“Yuck!” Heather said as she steered the windy road on our way to the airport. I was talking about eating the frog first, the productivity hack that is turbo-charging my workday. Its popular moniker came from a Mark Twain quote — “Eat the frog first”. I’d ignored this technique for a long time, certain that this advice worked well for others but not for me. After all, I really liked getting my inbox to zero first thing every morning.

I’m not really sure what made me try the technique. Probably a time-management seminar where it was the only tip I hadn’t tried. Whatever the reason, I gave it a go. The result was transforming. This one change to my day has created an amazing boost to what I get done and to how I feel about my work.

If I ‘eat the frog’ first, I can chat at the water cooler, watch YouTube, or (more likely) spend my entire day in meetings and still feel like I had a productive day.

How it works

Every morning, I “eat the frog” after I finish my morning routine. I take a look at my daily TODO list — specifically at the one thing I’d like to do that day. If I haven’t set my one thing the night before, I’ll think about what would make my day awesome (yes, seriously) and then close my apps and and start working on that thing.

I work on this task for at least an hour or until my first meeting of the day. If I finish before the hour is up, then “yay!”. If I have to stop before I’m finished, I’ll save future brain cycles by making a note to myself in Evernote or on the document itself.

If you have problems with distraction, try using Freedom, or in Chrome or Safari WasteNoTime to force-limit your distractions and Internet-based addictions during your frog-eating hour.

Here are the steps:

• Don’t read your email first!
• Remind yourself of the ‘one thing’ that you’d like to do today
• Close your apps (except for the ones you need)
• Do it (ideally for a least an hour)
• Note where you left off so you can pick it up easily when you’re ready
• Now go read your email and may the force be with you!

Doing the ‘one thing’ first often reaps some unexpected rewards. You’re ready to face your plethora of meetings knowing that you’ve done some real work for the day. You can focus on your ‘now’ instead of worrying that you’re not getting any work done. If you’re like me, you might even find yourself yearning for the next time you get to work on your ‘thing’, giving you something to look forward to.

In every case, you’ve made progress on an important task before you’ve become reactive. Block the time out on your calendar (be bullish!) so you’re not disturbed, and go for it!

I’m inclined to thing that this is an advanced technique, so I’m interested in finding out how this works for others. Leave a comment and let me know!