The beginning of a new year is often filled with great optimism, big plans, bravado and the obligatory new year’s resolutions. Where we are surrounded with positive energy and “can do” attitudes, it does naturally make it easier to start setting goals and looking forward to great successes during the new year. This is also a really good time to get into the habit of eating your frog on a regular basis.
Frogs, not the green slimy webbed-foot amphibious kind, are items on your to-do list that have been there for far too long. Items that keep getting demoted to the bottom of the list and eventually take on the identity of a large, ugly, wart-infested toad that no-one wants to handle.
The problem with these frog goals is that they cannot be removed from the list, since they are tasks that do actually need to be completed. Completed tasks that could benefit your business or life. Having them on the to-do does in some small weird way makes us feel better. By just having these frogs on the list means something is being done. Right? Don’t fool yourself. Having “paint your house” on the to do list, does not make a beautifully painted living room. Learn to eat your frog! Start getting into the habit of eating your frog.
How do you do this?
- Start off small. Select a frog task off your list, which you know if you had to actually do it it would take you a day or a few hours to complete.
- Schedule that task for the following day. Earlier the better.
- Do it and don’t over think it.
- Celebrate. Acknowledge your success and use that feeling of success to motivate you to eat the next frog breakfast.
After you have finished the frog, select the next frog off the list and repeat the cycle. Eventually you will get into the habit of eating the frog everyday and you’ll probably start enjoying it. Challenge yourself. Eat the frog!
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