“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” -Mark Twain

As soon as I wake up and do my morning success routine I feel like a boss. Ready to crash my day I look at me to do list and I decide which tasks I am going to tackle first. Naturally me and most of the people will go after what is easy and will give you an instant gratification.  Whether that is getting through my email list, checking all the possible analytics on my projects and cooking. I will prorastonate with all the things I do not like or I doing them will requitre some time thinking how to actually handle them.

 

Prioritize the Hardest Things First and Tackle It Head On

Mark Twain wisely said, “If you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you do all day.”

In Brian`s Tracy book  Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time the author gives a very simple advice start the day out by doing the things you like least first, you’ll get them out of the way so you can enjoy your day more and be more productive and fulfilled.

 

For entrepreneurs that means asking yourself a question: which thing on your to do list scare you the most?  And literally eating it for breakfast. Making this damn phone call to potential customer, talking to your customers about their problems, following up on this contact., or maybe something totally different. Most important whatever scares you tackle it first thing in the morning.

 

Why would you do that?

Cause you are a hustler and this is just what you do. You are faced with something hard – you do not postpone it – you tackle it. You do not overthink  you do and this action defines you.  Eat That Frog is an excellent read and it challenged me to go into my day with the goal of doing the hardest things first. When I get the most dreaded things out of the way right off the bat, it gives me so much momentum for the rest of the day!

 

There are at least three good reasons for behaving this way:

1. You’ll get the icky thing done sooner. That ‘looming’ feeling will go away.
2. You’ll feel good and effective. It takes a strong-willed person, after all, to fill out those ten pages of paperwork before doing some interesting but tangential reading that may or may not be about Doctor Who . . .
3. You’ll have used your will-power,limited resource that it is, in the most effective way possible. When your will-power resources were at their peak, you used as much as you needed to get through what you needed to do. You have less left now, but that’s okay. You need less for tasks that are more enjoyable.

But getting into the habit of facing those unpleasant or challenging tasks straight away it’s a great habit for any person and aspiring entrepreneur.

Save the Best for Last

Once you’ve accomplished your most dreaded tasks for the day, reward yourself with some of the tasks you enjoy doing. This will give you something to look forward to when you’re in the midst of doing your hard tasks and will probably give you motivation to accomplish them more quickly.

Practical Application

1) Read this great article: Start Your Day By Eating a Frog for some great step-by-step help in prioritizing your day.

2) Determine what you tend to procrastinate on and develop a plan of action for making it a first priority.

3) If you have a chance, check out Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time from your local library. It’s a quick read and it’s packed with helpful inspiration.