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 great 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
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