Productivity methods
Eat the frog: hardest task first.
Pick the one task you are most likely to put off, and do it before anything else in the day.
· 3 min read · 5 steps
- Popularised by
- Brian Tracy
- Book
- Eat That Frog! (2001)
- Unit
- One task a day
- Best for
- Procrastination
What it is and where it began.
Eat the frog means doing your biggest, most important task first, especially the one you are most tempted to put off. Once it is done, the rest of the day is easier.
Brian Tracy made the phrase popular with his 2001 book Eat That Frog!, where the frog is your biggest, most important task [1].
The saying is often credited to Mark Twain, but there is no evidence he said it. The earliest known version is in the writings of Nicolas Chamfort from the 1790s, about swallowing a toad each morning, and the link to Twain only appears long after his death [2].
How to do it, step by step.
Choose tomorrow's frog the evening before
Look at your list and pick the one task that matters most and that you are most likely to avoid.
Make it concrete
Name the first step, so there is nothing to decide in the morning: "Write the first page of the proposal".
Do it first thing
Start before email and messages. Do not check anything "quickly" first.
Stay with it until it is done or clearly moved
Finish it, or reach a point where the hardest part is behind you.
Then do the rest of the day
With the frog eaten, move on to everything else.
Who it suits, and its limits.
It suits you if
- You keep the same big task on your list for weeks.
- You think best in the morning.
- You get pulled into email and messages as soon as you open the laptop.
Where it falls short
- If your best hours are later in the day, eating the frog at 8 is fighting your energy. Do it at your best time instead.
- Some days start with a real emergency. The frog waits; do it as soon as you can.
- It picks one task. For the rest of the day you need another way to plan.
Common mistakes to avoid.
Picking several frogs
If you have two frogs, eat the ugliest one first. More than one and the method loses its point.
A frog that is too big
"Finish the thesis" will not be done by lunch. Pick a piece you can finish in a morning.
Checking email first
Five minutes in the inbox easily becomes an hour. Open it after the frog.
Choosing in the morning
Deciding what is hardest is itself hard at 8. Choose the evening before.
How to do it in thisflow.
Each step uses a feature that is in the app today.
Mark the frog as P1
Press 1 on the task, or type p1 in quick add, so it comes first among today's tasks without a time.
Choose it when you wrap up
From 16:00, Wrap up shows what got done and moves the rest. That is a good moment to pick tomorrow's frog.
Give it the first block
Drag the task to 8:00 or 9:00 in the calendar, before your first meeting.
Start the timer on it
Press F on the task to start a focus session, so the first thing you do is the frog.
Questions and answers.
Did Mark Twain say "eat a live frog"?
There is no evidence he did. Quote Investigator traced the saying to Nicolas Chamfort in the 1790s; the Twain attribution appears only in the 1980s.
What counts as a frog?
The task that matters most today and that you are most likely to put off. Usually it is big, uncomfortable or unclear.
What if I am not a morning person?
Do the frog at the start of your best working hours, not at a fixed clock time. The point is that it comes before the easy things.
Can I combine Eat the frog with other methods?
Yes. It fits well with the 1-3-5 rule, where the frog is your one big task, and with a Pomodoro timer to get started.
Sources
Numbers in the text, like [1], point to these sources.
- [1]Brian Tracy: The Truth About Frogswww.briantracy.com/blog/time-management/the-truth-about-frogs/
- [2]Quote Investigator: Eat a Live Frog Every Morningquoteinvestigator.com/2013/04/03/eat-frog/
More methods to try.
The 1-3-5 rule
One big task, three medium and five small ones: a list that fits in a day.
Weekly review
Once a week, clear your inboxes, check every list and plan next week.
Flowtime technique
A timer that counts up: work until focus fades, then take a break that fits.
Eat tomorrow's frog first thing.
Free during the beta. Priorities, Wrap up and a focus timer for the hardest task.