Do your hardest task first. Watch the rest of your day become easy.
"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning."
- Often attributed to Mark Twain
The frog is that task. The one you've been avoiding. The one that's important but uncomfortable. The one sitting on your to-do list for days, making you feel guilty every time you look at it.
Brian Tracy's insight is simple: do that task first thing in the morning. Before email. Before meetings. Before the day's chaos takes over.
Identify your frog. Before bed, decide on ONE task that's most important for tomorrow. Write it down. This is your frog.
Wake up with intent. Your frog is waiting. No snoozing, no "I'll do it after coffee."
Start immediately. Before phone, before email, before social media. Sit down and start the frog.
Frog eaten. The hardest thing you'll do all day is done. Everything else feels easy by comparison.
Coast on momentum. You've already won. The guilt, the anxiety, the avoidance - gone. Handle the rest with ease.
Funtasking's visual timeline is perfect for frog-eating. Schedule your frog as the first block of your day. The gamification gives you that dopamine hit when you complete it - a reward for doing hard things first.
The Purpose Wheel also helps identify which life areas you're neglecting. Often, your real frog isn't work - it's that health habit or relationship conversation you keep avoiding.
Beautiful visual timeline that makes morning planning a joy. Drag your frog to the top of your day. The time-blocking approach naturally supports eating the frog first.
One-time purchase, no subscription. Apple ecosystem only.
Use Todoist's priority system. Make your frog Priority 1 with a morning due time. The red flag stares at you until it's done.
Not as visual as dedicated planning apps, but it works if you're already in the Todoist ecosystem.
Not a to-do app, but perfect for frog-eating. Book a session with a stranger, tell them your frog, and work together via video. Social accountability is powerful.
Something about having another human watching makes you actually do the thing you've been avoiding.
Seriously. Write your frog on a sticky note. Put it on your laptop. Wake up, see frog, do frog.
Sometimes low-tech is the best tech. No app notifications to distract you from the actual work.
Mistake #2: Picking the wrong frog. Your frog isn't the task you want to do. It's the task you're avoiding. If you're looking forward to it, it's not a frog.
Mistake #3: Multiple frogs. You only have one ugliest frog per day. If you try to eat three frogs before breakfast, you'll eat none. Pick ONE.
Mistake #4: Vague frogs. "Work on project" is not a frog. "Write the first draft of the proposal intro" is a frog. Make it specific enough to start immediately.
Mistake #5: Skipping the night-before decision. If you wake up and have to think about what your frog is, you'll rationalize your way into something easier. Decide the night before.
Here's how to implement Eat the Frog with Funtasking:
Night before: Open Funtasking and identify tomorrow's frog. Tag it with your "Work" or relevant life area. Schedule it as the first time block of your day.
Morning: Open the app. Your frog is right there at the top of your timeline. No decisions to make. Start working.
After completion: Check it off. Earn your coins. Feel the dopamine. The gamification rewards you for doing hard things - exactly what frog-eating needs.
Weekly check: Use the Purpose Wheel to find your life-area frogs. That exercise routine you keep skipping? That's a frog. That difficult conversation with a friend? Frog. Sometimes your biggest frogs aren't work-related.
Funtasking helps you visualize and gamify your morning routine. Free forever.
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Choose a purpose: Body, Work, People, Learning, Play, and more
Visual timeline, active tasks, coins earned, and daily balance
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Track time across life areas. Get warned before burnout hits
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