Tomatoes, Frogs, and Dogs - Oh My!

Here are a couple of recent conversations between a client and me:

Make sense? Probably not, so here is a quick lesson in my Tomato, Frog, and Dog methodology.

Top Dogs: Those are the top priorities for the day or week. What two to three tasks do you need to complete to move your business forward? These are your Top Dogs.

Frogs: Ever read Eat that Frog! by Brian Tracy? No? Buy it. It’s a keeper.

There is a saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done the absolute worst thing you’ll have to do all day. Eating a frog is a metaphor for tackling your most challenging task, but also the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your business or life. Do this first thing before anything else!

What do task do you know you need to accomplish to move your business forward but that you keep putting off? Eat that Frog!

Tomatoes:

This comes from the Pomodoro Technique. Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato and the technique is named after those cute tomato-shaped kitchen timers. The Technique works like this:

1. Choose one important task to complete.
2. Eliminate all distractions. Close your office door. Put your phone on airplane mode. Turn off all notifications on your computer. Turn off the Internet if not needed for your project.
3. Set your timer (a kitchen timer, the timer on your phone, or, my favorite, a 30-minute hourglass) for a specified period of time. The Technique calls for 25 minute work periods. Personally, I prefer 30 or 45 minute periods. Do not allow anything to distract you from your task during this time!
4. Work on the task.
5. End work when the timer rings and take a short, 5-minute, break. You have completed 1 pomodoro/tomato!
6. Repeat three more times (or until the project is complete).
7. After four pomodoros, take a longer, 30 minute, break.
8. If the task is not yet complete or if you would like to start another project, begin again at Step 1.

Believe it or not, sometimes a person only needs one set of pomodoros to feel accomplished for their day.

Now, imagine a day where you use your Tomatoes to complete one Top Dog and eat your worst Frog. How immensely satisfying will that feel?

Get it now?