First, You Gotta Eat the Frog!
by Valerie Sokolosky
An author and executive coach, Valerie Sokolosky is a Certified Master Personal Brand Strategist who started Valerie & Company, a Dallas based international leadership development firm in 1981. Since then, she has become known as the expert in her field of strategic personal branding and professional presence.
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Want to become more productive? Want to be more productive not just today but every day? Then first, you gotta eat the frog.
Mark Twain said it – if you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you’ll do all day. Okay – we don’t mean literally eating one of those little green toads from the garden.
Actually they’re too valuable to eat. But what we do mean is starting your day by tacking that task you’ve been putting off – the one you’ve been dreading.
Twain’s sage advice will not only help you overcome procrastinating that not-so-appetizing task. It will also help you become much more productive.
So, when you walk into work each morning, tackle the nastiest, most disagreeable jobs first. If that means picking up the phone and calling the family who left an unpleasant voice mail yesterday, then “eat the frog.”
Here’s how you handle this menu:
• When you arrive at work, determine which is the biggest, ugliest, most awful frog on your plate for the day. All those other little tadpoles can wait.
• Start chunking your frog into several bites…and share if you can.
• Once you’ve begun, don’t stop eating until you’ve cleaned your plate.
• Then, reward yourself by doing a task that’s tastier – and one you’ll really enjoy.
• Keep the momentum going and be a role model for your colleagues. Once they see you downing those ugly frogs, they’ll soon find the nerve to follow your lead.
• And when the next frog lands on your plate, say loud enough for everyone to hear, “Would you supersize that, please?”
An author and executive coach, Valerie Sokolosky is a Certified Master Personal Brand Strategist who started Valerie & Company, a Dallas based international leadership development firm in 1981. Since then, she has become known as the expert in her field of strategic personal branding and professional presence. Valerie’s engaging style ignites the spark of enthusiasm in professionals to create a strong presence and personal brand that differentiates them and creates greater success for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
Mark Twain said it – if you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you’ll do all day. Okay – we don’t mean literally eating one of those little green toads from the garden.
Actually they’re too valuable to eat. But what we do mean is starting your day by tacking that task you’ve been putting off – the one you’ve been dreading.
Twain’s sage advice will not only help you overcome procrastinating that not-so-appetizing task. It will also help you become much more productive.
So, when you walk into work each morning, tackle the nastiest, most disagreeable jobs first. If that means picking up the phone and calling the family who left an unpleasant voice mail yesterday, then “eat the frog.”
Here’s how you handle this menu:
• When you arrive at work, determine which is the biggest, ugliest, most awful frog on your plate for the day. All those other little tadpoles can wait.
• Start chunking your frog into several bites…and share if you can.
• Once you’ve begun, don’t stop eating until you’ve cleaned your plate.
• Then, reward yourself by doing a task that’s tastier – and one you’ll really enjoy.
• Keep the momentum going and be a role model for your colleagues. Once they see you downing those ugly frogs, they’ll soon find the nerve to follow your lead.
• And when the next frog lands on your plate, say loud enough for everyone to hear, “Would you supersize that, please?”
An author and executive coach, Valerie Sokolosky is a Certified Master Personal Brand Strategist who started Valerie & Company, a Dallas based international leadership development firm in 1981. Since then, she has become known as the expert in her field of strategic personal branding and professional presence. Valerie’s engaging style ignites the spark of enthusiasm in professionals to create a strong presence and personal brand that differentiates them and creates greater success for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
Recognized internationally, she is a sought after executive coach – having received the highly acclaimed position of vetted coach for several of the big four financial firms as well as for Women’s Leadership Exchange.
Over the last two decades Valerie’s firm has received front-page press coverage in the Wall Street Journal and is a respected resource for a number of national publications including Washington Post and Glamour Magazine. She recently served in a leadership advisory role as Publisher for Women’s Enterprise national news magazine and was monthly contributor for ten years to Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine.
Valerie’s 8th book - Do It Right – is listed as a best seller on Amazon.