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Most of us are advised to tackle the most challenging task first. But that may not be the best way to prioritize your tasks. We often forget that challenging tasks take time and lots of effort, leaving us with very little time to do anything else. Here’s why you should not eat the frog.

Video Transcript

We have often heard of the term eat the frog. But I don’t agree to that statement. It has worked for a few people and it may continue to work for a lot of us, but there are some downsides to that. There are other ways of beating the procrastination, but let me explain why I don’t agree with the eat the frog.

So when we are prioritizing tasks, eating the frog means tackling the most challenging task first. Now the problem with that approach is – when you are starting your day or when you’re starting your exam, or when you’re starting any endeavor, when you have a list of tasks that you need to do, and you have identified which ones are the challenging ones.

My question is why would you want to do the challenging ones first? Because there are a lot of limitations to challenging tasks. First is it may be complex. It may be more complex than you had originally apprehended. It could also be that it takes a longer time. Or it may require you to break it down into smaller chunks.

So there are many reasons why a task or anything can be challenging. When you’re starting your day with a challenging task, chances are high, it may take up more time or effort than you had originally anticipated. Because that’s why it is challenging. And what happens then is you have a list of other things that you had to do, and those are undone because you’re spending so much time and effort only in that first challenging task.

And eventually if it doesn’t get done at the end of the day or whatever stipulated time you had selected, then it will completely demotivate you. You’re like I have a list of tasks to do, and I didn’t get started on any because I was wasting my time trying to figure this out. The approach that has worked really well for me is tackling the easier tasks first.

Like things that take either less amount of time. Or they are easy to do. Or which are effortless for you. A task may or may not be effortless for you. It depends from person to person. But if a task is effortless for you, then it will take a very less time, or it will be very easy for you.

It will be a quick win. The point of doing easy tasks, the smaller tasks, first is to get those quick wins in your kitty. So you are checking items off your bucket list also. You’re getting things done. And at the same time, those are giving you confidence that yes, the day is in your control because you are getting things done one by one.

And eventually when you have checked off all the easy ones, then you can eat the frog. Because then you will have some kind of peace of mind that- okay, I have finished some of the items already. And I still have some time. So then you go with that assurance that even if it is difficult, or even if it requires a little bit more time, you can still do that. Because you will not be in the anxiety that there are other things that you had to do, which you haven’t done first.

So that’s my take on why you shouldn’t eat the frog first. Because this is what I use when I have to prioritize things. There are other ways of prioritizing tasks. This is one of those where I prioritize based on doing the easiest ones first, before I take up the challenging ones. So I hope you enjoyed it.

And if you do, then please subscribe to my channel. I keep posting written blog content videos, sometimes podcasts. I like a little bit of variety. So if you’d like to get more updates on the things that I’m working on and I’d suggest you visit my website or sign up for my newsletter. I wish you a very happy Christmas. Ciao!

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