Time Blocking Timer
Structure your day intentionally by assigning tasks to protected time blocks and defending your most important work.
technique
Read more
Beginner Technique
Eat The Frog Method
Conquer your hardest task first thing each day with the Eat The Frog method—before anything else can derail your focus.
45 min work
10 min break
Overcoming procrastination
Try with Bento
4.9on App Store
88%
Effectiveness
80%
Flexibility
Mindset technique that pairs with any timer method
The Flow
Visual Breakdown
See how a complete work cycle looks with this technique.
Cycle 1
45 min focus
10 min break
Cycle 2
45 min focus
10 min break
Cycle 3
45 min focus
10 min break
Cycle 4
45 min focus
10 min break
0 min45 min55 min
Mastering the Eat The Frog Method
1
The Psychology of Procrastination
Understanding why we avoid certain tasks helps us overcome that avoidance. Procrastination isn't laziness—it's often anxiety management. We postpone tasks that trigger negative emotions: fear of failure, uncertainty about how to proceed, perfectionism that makes starting feel impossible. The problem is that avoidance provides only temporary relief while the task grows more daunting in our minds. Meanwhile, we waste cognitive resources dreading it, and we spend willpower resisting the anxiety rather than doing the work. The Eat The Frog method cuts through this cycle by eliminating the option to delay. You face the difficult thing immediately, before your mind has time to build resistance. The discomfort is brief; the relief is long-lasting.
2
Identifying Your True Frog
Not every difficult task is a frog. The true frog has specific characteristics: it's important (has significant impact on your goals), you're avoiding it (you've been putting it off or dreading it), and tackling it would create disproportionate value or relief. To identify your frog, ask: What task am I most likely to postpone today? What do I think about with dread? What would make the biggest difference if completed? Sometimes the frog is obvious—that report you've been avoiding for weeks. Sometimes it requires honest self-examination. The task you're unconsciously avoiding might be the one you most need to face. Review your to-do list with this question: Which of these do I really not want to do? That's probably your frog.
3
Building a Frog-First Routine
The Eat The Frog method works best as an automatic morning routine rather than a daily decision. Design your morning to lead directly to frog-eating: wake up, basic personal preparation, then immediately to your frog—before email, before news, before any other work. Create environmental supports: have your frog-related materials ready the night before, work in a distraction-free space, use Bento to start a timer that signals commitment. The more automatic you make the sequence, the less willpower it requires. Over time, frog-eating becomes habitual, and the resistance that made it difficult initially fades. Your brain learns: this is just what we do first.
4
Handling Large and Complex Frogs
Sometimes your frog is so large that eating it whole isn't possible in one session. A multi-week project might be your biggest frog, but you can't complete it in one morning. The solution is to identify daily "tadpoles"—specific, achievable pieces that advance the larger frog. Each morning, eat that day's tadpole: write one section, complete one analysis, have one difficult conversation. The key is making meaningful progress, not necessarily completion. By eating a piece of the frog each day, the daunting project steadily shrinks. Track your progress—seeing the frog diminish over days provides motivation to continue. Eventually, what seemed impossibly large becomes achievably small.
5
Combining Eat The Frog with Other Methods
Eat The Frog integrates naturally with other productivity techniques. Use time blocking to protect your frog-eating period from meetings and interruptions—your most important work deserves protected time. Apply Pomodoro or 52/17 to structure your frog session, especially if the task is large. Combine with deep work by making your frog a cognitively demanding task that benefits from undistracted focus. Use Bento to track your frog-eating streak—consecutive days of starting with your most important task builds momentum and makes the habit automatic. The method also supports weekly and monthly planning: identify your biggest frog for the week and ensure you make progress on it daily.
Getting Started
How to Practice
Follow these steps to master the technique and maximize your productivity.
1
Identify Your Frog
The night before or first thing in the morning, identify the task you're most likely to avoid—that's your frog. It's usually the most important thing you should do but least want to start.
2
Start with the Frog
Before email, meetings, or easy tasks, begin your frog with a focused Bento session. Don't negotiate or rationalize—just start. The resistance you feel is exactly why this task must come first.
3
Complete or Progress
Finish the task if possible. If it's large, make substantial progress before moving on. The goal is to meaningfully advance your most important work before other demands consume your day.
Mistakes to Avoid
Learn from others' experiences and sidestep these common errors.
Mistake
Doing email or "quick tasks" before the frog
Solution
These feel productive but consume willpower you need for hard work. Make a firm rule: frog first, everything else after. Use Bento's Focus Box to block email until your frog session completes.
Mistake
Choosing the wrong frog (important vs. just unpleasant)
Solution
Your frog should be both important AND dreaded. If it's unpleasant but trivial, it's not a true frog. Ask: Will completing this significantly advance my goals? If not, it might be a distraction disguised as productivity.
Mistake
Giving up when the frog is too large
Solution
Break enormous frogs into daily pieces. Ask: What's one meaningful chunk I can complete this morning? Make that your frog. Use Bento to time focused sessions on each piece.
Mistake
Skipping frog-eating on difficult days
Solution
Consistency matters more than perfection. On tough days, commit to just 10 minutes of frog work with Bento. Starting is what matters; often you'll continue once begun.
Mistake
Not celebrating completion
Solution
Acknowledgment reinforces the habit. Notice the relief after eating your frog. Track your streak in Bento's statistics. The positive feelings associated with completion make tomorrow's frog easier.
Real-World Examples
See how others apply these principles in practice.
1.
Sales Professional Making Cold Calls
A salesperson dreads cold calling—it's high-rejection work that triggers anxiety. By making calls his morning frog, he does the hardest part of his job when energy is highest. The rest of the day feels easier, and his call volume—and results—improve because avoidance no longer erodes his productivity.
2.
Manager Having Difficult Conversations
A team leader has been avoiding a performance conversation with an underperforming employee. By making this conversation her frog—scheduling it first thing—she ensures it happens rather than being perpetually postponed. The relief after the conversation improves her whole week.
3.
Graduate Student Writing Thesis
A PhD student uses frog-eating to make daily progress on her dissertation—the large, daunting project she's most tempted to avoid. Each morning begins with 45 minutes of writing before email or other tasks. Over months, this daily practice completes what felt impossible.
4.
Entrepreneur Tackling Strategic Work
A startup founder's frog is strategic planning—work that's important but never urgent. By eating this frog each morning before reactive tasks consume his day, he ensures his business develops intentionally rather than just responding to immediate demands.
At a Glance
A quick comparison to help you understand the key differences.
| Aspect | Eat The Frog | Reactive Task Management |
|---|---|---|
| Task selection | Most important/dreaded task first | Whatever seems urgent or easy |
| Willpower usage | Applied when highest (morning) | Depleted on lower-priority tasks |
| Important work | Guaranteed to get attention | Often crowded out by urgent items |
| Daily stress | Decreases after frog completion | Builds as dreaded tasks accumulate |
| Procrastination | Directly addressed each day | Enabled by focusing on easy tasks |
Best Practices
When to Use This Technique
Maximize effectiveness by using it in the right situations.
Best For
- When you have a task you've been avoiding
- Starting your workday with momentum
- Important tasks that keep getting pushed
- Building discipline and confidence
Avoid When
- When your "frog" requires input from others
- If your energy peaks later in the day
- Tasks that genuinely need more information first
- When you have urgent deadlines on other work
Pro Tips
Expert Advice
1
Identify your frog the night before
2
Don't check email or messages before eating your frog
3
If the frog is huge, identify just the first bite
4
Celebrate completing your frog - the rest of the day is easier
Avoid These
Common Mistakes
Picking an easy task and calling it your "frog"
Opening email before tackling the hard task
Having too many "frogs" (there should be one)
Skipping the method when you don't feel like it
FAQ
Common Questions
Everything you need to know about this technique.
What if I have multiple difficult tasks?
Start with the most impactful or most dreaded one. If they're equal, just pick one—analysis paralysis is another form of avoidance. Do one frog well before considering another. Brian Tracy advises: if you have to eat two frogs, eat the uglier one first.
What if I'm not a morning person?
The principle is to tackle hard tasks during your peak energy, whenever that is. If you're sharpest after lunch, that's your frog time. The key is not letting easy tasks consume your best hours, whatever time of day those occur.
What counts as a "frog"?
A frog is typically a task that's important but you're avoiding—often because it's difficult, boring, or anxiety-inducing. If you keep pushing something to tomorrow, it's probably a frog. It's the task you think about with dread, not excitement.
How long should frog sessions be?
Long enough to make meaningful progress—typically 25-60 minutes. The goal is either completing the frog or making enough progress that you've "eaten" most of it. Use Bento to time these focused sessions.
What if my frog is really a multi-day project?
Break it into daily frogs—smaller tasks that each advance the project. Eat a piece of the frog each morning. This makes large projects manageable and ensures steady progress.
How do I overcome resistance to starting?
Commit to just 10 minutes with Bento. Often starting is the hardest part, and once begun, you'll continue. The timer creates a small commitment that bypasses the resistance to the larger task.
Ready to Master This Technique?
Bento Focus makes practicing productivity techniques beautiful and effortless. Start your journey today.
Free to download
No account required
Beautiful design
Scan to download
Available on the App Store