Eat the Frog First
Eat the frog first sounds disgusting. Although frog legs taste good, the image of a live frog gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Eat the frog first means to tackle our toughest job first.
That job is often:
- Most important
- Easiest to put off
- Most satisfying when finished
Eat the frog first tells us not to procrastinate.
Get the worst work done. Then relax and move on to:
- Other tasks
- A well-deserved break
When we finish a job, we no longer dread it.
Mark Twain frequently receives credit for this expression’s origin.
Several sources quote him with, “Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
However, according to Quote Investigator, the expression probably began much earlier.
The full article lists those possibilities.
Whatever the origin, eat the frog first makes good sense.
However, it still sounds gross! I cannot imagine the plague of frogs mentioned in the Bible.
“The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs” (Exodus 8:3 NIV).
Thanks to Tillie Cowherd for the suggestion. Image by Couleur from Pixabay.
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