Eat the Frog or Bite the Elephant
As Mark Twain once said “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?…”
Eat the frog or take a bite of the elephant…while these phrases out of context are odd, they immediately bring a nation overwhelmed with to-do lists on the same page. How do you know which to do? We have more To Do lists than we have time?to do. How do you conquer it with so much left to be done?
Eat the frog or take a bite out of the elephant refers to the idea that you take on the largest or least attractive tasks first thing in the morning or when your energy level is highest. Most of the time, the “frogs” that are awaiting us are on top of busy work that has to be completed to keep things afloat. Taking advantage of focusing on those “eat the frog” tasks at optimal times, will allow you more productivity on the busy items.
Eat the Frog. Don’t choke on Email.
Many people start their day opening emails, and off we go! The belief is that if we can get some of the less important tasks out of the way, it will leave room to take on the bigger tasks. Believing that you are going to do a few emails before starting the bigger project is a “trap” because these tasks, especially email, keep churning. Email is the epitome of this churn. For every email you send, two or three come back. Before you know it, the intention of clearing out a few emails turns into the majority of your day running on the email dreadmill. The best practice is to turn it off, shut it down, or simply don’t start it until you are through with the priorities to avoid email becoming THE priority.
One Bite at a Time
Desmond Tutu once wisely said that “there is only one way to?eat?an?elephant: a bite at a time.”
The concept of eating an elephant, one bite at a time, extends far beyond a conversation about To Do lists. In a world that wants instant gratification and results, taking on tasks one bite at a time can seem slow and unproductive. Time is premium, and despite tech efficiencies, we find ourselves stretched beyond what seems reasonable for one person to handle. Stop looking at the WHOLE and start with the parts. This seems counterintuitive in a world that frequently suggests that not being able “to see the forest for the trees” is a bad thing. The bigger the “frog,” the less appealing it is to eat it. The bigger the “elephant,” the harder it is to conceive biting it. When you remove the need to see the finish line, you can start making progress one task at a time.
Procrastination Spoils the Bite
Procrastination! Putting off what we can do today to tomorrow? Procrastination of these larger tasks or projects is easy to justify with all of the busy work surrounding our lives. The issue with pushing off these “big dogs” is that they have the greatest impact on our lives and careers. No one ever got promoted because they were good at emails or finishing to-do lists. The difference between good and great are those that can prioritize their tasks to continue to push the large items, the next-level projects forward.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and how we?balance?it is ours to decide. When the urge to put off that project or “big dog” comes, ask yourself and then challenge your answer:
Procrastination is the enemy of productivity, impeding progress. Stop thinking about putting it off, take a bite, and commit to the bites you must take every day until you are full!
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Prioritize Your Meal
The solution is to combine the frogs and elephants and commit the time to the dreaded meal. Here are a few tried and true ways to prioritize your main meal while allowing for room for appetizers.
Procrastination is often a voice that justifies avoidance. Humans are programmed to avoid discomfort. The more we put off, the louder this voice becomes and the more uncomfortable we are about the impending task. Taking larger projects on one-bite-at-a-time will remove the stress of putting off what we know we must do.
Time Spent Training becomes Conditioning
There is discomfort in starting the path to reach a goal. The best example of this is starting a running program. Those first steps are brutal. Your mind is telling you to stop again and again. You keep pushing; whether you reach that finish line lies in the training. Breaking down the training for the race in small training runs builds stamina, and eventually, you will condition your body for the long run. Attempting to run that race without the smaller training sessions puts you and the goal at risk.
The Secret Sauce is in the Time Spent
Finally, I offer the secret sauce, the superpower of eating the frog. When you take on a project in smaller increments, it allows you to leave your work, sleep on it, and come back at it with a fresh perspective. This space often brings enhanced value to the task at hand and different trains of thought.
It is a fact that when you walk away from a task, situation, project, or anything in life, it allows perspective to seep in. It seems counterintuitive at the time as “powering through” has its place and time; however, putting space between the intensity of the tasks at hand can bring more clarity and renewed energy.
I am obsessed, so you don’t have to be…Lori Kiel
Originally written on the blog?Always Starting…the Art of Never Giving Up
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