Eat that Frog

That’s the title of a popular book by Brian Tracy and it is a mantra I often repeat when I find myself avoiding a difficult task. Asking this question usually does the trick for me: “what is the most difficult, non-urgent but important task I should tackle today? (It usually happens to be a task that will advance my career, help me generate income, or help me resolve a conflict with a colleague or a client).

Then I try to imagine how good the rest of the day will feel if I start the day with that difficult phone call I’ve been avoiding or if I try to take a stab at that article that’s due in two weeks and I have no idea how to start.

Can You Relate to Any of These Statements?

• If I don’t exercise first thing in the morning I won’t do it later.
• If I don’t write a post first thing in the morning when my mind is still fresh and fully awake, it will take more effort and time to write that same post in mid afternoon.
• If I don’t jump start a brand new project early in the week, it will be easy to put it off for another week.

The satisfaction we feel after completing a difficult or unpleasant task provides a boost in energy and confidence that propels us to continue tackling other challenges. If on the other hand we start our day doing what comes easy, (answering emails or surfing the web), those difficult tasks will only grow more and more intimidating and ugly as the day goes by.

Avoiding our most critical tasks leads to stress, dissatisfaction and decreased self-esteem. Concentrate your efforts on the jobs that matter most (those that advance your medium and long-term goals) and then deal with the rest. If you have a work assignment, then deal with that first.

Take Action

You can plan, dream, write goals, attend workshops, get a coach, analyze and strategize all you want but nothing can take the place of ACTION. Action yields results, immediate feedback and it’s a great confidence builder.

Procrastination-nuker Dave Navarro, from Rock Your Day, has written a series of articles about overcoming task avoidance that I’ve found particularly helpful for keeping me from slacking. I think you’ll find it very helpful:

3 Reasons You Don’t Take Action (And the Quick Fix)