In this edition of the Peak Performance Newsletter, we will be discussing:

• Why should you put your trust into this tactic?

• Eating the frog now vs. Eating the frog later

• Ways to Implement this into your morning routine

Before we begin,

Let’s Begin!

Why should you put your trust into this tactic:

I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of different productivity tactics around different subreddits or videos promising how this one tactic will improve your productivity by 10x amount. Yet probably none of those tactics have worked for you so far. The tactic is either too gimmicky to where it doesn’t even make sense or it’s too simplistic to where it helps no one except the person who suggested to you.

Either way, you're at a net loss. So, the question stands, what is special about this certain productivity tactic that makes it stand out from the rest? Eat the frog, what does that even mean?

On the surface, it doesn’t seem very intriguing nor revolutionary, but there is a reason why every single high preforming entrepreneur uses it, and why you should use it as well. The tactic itself is not very innovative, but it is very effective in what it preaches, the concept of delayed gratification.

Coming from my own experience on using this tactic for my own self-improvement, I was able to prioritize the goals that mattered most. This allowed me to shift my perspective from focusing more on the mental health aspect of self-improvement which what was in heavy disrepair at the time. The level of fulfillment that you get is unparalleled when you crush a big task at the start of your day.

Soon, you’re about to learn about the one productivity tactic that was seen in mostly every high performer’s routine and how you can apply it for yourself as well. So, you might want to stick around till the end if you are interested.

Let me explain.

Eating the frog now vs. Eating the frog later.

(Chapter 1)

The concept of eat the frog came from not only a motivational speaker, but also a self-development author named Brian Tracy. Not only is he leading the self-development industry in sales, time management, and success, but he has also spent several decades studying the habits of peak performers who have molded themselves into self-made millionaires through mostly just their insane productivity alone. The one main habit that he commonly saw being implemented is the habit that we’ll be discussing today.

If that doesn’t get you excited about the possibilities of your own productivity, then I don’t know what will. First, let’s define what it is, the habit is called "eat the frog”.

Eating the frog is an analogy that stems from a hypothetical situation where you are given two choices. You are given the first choice to eat the frog before dinner or you are given the second choice to eat the frog after dinner. To re-iterate this, you are given this disgusting, live frog that you have to eat regardless or else the world ends or something along those lines.

Purely hypothetical but this is just for the sake of the situation. So, my question to you is, which option would you choose, would you eat the frog after dinner or before dinner?

Take some time to think about this and then give your answer. Surely the correct answer is to eat the frog after dinner, right? Since you could have the nice, satiating meal before having to eat the gross living frog afterwards.

Have you thought about your answer? The option that you’ve chosen will greatly determine your quality of life in the future or not.

If you’ve answered the first option, then I have my full faith that you will be more likely to experience a better quality of life overall than if you rather chose the second option instead. This is because by choosing the first option, it seems to me that you understand how delayed gratification works, so the first option would be the correct answer in this regard.

But why is the first option correct? Let’s break this down into a real-life scenario.

(Chapter 2)

The reasoning for why the first option would be correct is because you are able to embrace discomfort right now so that you won’t have to later. That’s the concept of delayed gratification, doing the hard work that is uncomfortable right now but will give you benefits and satisfaction later. So, with the frog analogy, the frog would represent the hardest task that you need to complete for that day.

It’s just any hard task, but THE hardest task that gets you writhing in excuses just by thinking about it.

And like I said earlier, your quality of life will be significantly better if you’re able to turn off your emotions and do the hard task that needs to be done even if you don’t feel like it. In a real-life situation, it’s that guy who is going to the gym even if it is so tempting to just lay down on the coach and call it a day, it’s that guy who is able to wake up early to start grinding even if he is tired, and so forth.

What do you imagine the type of life of someone who would have eaten the frog after dinner?

They would have been likely to indulge in the junk food for the short-term pleasure now, even if it would mean that they would deterred them from achieving their weight loss goal that they really cared about. Their decisions are heavily based on their own irrational emotions that don’t even serve their aspirations, they seek comfort instead of embracing discomfort, etc.

Once you finished the hardest task of the day straight in the morning, then your entire day will be easier. Because you have already accomplished the hard work, so everything else feels quite easy now in comparison to what you have just done.

Now what if you keep on delaying that hard task, your own “Eat the frog”, what type of benefit would you get if you keep laying it off and procrastinating on it?

Not much to be honest, the worst part is that throughout the entire day, you will just keep on thinking about the hard task that you have to do at the end of the day since you keep delaying it. Like a mental illness that you actively encourage. What happens to the mental health of someone who keeps on sabotaging their own perceived image of themselves?

They probably think of themselves as lazy or undisciplined individuals, then that just acts as a negative feedback loop, spiralizing them down further and further into a pit of despair.

And then when you get to the hard task once you kept on procrastinating, it’s pitch black or something, and you’re just there to bare the shame on your shoulders for not completing it sooner while your peers are winding down and taking the rest of the time to just relax.

That would be such a sad existence to live with if you kept on chasing comfort rather than disciplining yourself to complete the “eat the frog task” in the morning so that you can experience the satisfaction afterwards instead of vice versa.

But that is the life that most people live in, even myself included sometimes, the life where we keep on inflicting self-harm onto ourselves when we choose to procrastinate and let our future self’s deal with the trouble.

That is no way to live for the level of ambition that you want to get to, so I’ll get give some actionable steps on how you can implement this into your own day to day schedule.

Ways to implement this into your morning routine.

Here are some ways that you can implement this into your own day.

1. If it wasn’t mentioned already, this “eat the frog habit” has to be straight in the morning to maintain its maximum effectiveness. The reason on what makes this habit special is that it sets the tone that will carry out for the rest of the day. It reinforces a positive feedback loop so thus you will be less likely to make bad decisions if you started the day kicking off strong.

By all means, if you have work or school obligations then I understand the time constraint that might make this more difficult to complete. What I suggest is that you dedicate a block of time before work or school so that you’re able to have enough time to finish your “Eat the frog” task.

It might mean that you may have wake up earlier to get it done, but if you truly want it bad enough then you will figure out a way to achieve it. Having a little heart and ambition goes a long way. The second suggestion is if you sincerely do not have enough time to complete it and time is too cramped for you in the morning, then it is possible that you are able “Eat the frog” after work/school obligations are done.

Just pick off where you left off and start grinding away at the hard task that will keep eating away at you if you procrastinate on it.

2. Now it’s time to pick your “Eat the frog habit”

This is all down to personal interpretation, what maybe you’re “eat frog habit” for you is going to be different for someone else. But, let me help you narrow down on what it may be for yourself.

Ideally, your “eat the frog” habit should be the main priority that you are focusing on in life. If your priority is improving your mental health, then your “eat the frog” habit should be solely focusing on journaling, meditating, or fixing your self-image (More posts on those coming soon *wink* *wink*) Or maybe it’s improving your fitness, so your “eat the frog” habit would be going the gym straight in the morning.

Whatever it is for you, dedicate a solid chunk of time into refining your craft and you will be promised results.

3. And by any circumstances, there should no distractions or external factors that would direct away from your “eat the frog” task. This is a deep work block to work on yourself, so there should be no bullshit such as video games, social media, or external stimulus that could potentially distract you. Listening to music may be fine but is generally not advised, if you don’t need it then you don’t need it.

This will drop your mental or physical capacity by - (how many points) and will make it extremely hard to get through your “eat the frog task”. Even if you do, then your work session will not be as high quality as it could’ve if it wasn’t for the high stimulation.

Make sure that you do not expose yourself to any high stimulating activities before your “eat the frog” task. For example, do not wake up, scroll on Instagram reels for an hour, and then try to do your hardest task for the day. I can promise you; it will not end so well and is setting you up for failure in the long run.

This doesn’t include anything such as brushing your teeth, getting dressed, etc. Of course, it is absolutely fine that you do these things before starting your work task. Basically, you wake up, brush your teeth, etc., and then get dialed in with the task that is purposeful to your own goals.

The duration of your deep work task will depend on your overall goals. As long that it is truly fulfilling your standards, then that is all there is to it. This could be perhaps 30 mins, 1hr, 90 mins, etc. Just make sure that the volume is sufficient enough to keep progressing forward.

4. Learn how to Despise the Free Lunch.

So, you’re probably reading all of this and thinking, dang this really seems like a lot of work. And you would be right, this is going to be a commitment. But then again, nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. The reason why I had so much conviction in that this tactic is because it is simplistic in its nature and doesn’t offer anything that it can’t promise.

Although I admit that it is genius in its analogy and approach, it doesn’t promise itself as this “super-secret productivity tactic that will get x number of results in x amount of time”. But rather, it’s just if you are consistent and disciplined in your efforts, then results will come. Can’t be more straightforward than that.

It’s something that you earn from becoming a better person and not by some pseudo tactic that you just happen to know. Discipline comes to people who train themselves to get it through grueling days and nights, and not to the people who just wish that things could be easier. Though that is a topic for a different day.

Believe me, I know how hard it is just to go through the monotonous routine of life, hoping that there’s some cure to fix it all. But for myself, I would rather train to carry a heavier burden than to wish to have a lighter load.

Remember, the Free Lunch will seem tempting at times, but it is often best to avoid it. Sure, this approach won’t be easy, but nothing that is worth accomplishing will ever be easy. It's up to you if you want to grit your teeth and push through it or stay at the same place that you are now.

Chapter 3 (Ending Page)

Well, congratulations getting through this whole entire page and hovering over the actionable steps to start improving your life. Assuming that you didn’t skip over the entire post to get the action steps.

And for that my friend, you are a certified badass. I appreciate the time you spent investing on this post and I applaud you for reading through it start to finish.

It seems to me that you have the commitment and the guts to make exponential changes throughout your self-improvement journey.

Massive respect, you have the godly attention span to rival even 99% of humanity. Go pat yourself on the back for that accomplishment, since this feat is getting even more rare within the following generations.

Or it could obviously be that my posts aren’t engaging enough to maintain the majority of people’s retention for this long. If so, tell me how can I improve on my next post? Did you like this post? Did you hate it? Tell me in the comments below.

If you find this post beneficial, then share it to someone who might also benefit from it in the same way.

And until next time, peace 😎✌