Eat the Frog

I'm sure you've heard this phrase. No it doesn't mean grab a frog and a fork. It originated with Mark Twain who said "Eat a live frog every morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."

In other words, do the difficult things first.

This pretty much has to do with procrastination. Unfortunately, this is one of my more obvious habits. Those dishes...I'm letting them soak. The laundry...I want to make sure it's completely dry before I fold. Grocery shopping...I need to get my coupons in order first.

See the pattern?

Recently at work, we were lucky enough to have a training on "eating the frog." It really made me think (no jokes please) about my procrastination and what would happen if I didn't. Procrastinate.

So for the last few days, I've been eating the toad the first thing. Report card below:

* 3 voicemails from the same person. I really don't want to return her call, but must. I pick up the phone and eat the frog. It goes really well and I enjoy the talk.

* write the thank you card. Writing thank you's are really difficult for me and I never know what to say. Nevertheless, I sat down and ate the frog. It only took me 5 minutes and I feel much better for writing it.

* establishing a schedule for my daily work. Typically I don't like to set a schedule for the day, although one is set for me, because it reminds me of everything that I have to do. And then I over analyze about what happens if I don't get it all done. That changed Monday morning with a simple 5 minute prep. I created a file folder called "today" and added my printed work calendar and all the items I would need for that day. No more arriving late to meetings or being unprepared. Frog eaten.

This really wasn't as bad as previously anticipated, so I think I'll continue. Now, I'm off to work on the laundry, dishes, and grocery.