Eat the Frog

Eat the Frog is a productivity approach from Brian Tracy, But I’ve always found “Eat That Frog” a strange phrase, so I tend to call it “Eat the Frog,” though the concept is the same: choose the most important, challenging, or dreaded item on your to-do list, and do it first. When you handle the hard thing early, you avoid filling your day with easier tasks while the big one keeps getting pushed to tomorrow. Once the frog is done, the rest of the day tends to feel lighter. In practice, write your to-do list, circle the task you’re resisting most, and begin there. Personally, if someone asked how I published 40+ books in ten years, I’d point to this practice. When I’m deadline, my daily word count comes first. Before email. Before social media. Before laundry. Before the dishwasher. Before even a shower. Before almost everything. Except coffee.