Eat the Frog: "Later" is a Lie

Dear Collective,

I want to save you a whole lot of trouble and summarize a book called Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy in just one sentence: If you have to do something difficult, do it immediately.

If you’re presented with a live frog that you have to eat, sitting and staring at it for an hour doesn’t make it any tastier. It just gives you sixty minutes to be miserable before you finally have to do the work. If you eat the frog first thing in the morning, the hardest part of your day is behind you, and everything else feels a touch easier. The hard thing is at least done.

This is a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. We often tell ourselves that we’ll get to the hard stuff "later." We think we’ll have more energy, more time, or more motivation tomorrow. But "later" is a lie. The work doesn't get easier because you waited; the weight of the task only grows heavier the longer it sits on your mind.

I think about this a lot regarding our health and our habits. If I had started a serious workout routine and taken care of my body in my teens, I wouldn't have to work nearly as hard as I do right now to maintain myself. I would have built the habits decades ago that would be carrying me through today. But since I didn't start then, the "frog" I had to eat later in life was much larger and much uglier.

The same applies to the bigger battles, like addiction. I’m proud to say that as of right now, I have officially gone one full year without a drink. That was a massive frog to eat. I spent years thinking I would drink for my entire life because I felt like it was a big part of who I was. I kept telling myself I’d deal with it later. But "later" never came; only "now" did. Once I had seen the hardest thing I needed to do was put down the bottle and face my issue head-on, everything else in my life started to get easier. My energy returned, my focus sharpened, and the "easy" stuff actually started to feel easy because I wasn't carrying the weight of the unfinished "hard" stuff anymore.

Whether it’s a difficult conversation you need to have, a workout you’re dreading, or a habit you know you need to break—identify your frog. Don't sit and look at it. Don't wait for the "perfect" time to start.

Tackle the hardest thing on your plate as soon as you can. Do the work now, because it’s never going to be easier than it is in this moment. The masterpiece is waiting on the other side of that mess, but you have to be willing to take the first bite.

With Strength and Adaptability,

Charlie