This is a guest post by professional organizer Susan Stewart of Perfectly Placed.
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.P.S. Sign up here to receive 10 Time Management Secrets Every Woman Should Know
escapingdebt
July 30, 2012 at 12:34 pmI was trying to fall asleep last night and was thinking of this post. I’ve never heard the saying and eating a frog (cooked anyway) sounds yummy. So I was thinking of other yucky things to eat. My new thought for the day is going to be “eat that durian!” Because durian is something I will never have any desire to eat. If you’ve smelled it, you probably don’t either! đŸ˜€ Love the idea of doing the most disagreable task first, thank you!
Ana Reyes
July 29, 2012 at 6:59 pmHola!
This is an interesting post and I’ve already signed.
Every morning for the last 5 or 6 years I’ve been swallowing a frog which seems to get bigger as days go by. I’m taking care of my Mom (90 yrs suffering an advanced dementia) and Dad (78yrs and has essencial tremmor – something similar to Parkinson’s) As I am the only daughter there is no one to give me a hand. It is sad and frustrating. Some moments are terribly stressful and I know that it can only get worse. In order to distract myself and relax I do lots of crochet and in a lesser extent other crafts. One of my weapons to deal whith all this is my sense of humor and lots of faith (even though I’m not a church person).
Thanks for sharing and it makes me glad to see you are going on strong and full of light.
xoxoxox
Ana
Maggie
July 29, 2012 at 4:15 pmfrog ..forever rely on GOD &*-D