Frogs First

Next to my desk is a wooden tray, an old-fashioned “inbox.” It typically contains a random pile of papers that need attention, bills that need to be paid, forms that need to be filled out. I suspect you have a similar pile someplace in your life. Some of the tasks that need to get done in that inbox are simple and take just a moment. Fill out the permission slip for my daughter’s field trip to the aquarium, pay the $28 water bill. Others are far more complicated, overwhelming, intimidating or frightening. The unopened bill from a recent sonogram of the lump behind my ear that turned out to be nothing but the cost of which is not covered by insurance. The letter from the Federal Trademark office that it is time to renew our company’s trademark. The incomplete draft of my will.

Often, I begin with the things I want to do and put off some of the things that I need to do. The hard things. The challenging things. But mostly, I put off the scary things or the things I don’t want to face. The unopened medical bill and that will.

Most of us procrastinate doing the things we don’t want to do. And why not? There is plenty to do each and every day and we can easily fill our day doing the things we enjoy and to an extent, that’s okay: we should not sacrifice the things we enjoy for all of the things we don’t like doing.

But some of those things that we procrastinate have to get done. The bill from that sonogram has to get paid. The trademark renewal has to get filed. The garbage has to be taken out, bills have to get paid and a decision has to be made out about kids guardians so that will can get finished.

Procrastination is bad. When you put off the tasks you don’t enjoy but that must get done, they tend to grow bigger and bigger and harder and harder. And, each and every time you think about them and choose not to get them done, you have expended mental energy on the task but have not accomplished a thing.

Years ago, I read a book on personal productivity called Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy. While I don’t remember much of the book, I do remember this central theme: if you have five things to eat and one of them is a frog, wouldn’t you eat the frog first to get it over with? Then, you can move on to the ice cream sundae.

Though I truly hope that there are no frogs on your menu, (unless you are a person who likes frogs), the moral of the story is a good one. Each day, identify the task that you are dreading and DO IT FIRST.  Yes, I know it is counter-intuitive . . . who wants to do the thing she hates most when you can do the things you enjoy?

But we all have things that we must do and don’t enjoy. We have work tasks that we push to the bottom of the pile over and over. For some, it’s sales calls. For others, it’s chasing down those overdue invoices. Writer’s block? Yup, that too.

I invite you to join me in an experiment. Starting tomorrow, and for seven straight days, begin each day by identifying the frog on your to-do list. Move it to the front of the line.  Do it first. Then be mindful of how the rest of the day goes. Are you a bit more productive?  A little more relaxed?  Do you feel a significant sense of accomplishment or relief?