A Frog a Day Keeps the Ennui Away
en·nui | änˈwē |
Noun
a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement: he succumbed to ennui and despair.
-New Oxford American Dictionary
Mark Twain is often quoted as having said, “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” There’s some dispute about whether Twain actually said this, but nevertheless, people have been inspired by the lesson it contains. There’s even a whole book written on productivity that is based on the metaphor.
“If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.”
—Mark Twain
The idea is that if you have a difficult, potentially life-changing task on your to-do list, you should do it first. If we delay “eating the frog,” we are less likely to get it done for two reasons:
Other items will likely crowd out doing the one important thing.
Our will power is likely to diminish as the day passes, and so we tend to postpone the one important thing to the next day. And to the next. And so on and so forth.
This approach to productivity has multiple iterations. One is Steven Covey’s description of the “Important But Not Urgent Task” in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He suggests using a grid to categorize our tasks according to two binaries: important/not important and urgent/not urgent. (See image)
Covey argues that one of the habits that leads to success is to spend more time living deliberately, completing important-but-not-urgent tasks in Quadrant II. This is in contrast with living reactively, spending most of one’s time tackling important and urgent tasks in Quadrant I. It occurs to me that many of our “frogs” live in Quadrant II: calling that relative, starting that business, reading that book, exercising, asking that person out, etc.
Author and podcast host, Tim Ferris, has a simpler version of “eating the frog.” He completes his most important task before noon. That’s it.
Whatever the method employed, I’d like to propose that eating frogs regularly leads to greater growth and development and this in turn creates a more meaningful and adventurous life—hence the title of this issue of The Good Leaven Letter.
This week, I invite you to ask:
What are the frogs on my plate? Which ones would produce the biggest positive impact, if they were eaten? Which of these will I commit to eating today?
What would change for me if I began eating frogs daily? What method will I commit to using over the course of this week to make frogs a regular part of my diet?
God Bless,
Dan
P.S.- A huge thank you to Rebecca Loomis from Fabelle Creative Co. for the beautiful design of this new email template and the website for TAM NOVA! I’d highly recommend working with her on your next project.
