I love Mark Twain. I think he might be that person from history that I would like to have dinner with. Two days in a row, I will quote him: "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, it's best to eat the biggest one first." I think this is the exact opposite of how I work on things. I put off the really hard stuff. I protest that unless I rid myself of the small easy stuff first, all that clutter will be distracting and prevent clear thinking on the Big Thing. All this does is prevent me from making headway on the big audacious thing because there is always small stuff. Add to that, the hard stuff is, well, hard.
Last week a girlfriend came over busting with energy and enthusiasm and the reason was because she’d just hung a door. All by herself. See the irony of the doing the hard stuff is that it’s really satisfying. And we like that satisfied feeling. Today I could have easily stayed indoors working on many small chores, but my huge, leaf-covered lawn was in need of attention. It’s nearly a full day just to do the front yard. So while it’s not a ‘hard’ task skill-wise, the magnitude of the work could have easily kept me indoors. It was a pretty day to be outside and there won’t be many more of those, so I did get the front yard cleaned up. I’m satisfied, but not done. There is still another frog to eat – the back yard.
Last week a girlfriend came over busting with energy and enthusiasm and the reason was because she’d just hung a door. All by herself. See the irony of the doing the hard stuff is that it’s really satisfying. And we like that satisfied feeling. Today I could have easily stayed indoors working on many small chores, but my huge, leaf-covered lawn was in need of attention. It’s nearly a full day just to do the front yard. So while it’s not a ‘hard’ task skill-wise, the magnitude of the work could have easily kept me indoors. It was a pretty day to be outside and there won’t be many more of those, so I did get the front yard cleaned up. I’m satisfied, but not done. There is still another frog to eat – the back yard.