Eat the Frog | List Producer

The biggest issue with writing (or any creative task really) is finding the time to sit down, distraction free, and put your ideas to paper.

We often put it off and never get to it.

I interviewed Karen Rizzo (no relation) author of “Things to Do, Sh*t to Bring” years ago and in her book she kept saying she wanted to learn Italian.

And guess what – she never did. She didn’t give herself the space and time to do it. Maybe you have tasks like that.

For me – I had to jump on a plane and travel across the world to give myself the space to write. I just returned from a writing retreat in France and it was divine. It was in Paris and it gave me time to focus on my creative side. (I started writing a novel! Who knows where it will go but it was so fun to start writing.) Read more

Do you ever get that feeling when you first wake up, the fear of knowing that today you have to do THAT task.

The thing you’ve been putting off for weeks now and the deadline has finally arrived. Maybe it’s paying your bills or deciding which contractor to sign with.

I’m a natural procrastinator myself so I will try to do these kinds of tasks at the last minute and if it has to be done on a particular day then you know I’ll be dreading it.

But there is another way.

A few weeks ago during my Listful Thinking MasterClass my web designer and media strategist Cass hosted my class because she has a very unique way of looking at productivity and I thought they would learn a lot from her. And they did! During Cass’s talk, while discussing the perils of procrastination, she explained her belief that you have to “eat the frog”

What?

Eat the Frog is a productivity concept in which you do the tasks you want to do the least first. By getting the awful tasks out of the way your burden for the day is lifted and you can actually enjoy the remainder of it. And be more productive because you crossed off something that was looming large.

This simple concept really resonates with people and the fact that it frees up the rest of your day is a built in reward that encourages you to banish those procrastination habits!

Ok so what task will you use to Eat the Frog today?

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