Let’s talk about tackling the thing you’re avoiding. I’m sure you don’t want to hear me say that but, I promise, you’ll feel better when you do.
So are you avoiding something on your to-do list? Maybe it’s making a call to someone to tell them how you feel? Maybe it’s decluttering the junk room… Whatever it is, it’s time to face it and get it underway today.
Often we write things on our To-Do List and then go about avoiding that thing for a few days, weeks or even years. I’m here to tell you that it’ll work much better for you if you face your fears and jump in and get started.
It’s often referred to as ‘eating the frog’. The gist of this phrase, coined by Brian Tracy in his book. ‘Eat That Frog’, is that if you were to ‘eat a frog’ first thing in the morning, then not much worse could happen in the day. So get that ‘bleh’ thing off your list first up. Eat. That. Frog.
The benefits of tackling the thing you’re avoiding
What happens when you tackle the tasks on your list that you loath the most first?
- It gives you a huge sense of relief that it’s completed and dealt with.
- It gives you a sense of satisfaction that it’s done.
- You’re free to move on to other tasks, without the stress of that more important one looming over your head.
Why do we avoid it in the first place?
Why don’t we tackle the thing we’re avoiding? Lots of reasons, but generally because of negative emotions tied up with it.
Anxiety
It could be that you feel anxious about the outcome of the completed task. This can be because you’re afraid of failure, or success! Either way, getting started on it will lead you one step closer to completing it. Generally, it makes you feel less anxious about the outcome as you can see where you’re headed.
Avioding Bad Feelings
You might feel bad about having to do the task. For instance, if you need to call someone and give them bad news. That sucks for anyone. So get it out of the way. Then you can move on, instead of imagining all the things that might happen.
You Hate It
You just hate the task. Who (other than me 😀) likes decluttering? Spending half an hour on the junk room first thing, will mean you’ve made a start (or finished that task), and then you can go about enjoying your day, guilt-free.
Lack of Knowledge
Or, sometimes it’s actually because you don’t know how to do the task, so you’re lost as to where to start. If that’s the case think about what you need to do first. Maybe it’s a conversation with someone who has done it before or you need to do some research.
It Is Too Big
Other times we have set ourselves a mammoth task to complete and we don’t have that much time to dedicate to it. In this instance, break the task into bite-sized pieces and just get started on it. You don’t have to do the whole thing to ‘eat the frog’. It’s just getting you one step closer to your goal. Read more time management tips.
So now you know why you might be avoiding the frog, and why it’s good to eat it straight up. Now, off you go, eat that frog! Get on with tackling the thing you are avoiding. You can do it!
