“Eat That Frog” might not be the most glamorous sounding of time management techniques, but what it does have going for it is its simplicity and effectiveness. Developed by motivational coach Brian Tracy in a book of the same name, the technique has gathered global acceptance selling over 450,000 copies in 23 languages.
But what exactly does it mean to “Eat That Frog?” and how does doing so improve your time management?
We’ll find out together as we explore the mechanics of the “Eat that frog” time management technique and the principles that make it so effective .
What Does It Mean to Eat That Frog? Fortunately, the Eat That Frog technique has nothing to do with eating actual frogs. In fact, it has nothing to do with eating at all.
A "Frog" in this technique is a metaphor for your biggest, meanest, and toughest tasks.
The ones you always want to push till the next day, week, or month. Or that give you headaches just by thinking about them.
“Eating” is also a metaphor for doing those tasks.
Once you know that little tidbit, the eating frogs technique makes more sense.
Succinctly, the Eat That Frog technique is a time management technique that helps you take that difficult first step by advocating that you do your most demanding task first. This is a simple prioritization strategy that will work wonders when tied to more complex goal-setting techniques such as the Rapid Planning Method or the Staircase Model .
Eat That Frog: The Origin of the Technique
Motivational coach, entrepreneur, and author Brian Tracy developed the Eat That Frog technique in his book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time ,
But he even got the idea from somewhere. In his book, he traces the origin of the technique back to a quote commonly attributed to Mark Twain that goes something like this:
“If you have to eat a live frog, do it first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.”
You could tease a few dozen meanings out of that quote, but for effective time management, it all boils down to one thing — identify the most challenging or unpleasant task in your to-do list and do it first.
How Does Eating the Frog Improve Your Time Management? The Eat That Frog method is so simple that it seems too good to be true. However, in the following section, we'll demonstrate how such a small, unassuming technique can cause massive ripples across your time management and productivity systems.
It Sets You Up for Success The best way to understand how the Eat That Frog Technique sets you up for success is to consider two scenarios — one where you eat your frog first thing in the morning and another where it's the last thing on your to-do list.
In the first scenario, you start your workday by tackling the most challenging task on your list. You ignore any distractions and concentrate on completing this one task. Although it takes a lot of time and effort, you eventually get the job done.
You reward yourself with a break and then tackle the other tasks that came up while you were working. Compared to what you handled in the morning, these are small fry, and you finish them in record time. You end your day feeling satisfied, and although you complete everything on your list, it feels much less foreboding than before.
Contrast this with when you leave your largest task for last.
Firstly, you will lose energy as you deal with the smaller tasks, so you won't be in the best shape to take it on when you eventually get to the frog. On top of that, you will feel stressed and anxious as the big task hangs over your head, and you will be more tempted to put it off. If you do procrastinate, it will hurt your professional image as you may miss deadlines or break promises.
It Takes Advantage of Your Prime Time Your body has its own clock based on circadian rhythms — 24-hour cycles that influence your physical, mental, and behavioral state. According to research on these circadian rhythms, about 75 percent of people are most mentally alert between 9 and 11 am .
This means that mornings are the most productive time of the day for many people, and maybe also you. Therefore, it only makes sense for you to assign those hours of peak concentration to the most arduous tasks. That way, you can achieve greater productivity with less fatigue.
The Eat That Frog technique achieves this goal admirably by helping you efficiently allocate your physical and mental resources. It advocates that you tackle the most important and most challenging tasks first thing in the morning when you're at your sharpest, thus giving you an edge. With this system, you can relegate busy work that requires fewer mental resources to periods of low energy.
If you are a shift worker, you can still use the Eat That Frog technique to manage your time better. For you, simply make it a priority to eat your frogs as soon as your shift starts — even if the sun isn’t shining. With an effective strategy in hand, it can actually help you overcome the common “slow start of the shift” that comes with working against your body’s natural clock.
It Promotes Deep Work At moments when it feels like our to-do list is spinning out of control, conventional wisdom is to multitask so that we can get more done in less time. However, research shows that constantly switching between tasks is inefficient and harms cognitive health .
The Eat That Frog technique offers a much better alternative. It is the antithesis of multitasking in that it advocates directing your energies toward a singular task and maintaining that focus until it is complete.
The benefit of such single-minded focus is that it allows you to enter deep work — a state of heightened concentration and focus that lets you grasp complex concepts and do quality work in little time.
Proactive Rather Than Reactive Prioritization For many of us, our strategy for managing our to-do list is to take things in stride and deal with problems as they arise. However, the problem with this is that it puts you on the back foot, always in crisis management mode, and always putting out one fire or the other. It is also only viable in the short term.
On the other hand, the Eat That Frog method is all about prevention instead of cure. It lets you anticipate the most crucial task and tackle it first. The benefit is that you won't get distracted by busy work, notifications, or meetings. Also, by identifying your most significant tasks first thing in the morning, you can dive right in instead of waiting to see what the day brings.
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Who Can Use the Eat That Frog First Technique?
The Eat That Frog technique applies in just about any context but uniquely suits the workplace. Its primary benefit is that it is a great way to help you get the ball rolling and build momentum.
While everyone can use this strategy to get more done, some personality types will find it to be a great way to help them overcome their shortcomings . It is especially helpful for people who:
Procrastinate or put off difficult tasks Miss deadlines because they don’t know where to start Have trouble focusing Have hit a dead end in their projects Struggle to manage their to-do list Multitask but never seem to finish things This prioritization strategy is also quite effective for people who want to be entrepreneurs , start their own businesses, or do freelance work. The dream of time freedom and working on your own schedule is a blessing and a curse — if you don’t know how to effectively manage your time and get things done.
How Can You Identify Your Frogs?
The success or failure of the Eat That Frog method depends on your ability to precisely identify your frogs. Sometimes it's easy, and your frog is your list's biggest and meanest task. Other times, the distinction is more subtle and requires careful consideration.
So, how can you tell your frogs apart from other jobs on your list? Here are a few indicators that can help you figure it out.
Importance Over Urgency When you have a pressing deadline, it's easy to get tunnel vision and mistake urgent tasks for frogs. However, urgent does not always mean important. Much of our urgent work eventually turns out to be busy work — like answering messages, writing emails, and filing reports — none of which qualify as frogs.
The key is to think in terms of importance rather than urgency. Ask yourself, will completing this task help me make substantial progress and bring me closer to my goals? If your answer is "no," it is not a frog, but if it is "yes," you're on the right track.
One technique that can be of tremendous help to you here is the Eisenhower method . It is a simple prioritization matrix that can help you sort every item on your to-do list into quadrants based on their urgency and importance. Once you've applied it, you only need to concern yourself with tasks in the first quadrant — the urgent and important tasks — thus making it easier for you to spot your frog.
You Are Resistant to Doing Them Another way you can identify frogs is by examining how they make you feel. Just like you wouldn't be excited about popping a live frog in your mouth first thing in the morning, some tasks make you want to delay or postpone them.
Not all tasks you associate with negative emotions qualify as frogs.
Sometimes your reluctance may stem from the fact that they're repetitive, boring, or low priority. In such cases, delegating or scheduling them for later is better. However, if your reluctance stems from the complexity or strenuousness of the task and it is vital to your goals, chances are it is a frog, and you ought to eat it first.
They are Difficult Difficulty and importance often go hand in hand. Therefore, the complexity of a task can be a good indicator for determining whether it is a frog. Mundane or repetitive tasks like drafting emails and reports are not frogs because anyone can do them with minimal effort.
On the other hand, creative and technical tasks such as idea generation or planning may be frogs, as they usually involve a lot more mental exertion.
It is not an absolute rule that the difficulty of a task determines whether it is a frog or not. However, the amount of creativity, focus, exertion, and skill a project requires can be a guiding factor.
They Take Time The time indicator builds off the previous one since difficult things often take longer to achieve. Again, you can look at the time a task will take to determine whether it is a frog, but this rule is not absolute.
You will probably need to use these four indicators together to determine which of your tasks is your frog that needs to be eaten first.
How to Eat That Frog: 3 Steps for Eating Frogs to Get Things Done!
Now that you're clear on the Eat that Fog technique and how it works, it’s time to explore how to use it. Compared to other time management techniques, Eat That Frog has one advantage — it's simple. By following three simple steps, you can ensure that you hit the ground running every day.
Step 1: Identify Your Frogs Before you can eat your frog, you must find it first. Earlier, we explored the different ways you can identify your frogs; those will come in handy as you complete this step. If you’re still having difficulty, prioritization tools such as the Eisenhower method, the ABCDE method , or even a scoring system can help make things easier.
Step 2: Eat Them Do that task you've been dreading and do it right away. It’ll only get more daunting the longer you put it off, so schedule your frog as the first thing on your to-do list and work on it first thing in the morning. Don't check your messages or pop onto social media for five minutes. Focus entirely on your frog and use your peak hours best.
If you’re having trouble deciding which of your tasks to attack. Brian Tracy has some advice. In his words:
“If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.”
Step 3: Move on to More Pleasant Tasks That's it! Once you've eaten your frog, you can move on to what is sure to be more pleasant and comfortable tasks. The buzz of accomplishing a challenging task will energize and motivate you, improving your productivity throughout the day.
Frog Eating Tips for Better Time Management
There's no way to sugarcoat it. Eating frogs is unpleasant. However, you can do a few things to make it more palatable. We've compiled a list of these tips — apply them when eating your frogs to maximize your chances of success.
Make Eating Frogs a Habit Frogs are an acquired taste. You might struggle with it the first couple of times you try it. But after a while, you'll get used to it and even begin to enjoy it.
However, to get there, you must make eating frogs a habit. That means applying the technique consistently, every day, any chance you get. You can start small and gradually work your way up (habit stacking will help tremendously ). You can also use positive reinforcement by rewarding yourself with a break or celebrating every time you successfully eat a frog.
Before long, tackling the most important and challenging task first will be second nature to you, and you will see increased progress and results in your goals.
Go Digging for Frogs the Night Before To successfully eat frogs, you should know what your frogs are in advance. When you're settling into work is not the right time to start deciding what task to tackle. You waste valuable prime time, and it undercuts the entire philosophy of the Eat That Frog technique — doing your biggest task first . Therefore, you've already failed if you're sorting through your to-do list first thing in the morning.
Instead, what you should do is plan your frogs the night before. Dedicate some time before you clock out of work each day to plan the next day’s frog. It doesn't have to take very long. Five minutes is enough. What matters is that you nail down what you’re tackling first the next day. That way, when it's time, you can jump right into it without giving yourself a chance to get cold feet.
Eat Your Frog in One Bite According to Brian Tracy, the second rule of frog eating is this:
“If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it for very long.”
It's good advice. The longer you wait, the bigger and more imposing your task will seem, which is why we advocate eating your frog in one bite. There’s no need to draw out the process and make things more difficult for yourself. Just dive right in and slog through it until it's over. It won't be pretty, but at least it’ll be over quickly.
Adopt a Positive Attitude Your mindset plays a significant role in the success or failure of the Eat That Frog technique. A positive outlook can boost your motivation and determination to stick with it, while a negative one can cause you to feel drained and exhausted.
One thing that can help you maintain a positive attitude is focusing on the benefits of eating your frog rather than the discomfort you feel in the moment. Positive self-affirmations can also build your confidence and renew your conviction. A support system comprised of your co-workers, friends, and family will also help maintain a healthy attitude.
Bon Appetite: Eating Frogs for Time Management Success The Eat That Frog technique is excellent for breaking down bottlenecks and building momentum into your daily schedule. To get started with it, take a time management test to understand the scope of your time management skills, and follow the three simple steps outlined above. You’ll be able to overcome procrastination and get a boost for every other task on your list.
