Most Important Task (MIT) or Eat That Frog is a simple time management hack popularised by Brian Tracy, that helps you get your most important things done, more often.
The idea is if that you eat a frog in the morning, then everything else that day will seem easy by comparison.
Here’s how you do it.
How To Do Your Most Important Task Daily
Every day, you will have a task that is either:
- The most important task, with reference to your goals.
- The hardest task, indicated by your fear of doing it.
- The most unpleasant task, indicated by procrastination.
The task could be any of these or all of these – every combination is fine.
What you want to do is select that task and make sure that it is the first thing you work on for the day.
Whatever it takes, get that task done first.
You can:
- Block off time in your calendar.
- Ask others not to interrupt you until it’s done.
- Limit your digital distractions.
- Set up a deep work session.
Once you have completed the task, the rest of the day will be easy by comparison.
Even if you get absolutely nothing else done for the rest of the day… you have completed your most important thing first, so congratulations!
Why Doing Your Most Important Task First Works
There is a very simple reason why completing your MIT first, works.
Most people have the most energy, willpower and attention in the morning.1If this isn’t you, then feel free to ignore the concept of Most Important Task.
When you bring those resources to bear on the most important or hardest thing first, it gets done.
But our brains think that we have just accomplished the “impossible” – and everything else during the day will seem easy by comparison.2Similar to performing reverse pyramid training in the gym.
When we do this for many days in a row, we end up clearing our hardest and most difficult tasks consistently, and we accumulate momentum and success through a positive feedback loop.3Momentum is also a virtue.
In turn, this makes doing future most important tasks easier and more fun – and it just continues on.
What To Do Next
Most Important Task doesn’t need anymore explanation – you just need to do it.
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- If this isn’t you, then feel free to ignore the concept of Most Important Task.
- Similar to performing reverse pyramid training in the gym.
- Momentum is also a virtue.
Photo by Derek Owens.