Have you eaten your frog today?

Peter Crocker Here's something that used to happen to me all the time, and it completely infuriated me…

I'd head into my home office around 8.15am all ready to go. I'd pop back out and boil the kettle. Open up the email, check who won the cricket, drop by a few of my favourite sites. I'd re-boil the kettle. Clear out my spam, respond to some emails and read a few newsletters. I'd finally make my coffee, ponder my non-flowering frangipani tree and check my list.

Suddenly, it would be 9.45am and I'd have achieved nothing at all!

Every time I thought, "If only I’d done an hour and a half of productive client work I’d be well into my list, feeling great and all set for a productive day". Instead I was behind for the rest of the day.

It was when I read a book called Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy, that I realised exactly when this procrastination routine kicked in. It was whenever I was putting off working on some complex or uninteresting project.

To save you reading the book, it's essentially based on an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you can look forward to the day knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll have to do.

'Eat that frog' is a metaphor for tackling the most important and challenging task of your day, before dealing with the rest.

Because there's rarely time to do absolutely everything on our to-do list, productivity depends on prioritising the tasks that will make the biggest difference to your life and making sure they get done first.

Does this sort of thing happen to you? Are you procrastinating now? How do you beat it? Add a comment to let us know.

After that, stop mucking about and go and eat that frog!

Until next week.

Love your work,

Peter Crocker is a director of Flying Solo responsible for the areas of marketing and advertising. He is a business copywriter specialising in websites, videos and marketing communications.

Published 20 February 07
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Oh dear, do you have a webcam hidden in my office? I'm sitting here browsing sites, checking and re-checking emails, doing everything I can to avoid writing a proposal - the deadline of which is alarmingly nigh... Thanks, Peter - I'm "disconnecting" now, taking my laptop to a gorgeous quiet space and going to eat that frog...er, first I might make a cuppa ;-) Karynne from Coledale
Ah ha, yes, now at least I have a "name" to call where that first hour of the day day goes. Thankyou.Working from a home office I find that there is suddenly some washing to put out, a cupboard that really needs a spring clean or some weeds that are annoying me, just to put off that 'job' I don't really want to do.
I now allocate 90 mins or so on one afternoon to get out of the way all the things I used to procrastinate with. I actually look forward to it and get out of the way quicker the jobs I was avoiding doing in the first place. It is working for me. Kiralie from Sydney NSW
I think most of work-from-homers can identify with this scenario. Recently we took on a new client and had to move into a commercial premises and I thought this would definitely solve the procrastination problem, however there were more things to distract me. The solution for me is each afternoon before I go home I make a list of tasks that must be completed each morning..... so far so good! Gina from Brisbane
Before I comment, I need to make it clear that more often that not I fall into frog chewing aversion. The trick I find is in disciplines. In my 40th year, at doctors orders, I have taken up eating well and running - both require discipline and resolve (I have no natural desire to do so) both practises are in decline in our current culture. Discipline like any excercise requires practise. Kick start your discipline happening by taking a day and banning yourself from any web surfing, TV and chocolate. You will be surpirsed with the amount of productive time you regain.
Anyway, off this blog and back to work... Greg Berry from Sydney NSW
Actually Peter ... when I read your heading I immediately thought of a Cadbury Chocolate Frog - wonder what that says about me? Oh dear.
I actually do spend the time on emails with coffee/tea as it's a mental break from the deadlines that I constantly work to. I realise I need that half hour, and again at the end of the day which I "vege out". So don't feel guilty - I think we just need to be aware of it and not let it go into procrastination time.
If we were working in big offices there would be definite breaks at morning tea, lunch etc. When we work solo we often feel guilty if we take those breaks. So morning tea is more like "Kiralie" where I would have my cuppa and put out the washing or sit on the balcony listening to the birds for ten minutes and get that stretch away from the computer so my legs don't ache without feeling guilty or read the Flying Solo newsletter - like now. Cheers. Karen C from Springwood NSW
Reality about the timeframe for tasks and the desire to complete "something" is where I have to put my head to overcome this one. Sometimes I don't start a project because I have unrealistic ideas that it will need to take an "hour" (or more) on it, when in fact I actually can finish it in 20 minutes - and there IS TIME!!! Then take on the "big" task. Also, I love working in the really early AM (like, 4 - 6 am) and if I miss the boat on that one, I find I dawdle through, only hitting a real burst of energy again around 2pm! Yeesh! Anyway, off I go to do that thing that will only take 20 minutes.... Karen Dempster - Creating Change from Victoria

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