Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. This
Speaker 1: is the third episode in my five part series on procrastination,
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 doesn't solve 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 workday right around
Speaker 1: eight am. You have that first cup of coffee, and
Speaker 1: you can take on the world. By two pm, not
Speaker 1: so much. The research on decision fatigue, will power, and
Speaker 1: ego depletion is a bit more complicated, but I think
Speaker 1: it's plausible that we possess more fortitude early in the day.
Speaker 1: If you think about it, diets aren't broken with a
Speaker 1: spoon going straight into the hagendaws at six am. That's
Speaker 1: really more of a ten pm sort of activity. Likewise,
Speaker 1: you seldom hear of crimes of passion occurring at seven am.
Speaker 1: In general, we work most effectively and efficiently by scheduling
Speaker 1: our most difficult tasks at times when we are best
Speaker 1: prepared to deal with them. Doing something that requires a
Speaker 1: lot of focus and discipline might take an hour at
Speaker 1: eight am, it might take two hours at three pm.
Speaker 1: When you're tired. Best to do the work early and
Speaker 1: not by yourself a late night. So if there is
Speaker 1: something you've been putting off. Think about how you might
Speaker 1: schedule it first thing in the morning, and if the
Speaker 1: task is difficult enough, I'd suggest scheduling it for first
Speaker 1: thing Monday morning, the beginning of the day and the
Speaker 1: beginning of the week. That way, you're really getting it
Speaker 1: over with, and then when you do, reward yourself profusely.
Speaker 1: Maybe even take the rest of Monday morning or at
Speaker 1: least an hour or two off. I know I've done this.
Speaker 1: For instance, a few years ago, I was writing an
Speaker 1: article that required interviewing someone surrounded by gatekeepers in an
Speaker 1: organization that had a reputation for being bureaucratic. I was
Speaker 1: really dreading calling and explaining what I wanted and having
Speaker 1: to go through multiple layers of permission, or possibly going
Speaker 1: through alternate routes if the first was too slow. In
Speaker 1: my mind, this had expanded to a huge ordeal. So
Speaker 1: I gave myself the assignment to call the organization first
Speaker 1: thing Monday morning. I started work with all the fortitude
Speaker 1: I was ever going to muster. At nine oh two,
Speaker 1: I made my call, and then a funny thing happened.
Speaker 1: The first person I got on the phone was happy
Speaker 1: to help. By nine point fifteen, I had an appointment scheduled.
Speaker 1: Sometimes eating a frog turns out to be more like
Speaker 1: eating frog legs, potentially kind of tasty in the right context.
Speaker 1: And yes, I rewarded myself. I think I went for
Speaker 1: a run and then took myself out to lunch. When
Speaker 1: we do the tough stuff first, the rest of the
Speaker 1: day automatically looks better by contrast, and we can even
Speaker 1: schedule in things to make it look better. Do you
Speaker 1: make a point of doing the tough stuff first thing
Speaker 1: in the day or even first thing on Monday. I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear about it. You can email me at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iheartm That Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.