Sunday Edition: Eat the Frog First, Regret Nothing Later
Small habits for moving through resistance in creative work
The Sunday Edition is Tuesday’s little sister—off-the-cuff updates I’d bring up over a coffee catch-up with a friend.
There’s a productivity phrase I’ve always loved in theory but avoided in practice: eat the frog. Mark Twain (and later, every productivity guru with a podcast) popularized it as the idea that if you start your day by tackling the hardest, most dreaded task first, the rest of the day feels lighter.
It makes sense. If you’ve already done the thing you were most likely to procrastinate on, you’ve freed yourself up to ride the wave of relief and accomplishment.
In theory? Genius. In reality? I’d rather alphabetize my spice rack.
When I’m up against something that feels difficult, in writing, in work, in life, I’m suddenly very committed to low-stakes busywork. My desk needs to be dusted. My pens must be organized by ink tone. I’ll research a scene for two hours without writing a single sentence. It’s not that I’m lazy it’s that starting feels like standing at the edge of a very cold pool, telling yourself you’ll jump in… but first you need a snack.
When Procrastination Became a Pattern
This really hit me earlier this year. I had a stack of Substack drafts in various half-finished states and a novel scene that had been haunting me for weeks. Every day, I’d put “work on Chapter 7” on my to-do list. And every day, I’d somehow run out of time for it.
The truth was, I wasn’t “too busy.” I was avoiding it because it was the heaviest lift. Emotionally, creatively, and mentally. The longer I avoided it, the bigger and slimier the frog became. (Sorry, Mark Twain.)
One morning, after yet another day of skirting around it, I told myself: This is it. Today, you eat the frog. And you know what? Once I finally sat down and wrote those first two awkward paragraphs, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d made it in my head. That one scene unlocked momentum for the rest of the week.
What “Eating the Frog” Looks Like for Me Now
These days, my frog is usually whatever feels most emotionally heavy or technically complex in my work-in-progress. That could be a tricky chapter transition, a messy middle scene, or rewriting dialogue I know isn’t landing.
But with a full-time job and two kids at home, “first thing in the morning” doesn’t always mean 6:00 a.m. with a latte and a quiet desk. Sometimes it’s 9:15 p.m., after bedtime, when the dishwasher is humming and my brain is begging for Netflix instead.
Here’s how I still make it work:
Name the frog the night before. If I don’t, I’ll waste my small sliver of writing time deciding where to start. “Work on the novel” leaves room for procrastination; “rewrite FMC and MMC’s conversation in the café” tells me exactly where to land.
Protect the pocket of time I do have. My first hour isn’t always morning, sometimes it’s my lunch break, sometimes it’s after bedtime. But whenever that window comes, I treat it like sacred writing time. No phone, no email, no “just folding one load of laundry first.”
Shrink the bite. On nights when I’m running on fumes, I don’t expect to finish an entire chapter. My goal might be “draft 300 words” or “rewrite one scene.” Those small wins stack up.
Reward the leap. Even 30 focused minutes counts as a win. I’ll grab a beverage, read a few pages of a book, or scroll guilt-free afterward.
Pair it with a ritual. Lighting a candle, opening my “writing” playlist, and sitting in the same corner of the couch tells my brain: it’s go time, even if I only have a short sprint.
Tell someone. I’ll text a friend or mention to my boyfriend, “I’m going to work on the chapter tonight.” It adds just enough accountability that I’m less likely to bail.
Make it visible. The day’s frog gets its own sticky note on my laptop. When my writing window opens, I don’t have to dig for my starting point, it’s right there staring back at me.
The Mindset Shift
The biggest change hasn’t been in my schedule, it’s been in my mindset. I used to see the frog as a chore, something to dread and “get over with.” Now I think of it as the entry fee to the kind of day I want. A day where my most important work gets my best energy, not the scraps left over after errands and emails.
Some days I still procrastinate. I still rearrange my bookshelf under the guise of “inspiration.” But more often than not, I remember how good it feels to leap over resistance early, before my brain has a chance to talk me out of it.
And when I do? Everything else feels a little lighter. Even alphabetizing the spice rack.
What’s the frog in your creative or personal life right now? If you tackled it first thing tomorrow, what would open up for you?
In case you missed it…
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I've been struggling with this at work. I need to suck it up and eat the frog first on the projects I hate doing!