Mark Twain is quoted as saying “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.“ In reality there is doubt that this line can really be attributed to him (see here), but whatever the source it is fascinating concept. The idea is that if you have a task to do which is likely to be distasteful in some way, then the best approach is to do it first thing in the morning. Not only will the rest of the day be a vast improvement, it means that task stops being a worry or burdensome. Sounds like a fantastic idea, but I wondered how useful it was in reality. So I dedicated a week, including weekends, to the principle.

First job for me was to put it in my diary. I forget everything if it is not in a list, on a phone reminder or in my diary, there is simply too much to recall otherwise. So, 9am every day for a week, starting Saturday. I didn’t plan what the frogs were to be, I wanted to discover one on my pillow each morning.

The weekend went well, I always have a list of chores and tasks needed to be done and working out the most unpleasant was easy. Getting it done early worked brilliantly, albeit I took a weekend attitude to “first thing”.

Weekdays however were a different thing. I’m so stuck in my routine of opening emails and catching up with little jobs when I first arrive in the office that I found myself doing that automatically – whereas the idea is to dive right into the frog. Hmmm, not a great start to my trial, procrastination winning. But there were days in the week where I had important tasks that I might have been tempted to leave until the end of the day, and feeling driven to get them out of the way worked well. In reality this period in my year is relatively quiet and I have reflected that the pressure and frequency of “unpleasant” tasks was low. I might try again in a busier time when the impact will be greater.

By the end of the week I decided it was a useful approach if you are cognisant of tasks you are putting off; however expecting there to be a frog that hops into your lap every day isn’t likely, and I’m not convinced wading into the lily pond to find it is helpful. The diary approach is perhaps not the best solution, at least for me. Rather, I will need to be honest with myself about the presence of a distasteful task and address it face on – first thing.

I do wonder though…if I kissed the frog instead of eating it maybe I’ll find a handsome Prince. Then get him to do the work.