Eat the Frog

Mark Twain said, and I paraphrase, “If you need to eat a frog, eat it first thing in the morning, and if you have to eat two, eat the bigger one first.”

If you’re working on your business, you’ve got to learn to do this…eat the frog. 

Here’s what it means: we all have things in our lives that are frogs. Things that pile up, things we avoid, things we don’t want to deal with, the “procrastination list”. They all seem big, and ironically, these frogs are usually pretty small things, things that don’t really take that much time. To illustrate, maybe it’s that list of emails that only take about 10 minutes to compose, but in the moment, seem like a really big thing that’s going to take forever. Sound familiar? Eat the frog.

The idea is to set aside time every day to think, “what is the thing I’ve been procrastinating or that I’ve been avoiding?” Let’s break it down. Even if you can’t complete the entire task, can you take the first step? Can you reach out for help or clarification? Sometimes we let things linger for no real reason. Then, once you tackle them, you wonder why you put it off. See? In this situation, just do it.

It’s important to realize that our brains have limits. I’ve heard that the maximum amount of information our brains can effectively handle at one time is seven. Ever have those late-night moments or realizations about a pending task? I have, so now, instead of getting out of bed to write it down (something I will not do), I have an eat the frog list on my phone. 

The first step is to get those frogs onto a paper or digital list. Here’s the key: just do it. Eat the frog first thing in the morning. Whether it’s a social media post or a longer email, just put a time constraint on it. Challenge yourself. It’s about freeing up mental space for the things you enjoy. 

I get it. Every business has those tasks you’d rather avoid. All of a sudden, it turns into a game – Eat that Frog. How quickly can you get it off your plate? 

This morning, there was a mental load I needed to address – following up with someone, finalizing decisions, drafting emails. I added those items to my “to do” list, listed the frogs I needed to eat, and got it done. Now, I’m ready to tackle more meaningful and enjoyable tasks. 

You got this. At the very least, let’s Eat that Frog together.

At Crafted Kitchen, we help turn side hustles into success stories with guidance not to mention lots of free resources. We also offer flexible and affordable commercial kitchen rentals in Los Angeles!