This came up in The Blank Screen workshop I just did at the Stratford Literary Festival: “Eat that frog”.

It’s a phrase and a book title and it means whatever the worst, most horrible task you’ve got to do is, do it now. Do it first. If you eat that frog now, it is done and it is over. If you don’t, it’s going to be on your mind all day and just getting harder and worse and harder and worse all the time.

Author Brian Tracy came up with this and I think he’s right and smart. The full title of his book, though, is Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time – and I think it’s telling that nobody can remember the other 20. Just the frog-eating one, that’s what we hold in our heads.

Take a look at the book on Amazon where you can read the opening pages and get a feel for whether you’ll like the book or whether just knowing the frog phrase is enough. Click here for Amazon UK and here for Amazon US.