Eat That Frog!

The summary

If the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the whole day knowing that’s probably the worst thing that will happen to you. Your frog is your biggest, most important task — the one you’re most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it, and also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life right now. Eat it first thing. And if you have two frogs to eat, eat the ugliest one first: start with the biggest, hardest, most important task before you touch anything else. One more rule — if you have to eat a live frog, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long. Start.

That is the whole idea, and everything below is how to make it a habit. The people who get paid more and promoted faster launch straight into their major task and work single-mindedly until it’s done, while the talented talker holds meetings, makes wonderful plans, and finishes nothing.

Decide what you want, then plan it on paper

Clarity is the most important concept in personal productivity. The number-one reason some people get more work done faster is that they are absolutely clear about their goals and don’t deviate from them. Vagueness, confusion, and fuzzy-mindedness about what you’re supposed to do feed procrastination directly. The fix is to think on paper. Only about 3% of adults have clear, written goals, and they accomplish five and ten times as much as people of equal ability who never took the time to write theirs down. A goal that isn’t in writing is merely a wish.

Then plan every day in advance. It takes ten or twelve minutes to lay out your day, and that small investment saves you at least two hours of wasted, diffused effort. Always work from a list, and when something new comes up, add it before you do it. This is the 10/90 Rule: the first 10% of time you spend planning and organizing before you begin saves you as much as 90% of the time in getting the job done. Make the list the night before, and your subconscious works on it while you sleep.

The vital few, and the price of everything else

The 80/20 Rule says 20% of your activities account for 80% of your results. On a list of ten things, one or two items will be worth more than the other eight put together — and each may take the same amount of time to finish. The sad fact is that most people procrastinate on that valuable top 20% and busy themselves with the trivial many that contribute almost nothing. Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.

How do you know which task is the frog? Look at consequences. Something important has large long-term consequences; something unimportant has few or none. Before you start anything, ask: what are the consequences of doing or not doing this task? Edward Banfield’s research at Harvard found that “long-time perspective” was the single most accurate predictor of upward mobility — more than family, education, or intelligence. Long-term thinking sharpens short-term decisions.

This ties into the Law of Forced Efficiency: there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing. You will never be caught up, so get that idea out of your head. To stay pointed at the right task, keep asking three questions: What are my highest-value activities? What can I, and only I, do that if done well will make a real difference? And what is the most valuable use of my time right now?

Sort your list with ABCDE

Start with a list of everything you have to do, then put a letter in front of each item before you begin:

• A — must do, with serious consequences if you do it or fail to. These are your frogs. If you have several, label them A-1, A-2, A-3; your A-1 is the ugliest frog of all.
• B — should do, but only mild consequences. A tadpole. Never do a B task while an A is still undone.
• C — nice to do, no consequences either way, like coffee with a coworker.
• D — delegate to anyone else who can do it, freeing your time for the A tasks only you can do.
• E — eliminate; it no longer matters and won’t make any real difference.

Then discipline yourself to start on A-1 and stay there until it’s complete.

Put off the right things, then single-handle the frog

Here’s the twist most people miss: you can’t do everything, so you have to procrastinate on something. The difference between high and low performers is what they choose to procrastinate on. Practice creative procrastination — deliberately put off the low-value tasks so you have more time for the few that count. Set posteriorities (things you do less of, and later, if ever) as deliberately as you set priorities. And learn to say no, early and often, to anything that isn’t a high-value use of your time.

That clears the deck for the real discipline: single-handling. Once you begin your most important task, work on it without diversion or distraction until it is 100% complete. Concentrating single-mindedly can cut the time a task needs by 50% or more, while starting and stopping — picking it up, putting it down, coming back — can stretch it by as much as 500%. Whenever you feel yourself drifting, pull yourself back with “Back to work!”

The bottom line

Determine the single most valuable thing you could do right now, start on it immediately, and refuse to stop until it’s 100% finished — then do that first thing every morning until it’s automatic. Read this if you’re drowning in a to-do list and keep ending your days busy but behind on the things that actually matter.