Optimization: A Weekly Review to Sharpen Your Skills
Eating your frog every day is a practice. Like any skill, you get better at it with reflection and adjustment. A short, 15-minute weekly review, perhaps on a Friday afternoon, is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your productivity.
During this review, ask yourself a few simple questions. First, did I successfully eat my frog each day this week? If not, why? Identify the patterns. Was it always a Tuesday meeting that got in the way? Was my frog on Thursday poorly defined? This isn’t about judgment; it’s about gathering data to make next week better. Second, how did my energy levels feel? You might notice that creative frogs (like writing) are easier on certain days, while analytical frogs (like building a spreadsheet) are better on others. You can start matching the type of frog to your natural energy rhythms.
A crucial metric to track is your “rollover rate.” This is the number of times you had to push a planned frog to the next day. A high rollover rate is a clear signal that your frogs are too big. An effective frog is a task that is challenging but achievable in a single 60-to-90-minute session. If your frog is “Launch the new website,” you’re setting yourself up for failure. A better frog would be “Write the copy for the About Us page.” Break down massive projects into frog-sized bites.
Another powerful metric is your “deep work count.” Deep work, a term coined by author Cal Newport, refers to professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value and are hard to replicate. Instead of measuring your success by “hours worked,” start measuring it by the number of deep work sessions (or frogs eaten) you complete each week. This shifts your focus from being busy to being effective.
Finally, use your weekly review to look ahead. Based on your upcoming deadlines and goals, what are the likely candidates for next week’s frogs? You don’t need to decide on all of them, but having a general sense of the big rocks you need to move will give you a strategic advantage and a sense of calm heading into the weekend. Some research from institutions like the American Psychological Association highlights how planning can reduce cognitive load and anxiety, and this proactive step is a perfect example of that in action. A consistent review process turns the eat the frog method from a simple tip into a robust system for continuous improvement.
