Mark Twain was a wise man who gave advice in a colorful yet simple way. One thing many of us need advice about is how to conquer our fears. The little every day fears. The ones that creep into your head first thing in the morning when you wake. Those things left undone; or unsaid. Those tasks that you may not want to do. The ones that make you feel uncomfortable or doubtful. Or the ones that seem too big to handle. Maybe it’s something that needs to be done at home. Maybe it’s a work thing. Maybe it’s something you need to do for yourself. Most of us procrastinate because it scares us or overwhelms us. It’s just too hard to deal with it. We don’t know how to start. Mark Twain tells us, “Eat a live frog first thing every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
Eating a live frog is disgusting and YUCKY!!! I can’t imagine anyone enjoying that! But Twain was not being literal. The frog is your task. The yucky task. The one that needs your attention. But maybe the task is not yucky. Maybe it’s your thinking that is making it feel that way. Maybe the results of finishing the task are wonderful!
When you procrastinate eating your frog, you create a new set of problems. It’s impossible to concentrate on other things. You’re distracted. You can only think about the frog you need to eat later. Besides, when you put things off, you give yourself time to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong. You focus on the difficulty. You resent the time you need to spend on eating the frog. You want fast food! And now the frog seems bigger and more complicated. You may begin to resent the frog and everyone connected to it. You are focusing on what you don’t want!
When you eat the frog early in the day you gain a sense of accomplishment. You take care of what you want. You feel proud of yourself for having done that. It’s a great way to start the day feeling successful. Finishing that necessary task gives you the momentum you need to do other things. Everything is easy compared to the dreaded frog. Take care of the priority. Allow yourself to feel all the positive emotions connected to accomplishing the task. Confident, successful, happy. You may feel lighter after having let go of the burden you have been carrying.
Frogs can get very heavy and cumbersome. They can become difficult to handle and weigh you down. Have the courage to eat the frog. Even if it’s scary, get the yucky stuff over with and move on. Feel the satisfaction of having conquered your fears. And recognize that you always have the power and the control to focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. And then enjoy the rest of the day!