FROGS

Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

"Eat the frog" has become a catchphrase in business and productivity circles. I came across it in a book by Chris Fox entitled 5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter. Fox explains that it is meant to illustrate a habit for success: Start your day with whatever task you most dread and the rest of the day will be more productive. 

Why? Because if you leave the frog uneaten, it will sit and "croak at you all day".

This is useful advice.

I procrastinated for weeks on cleaning up my home office. Every time I sat down to work, I was surrounded by little piles of things that needed attention. 

Most were small, but when they were all together in a single room, they become a chorus of frogs – like you'd find on a summer night by the lake shore. Loud. Insistent. Demanding attention. Each one rather insignificant, but together a powerful chorus which cannot be ignored. 

I once read that having a messy desk adds three hours of additional effort to a person’s work week. I don't know if that stat is true, but experience supports it – at least for me. 

So I cleaned my office, little by little throughout the day. Swallowing one frog at a time. 

And now it's finally quiet enough to get some work done.