Execution: A Walkthrough of a Day and a Week
Let’s see what this looks like in practice. Imagine a typical Tuesday. You arrive at your desk at 9:00 AM. The night before, you identified your frog: “Draft the outline for the Q3 marketing strategy presentation.” It’s a big, thought-intensive task you’ve been avoiding.
Instead of opening your email and getting pulled into a dozen minor requests, you honor your plan. Your calendar has a block from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM labeled “FOCUS: Q3 Strategy.” You open a blank document, review your notes for two minutes, and begin writing. For the next 90 minutes, that is your entire world. No email, no social media, no “quick questions” from colleagues. You immerse yourself completely in the task. When your 10:30 AM alarm goes off, you have a solid, well-structured outline completed. The hardest part of your day is finished, and it’s not even mid-morning.
The feeling is transformative. You can now turn to your inbox and smaller tasks with a clear mind and a sense of accomplishment. You’re no longer working with the heavy weight of that big project hanging over your head. You’re more relaxed, more decisive, and better equipped to handle the reactive parts of your job. You can attend meetings feeling present and engaged because you know you’ve already secured a major win for the day.
Now, let’s zoom out and look at a full week. The power of the eat the frog method compounds over time. On Monday, your frog is that Q3 strategy outline. On Tuesday, your frog is building out the first section of the presentation with supporting data. On Wednesday, you tackle the second section. By Friday morning, instead of staring at a blank page with a looming deadline, you have a nearly complete, high-quality draft. Your week wasn’t a frantic scramble; it was a series of focused, intentional wins.
This approach transforms your relationship with weekends. The dreaded “Sunday Scaries” often stem from anxiety about the mountain of work waiting on Monday morning. But when you wrap up your Friday having already identified Monday’s frog, you disconnect more fully. You know exactly what you need to do when you start the week, removing the uncertainty and dread. This simple habit of choosing your next frog is one of the most powerful productivity hacks for improving work-life balance.
