comment on this for about a week now. I suppose I haven’t had time b/c in addition to tendinf to two twin adorable, I apparently own tons of frogs. 😉 This list has luckily become shorter since reading this. One night I started thinking about my desk and got through so much more than I ever expected. Also, it was sooo much faster than I thought. That night, I went to bed sooo happy by all I got done. From the outside, you would nver suspect I’m a procrastinator. My holiday decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving and I’m always rushing somewhere with babies in tow. Even so there are things that always seem nor to get done. We bought a weathervane that is adrable. I counted the days till ir arrived. Since then, it has sat collecting dust. I have yet to find and schedule a handyman to put it up. Anyone know one on Long Island? I move it from time to time, when chubby little hands want to explore it.