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Module 04 of 11 · 10 min

The Daily Frog

Why it matters

The task you most avoid is usually the one with the largest consequence. Doing it first stops it from occupying the rest of the day.

In this module you will

  • Name one frog for the selected date, in 200 characters or fewer.
  • Place it before the inbox, in the first protected block.

The idea

On the sheet, the frog is “the largest, most consequential, most avoided task.” It is “done first, before the inbox. Two frogs: eat the ugliest one first.”

The metaphor comes from Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog! The book opens with a saying often credited to Mark Twain. Quote Investigator found no substantive evidence that Twain said it, and traces it to the French writer Nicolas Chamfort. This course does not attribute it to Twain.

Choose the frog by consequence, not discomfort alone. Ask: what happens if this is done today, and what happens if it is not?

Step by step

  1. Why One frog can be finished; a list of frogs is a to-do list.

    Write the single most consequential, most avoided task.

  2. Why Usually the frog is already one of your three, so it should not be typed twice.

    In step 3 (Prioritize), choose “Make this the frog” on one of your three, or type it if it is something else.

  3. Why Starting is the hard part; the first block removes the decision.

    In step 4 (Schedule), place the frog first on the clock.

Worked example: the CEO

Frog: “Agree the FY27 80/20 portfolio choices and the start-stop rule with the CFO and CRO.”

Practice it in the Daily Management form

This module is step 3 of the form: Prioritize: the Daily Frog and the law of three. What you enter there is saved on this device, so you can come back to it.

Open step 3

Exercise

  1. Write tomorrow’s frog.
  2. Test it: is it the task you would most like to postpone?

Original tools

Sources and attribution

  • External source The frog, the ABCDE method, the law of three and single handling follow Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog! (Berrett-Koehler; “Apply the Law of Three” is chapter 8 of the 2nd and 3rd editions). Summarised and applied by Compass; not endorsed by the author. Source (opens in a new tab)
  • External source Quote Investigator, “Eat a Live Frog Every Morning…” (2013), on the misattribution to Mark Twain. Source (opens in a new tab)