The ‘eat the frog’ technique is the most productive way to start your day

There’s one main problem with procrastinating. All that avoidance works for a while, but it never makes those dreaded tasks on your to-do list disappear, no matter how badly you want it to. There might be a technique that could finally help you get ahead, though—you just have to open wide and “eat the frog.”

Okay, okay—don’t worry: No real frogs were actually harmed in the name of increased productivity. In this technique, your “frog” is essentially the big, important tasks you desperately need to get done—and devouring ’em is a pretty genius way to start the day. Based off of Mark Twain’s famous quote “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day,” Mental Floss reports doing a seven-step process in the a.m. could help you get ahead once and for all by finally getting the things you’ve been putting off out of the way, one step—or, umm, hop—at a time.

Ready to ‘eat the frog’? Follow these steps to finally tackle your to-do list.

1. Figure out your top goal that you want to achieve most.2. Write the goal down.3. Set a deadline.4. List all the steps you need to follow in order to accomplish that goal.5. Rank those steps by order of priority.6. Get to work! It’s time to put your plan into action.7. Do something every day that will bring you closer to achieving your goals.

So as you can tell, you don’t have to get everything done right away. You just have to go through some steps that will help you get closer to completing your tasks instead of pretending they don’t exist. Eating a hypothetical frog might be just as hard (and taste just as badly!) as eating the real thing. But once you do, you’ll be well on your way to a less-stressful life, more productive life—promise.

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