Eating a Frog, 15 Minutes at a Time

Ever heard the phrase “eating a frog for breakfast?” It’s used when someone talks about those projects or things we just procrastinate doing. While the image of it makes me want to skip my next meal at the very least, I’m a big fan of the idea! I do have my own twist to make it a little more digestible by eating that frog 15 minutes at a time.

Once upon a time I built a productivity course called 15 Minutes from Overwhelmed to Organized™, it was a step-by-step way for someone to get rid of clutter whether in piles of papers or to clean out their email inboxes. I’ve always used this method with housework (my least favorite thing to do ever) and started applying it when working with clients that had too much in front of them to even get to a place of delegating to a team member. 

Combining what I taught in that course with the “frog for breakfast” concept can provide even greater results, which is basically by tackling those tasks first thing in the morning 15 minutes at a time creates clarity with a minimal time investment in order to keep your focus. You might notice that even if you believe the overall project will take you 2+ hours with a small chunk of focused time you are almost 40% more likely to get it done faster.

I’ve timed myself in writing this article and finished it in two sittings with writing, review/editing in just under 24 minutes. The method works for those that can stick to a couple of the rules in my course mainly of stopping at 15 minutes no matter where you are in the process, I think my husband thought I was trying to drive him a little crazy when I would wash everything except maybe one dish - but my 15 minutes was up so I stopped. The only other rule is that you must do something completely different and maybe a little more enjoyable for you from what you were working on for the next 15 minutes before continuing, this rule brings clarity and perspective back to the original project. 

Now I know this doesn’t work with everyone or with every type of project or task you might need to tackle, however I do believe that if you can use this even 50% of the time, you’ll see a difference in what you can accomplish.