“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” – Mark Twain

 

Could Mark Twain have held the secret to accomplishment? Are first-thing-in-the-morning-frog-eaters more successful than their non frog eating peers? Well, success and productivity expert Brian Tracy thinks so.

In his book, Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, he proposes we should tackle the most important and largest looming task first. Because after that, it’s smooth sailing for the rest of the day. Ideally, eat the frog before the frog eats you! The more we avoid or procrastinate on something, the larger it gets, the more daunting it gets and eventually overwhelm sets in and that thing we did not do drowns us.

In your pursuit of becoming an efficient and successful insurance adjuster, you may want to start eating frogs. While Tracy’s book is full of strategies and questions to ask yourself and “21 ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time” There are three steps that can get you headed in the right direction.

How do you eat a frog?

Step 1: Identify your frog.
Your hardest, most important task for the day. Just one! Pick something you’ll be able to complete in 1 to 4 hours. A clearly defined, realistic task. If your frog is a larger project, break it down into smaller steps and do one step today.

Eating the frog is not necessarily the thing you hate the most or want to avoid the most, which is what many interpret it to be. For Tracy, it’s more about the thing that will have the greatest impact. As an insurance adjuster, think through which tasks you have that will make the most impact on your day.

Step 2: Eat it!
Do your most important task first thing in the morning. Start your day with a win. Don’t give yourself a chance to put it off for later. Check it off your list before lunch and that momentum carries you into the rest of your day.

Tracy’s “Eat The Frog Technique” asserts that people who want to be successful must take immediate and necessary actions without overthinking too much. And they should implement the “eat the frog” tactic first thing in the morning. This allows you to plan your day more efficiently because you have also identified your primary motive of the day. Your mind is clear, your office is quiet, the needs and pulls of others have not yet interrupted you. You have the opportunity to prioritize before the calls and emails roll in. You get an important task tackled and propel yourself into the rest of the day with that momentum. Doing the hardest thing first also yields the greatest results because it takes the most energy and brain power and you are usually freshest first thing. This way, you reserve the tasks that take less energy for when you have less energy.

Step 3: Repeat Every Day.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly small steps taken consistently add up to enormous accomplishments.

One of the best ways to eat a frog first thing in the morning is to set it up the night before. Take a few minutes at the end of your workday to think about it. Set your intention for the next morning, choose your “frog”, write it down, gather materials or resources you may need.

Modern workplace environments are not set up to support distraction free, deep work. We’re bombarded by dings, emails, meetings, chat messages and more. This often makes it difficult to find the time or space to focus on our highest impact tasks. When you employ this “Eat The Frog Technique”, you push against these distractions to get closer to your goals.

Getting things done is a habit, and if you start every day by accomplishing something important, getting things done will become a habit leading to success.

So try it tomorrow morning. Before you check your email or have your first meeting of the day. Eat your frog!

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