Hiya,
This past few weeks I’ve been catching up post-Bologna Children’s Book Fair (which has involved lots of lying down, reading, and thinking ‘oh no… I should be replying to emails’, while not replying to the emails.)
Which reminds me.
Have you ever heard of the ‘eat that frog’ concept?
The idea is that you do the horriblest, biggest, most putty-offy thing-you’ve-been-putting-off FIRST.
You do the Big Ominous Thing before you do anything else for the day.
The horrible task = a frog.
You getting it done = eating it.
Mmmm. Delicious. Thanks, Brian Tracy.
When I first heard this advice I got so excited!
Yes! I’m going to wake up and eat all of the frogs and then I’ll be so productive and have the best day ever. New week, new me.
Frogs, watch out. I’m comin’ to eat ya.
Excepttt, that advice has never worked for me.
I get so excited about all of the frogs I’m about to gobble up
I get overwhelmed
& then I don’t get *anything* useful done, while spending the whole day panicking and feeling guilty that I haven’t eaten any frogs. NOT A SINGLE FROG CONSUMED. Woe is me.
Does this sound familiar? I really hope I’m not alone 😅
I much prefer my alternative approach. Enter…
Eat That Nice Thing ™️
Do a nice easy task first, have fun, trick yourself into getting into work mode. Works every time. Setting a timer to do ‘just 5 minutes’ of something inevitably results in me getting sucked into the task and accidentally finishing it.
Realise you love what you do, get carried away, do even more of it without meaning to.
Yoooou’re welcome.
Over the years I’ve been listening more and more to my own brain and figuring out what *actually* feels good, rather than what Brian Tracy thinks I should do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m SO grateful for the Brians of this world because when I follow their advice and it doesn’t work, I get clues and nudges towards the stuff that *does* work.
There’s a lot of unlearning to do from school, college, university, society.
I’m still forever working on the you-must-work-hard-or-else belief. Or else what!? Or else I’ll enjoy myself and have a nice time? Or else I’ll have a mid-morning bath? I’m slowly accepting that I work in sporadic bursts of productivity. I can do a week’s worth of work in one afternoon if it’s exciting and i’m interested in it. And that’s ok.
Hard work doesn’t equal worthiness.
Same goes for your creative work! It’s allowed to be fun and easy. Does it take you days to work on something? Good! That’s totally fine. Do you quickly jot something out and it only takes a minute? Good! That’s totally fine too. Your creative work is still valuable no matter how much blood sweat and tears went into it.
I don’t really want blood, sweat OR tears all over my creative work.
We don’t have to pay fun tax.
It’s safe to be paid well for your creative work, even if you don’t work traditional 9-5 hours. Even if you like what you do. Even if Brian Tracy is annoyed at your for not eating any frogs.
What other stuff are you bashing yourself over the head with? OY. Here! Give me that right now.
You’re allowed to have fun doin’ what you do. Frogs optional.
x Katie
p.s. Dear Brian Tracy if you’re reading this, please don’t be offended I really enjoyed your book I just didn’t like eating frogs. I hope we can still be friends. xx
Or else I might have a nice time 😂😂😂 thank you Katie 🤎🤎🤎
How are you always there with JUST the thing I need to hear when I need it?