‘Eat the Frog’ First Thing in the Morning

Sure, out of context, the advice to “eat the frog first thing in the morning” sounds weird as hell. However, this somewhat-commonly known expression is one way of describing a decidedly helpful productivity tip — and it turns out that I’ve been eating the frog for a long time. If you’d like to be more productive and spice up your vocabulary, eating the frog is for you.

What does it mean to “eat the frog”

“Eat the frog” actually means “do the day’s worst task as soon as you wake up.” It comes from a quote attributed to Mark Twain, though there are a few different versions floating around. (Lifehacker Editor-in-Chief Jordan Calhoun, for example, calls it “swallowing the frog,” which sounds more awful for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint.) Basically, what Twain is alleged to have said (though there isn’t much proof he really did) is that if you have to eat a frog, you should do it straight away in the morning so the worst part of your day is immediately behind you.

Regardless of the dubious origin of this colourful suggestion, it’s led to the creation of a popular self-help series by Brian Tracy and has evolved into shorthand for getting the hard stuff out of the way so you can focus on your other tasks.

What’s in it for you?

As Tracy explains on his blog, your “frog” is whatever your biggest, most important task is at any given moment: “It is the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it.”

You don’t even really have to eat the frog as soon as you wake up; you can just make a conscious effort to get your hardest responsibilities handled before moving on to lesser ones. But you should try to get them out of the way early in the day. I’ve always done this without realising it’s wrapped up in this web of mystique full of famed literary and contemporary self-help authors. When I have to have an uncomfortable phone call, I schedule it for the earliest possible time in the day. When I have a project due, I try to wake up early to take care of it instead of staying up late. I can attest to the fact that I feel great throughout the day knowing that the worst thing I had to do is already done. This always makes it seem like whatever other tasks I need to handle are a breeze. They pale in comparison to the behemoth I knocked out in the early hours.

If you struggle with procrastination — whether cleaning your house or doing work for school or your job — or you find that you get all the little stuff done but don’t make sufficient progress on the big stuff, try eating the frog. Schedule the most despised tasks for the morning. Try going to the gym before work instead of after, blocking out your first half hour of work to respond to neglected emails, or scrubbing down the kitchen before making your morning coffee. Study for the test in your most difficult class before studying for your easier ones. Call your parents before calling your friends. You get the idea.

It also helps to make a to-do list every night for the next day — and rank it. Put the most important and/or loathsome tasks first, then enjoy the satisfaction of crossing them off early. At some point, moving on to the smaller activities — even if they’re important — will feel like a reward.