Eat Your Frogs, First!
Let’s rewind to last week (or maybe last night), and I want you to think about the last time you were up studying late. It’s 9 p.m. and you’ve organized all your notes, colour coded your planner, cleaned your desk, checked Instagram, made a snack, and responded to three texts. Meanwhile, your math homework is sitting there untouched, and you’re starting to feel that invisible weight on your shoulders of how much work you have to do before you can go to sleep.
Sound familiar? (It’s okay, you’re not alone). Truthfully, this is not laziness, this is human nature. In fact, there’s a name for it.
The Frog
Mark Twain didn’t just have a better moustache than me, he also had better quotes. Perhaps my favourite one was, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, eat the biggest one first.” Alright, so are we going to take advice from the frog-eater? YES. All frog jokes aside, Mark made a great point. Your ‘frog’ is the thing you least want to do, and likely, the most important thing to do. For most students it’s the hardest subject on their plate. Math. Physics. Chemistry. Biology. The essay you don’t know how to start.
Your natural instinct is telling you to warm up with easier tasks first. Get some wins on the board, save your hard tasks for when you’re “ready.” The problem with this is that “ready” never comes. By the time you’ve finished everything else, your energy is gone, your focus is shot, and the hard thing gets half of what it deserves, or even worse, nothing at all.
Why Students Get This Backwards
Your willpower, focus, and attention to detail are not unlimited resources. Research has consistently shown that your mental energy depletes as the day goes on. The version of you that is sitting down to work at 9 a.m. is a sharper, more patient, and ultimately more capable than the version of you at 9 p.m. When you’re saving your hardest subjects or tasks for last, you’re making a quiet bet to yourself that you’ll have more energy later on (Hint: You will not).
How To Eat Your Frogs
“Okay… we get it Dr. James. We need to eat our frogs. But how? I can barely swallow a pill when I’m sick!”
Glad you asked! That’s what I’m here for. Eating your frogs doesn’t need to be an existential dread, we can season it, toss a little salt and pepper on there, we can- you know what, maybe I’m getting carried away. Let’s just make it a 3 step approach that’s easy to follow along:
Identify your frog the night before: Before you close your laptop or books for the evening, write down the one thing you that will challenge you the most tomorrow. That’s your frog. Eat it, own it, it gets done first. No excuses.
Do it before anything else: No social media, no video games, no tv shows or movies. Frog first. Even 30-60 minutes of dedicated time on the hardest task will beat 2-3 hours at night time before bed.
Break it down if it feels too big: “Study for my physics exam.” is not a task, it’s an entire project. However, “Study through Chapter 7 practice problems for 60 minutes.” is a frog you can actually eat. This is a S.M.A.R.T. goal, it’s specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
When The Habit Is Not Enough
Sometimes, the problem isn’t discipline. Sometimes, the frog feels impossible because the subject itself is so hard, and it paralyzes you when you approach it. If a student is avoiding math every day, we have to consider that it may not be a productivity problem. It may be that no one has ever explained it and broken it down to them in a way that is actually palatable and can stick in their brain. That’s a different fix, one that is best managed by private personalized tutoring.
Main Takeaway
Do the hard things first. Every day. Do them before excuses can stack up, before your friends ask you to hangout, before your energy runs out, before the frog grows so big that it’s bigger than you! The students who consistently outperform are not necessarily any more talented, they have just learned how important it is to eat their frogs for breakfast.
Curia Tutoring
Struggling with a subject that feels like an impossible task every morning? That might be a sign you need more than a better routine.
Book a consultation with Dr. Grant James at Curia Tutoring and let’s help you eat those frogs, together.
