By: Krista Ruehmer
Listen, I don’t want to misquote Mark Twain, but somewhere in time he’s been known to have said something along the lines of, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
First of all, gross. But also, he’s not wrong. Never have I eaten a live (or unalive, for that matter) frog, but I imagine things could only go up from there if I began my day with a bouncing frog and coffee. That said, “eat the frog” is absolutely a method we collectively adhere to at Mueller – as a productivity method, not lunch.
Our daily task list grows – and shrinks – and grows again each day. If you’re anything like me, crossing off a task provides a sense of accomplishment so fulfilling, I’m likely to add “create a task list” every morning simply for the jolt of serotonin I feel in immediately crossing it off the list.
But there are always the daunting tasks. The tasks we carry over from list to list because we can’t bring ourselves to take the three minutes or one hour it might take to complete. They’re usually never urgent, but they’re there. Staring us in the face. They’re not fun, they’re often not particularly satisfying. Maybe they’re a little overwhelming. Our timesheets, an uncomfortable email or phone call, updating a spreadsheet. Honestly, maybe it’s a doctor appointment that needs to be scheduled, but it falls to the bottom of the priority list every day because it’s just too much.
But at Mueller, we flourish in a culture of encouragement and productivity. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see a calendar hold on a colleague’s shared calendar that says:
“2-3 p.m. Eating the Frog.”
And truly, it’s a great way to put your head down and focus on your task list’s ‘frogs.’ An hour of uninterrupted time – notifications off, hydrated, ready.
A handful of our teammates put together a helpful list of their favorite ways to ‘eat the frog.’ Far be it for us to keep these hot tips to ourselves. Bon appétit!
- Grab your favorite beverage. Ice cold Strawberry Peach LaCroix, anyone?
- Start for 5 minutes – often, once you start, you won’t stop!
- Take a beat to understand why it’s a frog. Usually the frog is a frog because we have a question about it, or how to tackle it is unclear, or we know the task is going to take a long time.
- Set a timer! We love a timer.
- Make your environment cozy. Light that candle. Turn off the overhead lights.
- Go for a quick walk. Clear your head.
- Reward yourself with a snack or the satisfaction of crossing something off your list. Any excuse for a little treat.
- Put your phone away or on Do Not Disturb.
And…go!
Have a lot of frogs on your plate? Let us eat that for you.
