While I was undertaking the daily equine chores this morning, I began thinking about the phrase “eat the frog”. I’ve used it many times in my Bullet Journal and have read about it in productivity blog posts but I’ve never really delved into its meaning.
Until now.
So… it borrows from the famous Mark Twain quote about eating frogs, and has made its way into the vernacular of most self-employed people, if not most businesses, when it comes to productivity.
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.
I’m not condoning the consumption of frogs – though they are tasty with tons of garlic – and nor do I believe that Mr Twain was inciting readers to gobble down the pond-dwellers but more to illustrate a point about procrastination.
If you’re anything like me, you will have preferred tasks and this morning, the task that made me think about this phrase was “mucking out”. Specifically mucking out Belle’s stable. She is a homebred 14yo mare, recently feeling the freedom from motherhood as her foal was weaned several weeks ago. She seems to be expressing this “freedom” with the equine equivalent of starfishing in her stable and churning up her droppings when she gets up. She is vile.
I always take a deep breath before attempting her stable as I know it will be horrible. No need for details here but some of you will understand. But the thing is, I *always* do her stable first and it is this act which links stinky horses with frogs.
By getting the worst part of my to-do list out of the way first, everything else is a breeze in comparison AND I have a sense of achievement to start my day off with.
Win-win, I’d say.