Procrastination and the Frog

Procrastination is a big problem for many of us. We make a to-do list and we manage to complete a few tasks on the list; but more often than not, the difficult and unpleasant tasks never quite get done. We just keep moving them from list to list until we get bored with looking at them and drop them off the list altogether.

Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, then it’s safe to bet that nothing worse can happen to you for the rest of the day. What does this have to do with procrastination? Well, if we think of the hardest item on our to-do list as the frog and we tackle it first, then the rest of our to-do’s should be a breeze. Right?

I actually tested this theory out yesterday. I had a very unpleasant task to do which I had been putting off for a week. So, yesterday morning instead of seeing the words of the task, I envisioned a big, ugly frog staring back at me which did two things. First and most importantly, it made me laugh; and secondly it lifted the sense of dread of doing this task. I picked up the phone, made the call and with a great feeling of accomplishment and great flourish I “x’ed” the item off my list. .

Being able to cross off that difficult task was very energizing. I felt very empowerd and was motivated to keep moving forward through my to-do list. I no longer had to end my work day with that one item still niggling at my mind, distracting me and making me feel less than successful.

I encourage you to try the frog trick and see if it works for you.


Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.
George Claude Lorimer