Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: This is the third episode in my five part series unprocrastination,
Speaker 1: a topic we're studying all this week. Today's tip is
Speaker 1: to do the tough stuff first. If you spend a
Speaker 1: lot of time on the internet, you'll soon find many
Speaker 1: quotes attributed to Mark Twain. I spent a year as
Speaker 1: a fact checker early in my career, and I can
Speaker 1: tell you almost all these attributions are false. It's pretty
Speaker 1: clear that Mark Twain did not write that if you
Speaker 1: eat a live frog first thing in the morning, that
Speaker 1: will be the worst thing to happen to you all day.
Speaker 1: But one reason we like to repeat this phrase and
Speaker 1: attribute it to a wise man like Mark Twain is
Speaker 1: that it's a colorful way of pointing out a truth.
Speaker 1: If you need to do something difficult, putting it off
Speaker 1: does and solved the problem. In fact, it makes it
Speaker 1: worse because the mental anguish expands your suffering. You're much
Speaker 1: better off getting it over with. Then the rest of
Speaker 1: your day will seem awesome. By contrast, that makes sense,
Speaker 1: and there's another reason to get tough stuff done early.
Speaker 1: There's some evidence that we have more energy and discipline
Speaker 1: in the morning. One study by researchers associated with the
Speaker 1: Human Performance Institute at Johnson and Johnson found that people
Speaker 1: reported their highest energy levels of the work day right
Speaker 1: around eight am. You have that first cup of coffee,
Speaker 1: and you can take on the world. By two pm,
Speaker 1: not so much. The research on decision fatigue, will power,
Speaker 1: and ego depletion is a bit more complicated, but I
Speaker 1: think it's plausible that we possess more fortitude early in
Speaker 1: the day. If you think about it, diets aren't broken
Speaker 1: with a spoon going straight into the Hagan dahs at
Speaker 1: six am. That's really more of a ten pm sort
Speaker 1: of activity. Likewise, you seldom here of crimes of passion
Speaker 1: occurring at seven am. In general, we work most effectively
Speaker 1: and efficiently by scheduling our most difficult tasks at times
Speaker 1: when we are best prepared to deal with them. Doing
Speaker 1: something that requires a lot of focus and discipline might
Speaker 1: take an hour at eight am, it might take two
Speaker 1: hours at three pm. When you're tired. Best to do
Speaker 1: the work early and not by yourself a late night.
Speaker 1: So if there is something you've been putting off, think
Speaker 1: about how you might schedule it first thing in the morning,
Speaker 1: and if the task is difficult enough, I'd suggest scheduling
Speaker 1: it for first thing Monday morning, the beginning of the
Speaker 1: day and the beginning of the week. That way, you're
Speaker 1: really getting it over with, and then when you do,
Speaker 1: reward yourself profusely. Maybe even take the rest of Monday morning,
Speaker 1: or at least you know, an hour or two off.
Speaker 1: I know I've done this. For instance, a few years ago,
Speaker 1: I was writing an article that required interviewing someone surrounded
Speaker 1: by gatekeepers in an organization that had a reputation for
Speaker 1: being bureaucratic. I was really dreading calling and explaining what
Speaker 1: I wanted and having to go through multiple layers of permission,
Speaker 1: or possibly going through alternate routes if the first was
Speaker 1: too slow. In my mind, this had expanded to a
Speaker 1: huge ordeal. So I gave myself the assignment to call
Speaker 1: the organization first thing Monday morning. I started work with
Speaker 1: all the fortitude I was ever going to muster. At
Speaker 1: nine o two I made my call, and then a
Speaker 1: funny thing happened. The first person I got on the
Speaker 1: phone was happy to help. By nine fifteen, I had
Speaker 1: an appointment scheduled. Sometimes eating a frog turns out to
Speaker 1: be more like eating frog legs, potentially kind of tasty
Speaker 1: in the right context. And yes, I rewarded myself. I
Speaker 1: think I went for a run and then took myself
Speaker 1: out to lunch. When we do the tough stuff first,
Speaker 1: the rest of the day automatically looks better by contrast,
Speaker 1: and we can even schedule in things to make it
Speaker 1: look better. Do you make a point of doing the
Speaker 1: tough stuff first thing in the day or even first
Speaker 1: thing on Monday. I'd love to hear about it. You
Speaker 1: can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at I heeart
Speaker 1: media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast p
Speaker 1: o D. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast and I hurt me da dot com
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I look forward to staying in touch
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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