Eat the Frog Technique

A time management technique which involves starting the day identifying and prioritising tasks. The aim is to complete the most difficult, challenging, or undesirable tasks first. This technique might be combined with the Eisenhower Matrix or ABC Method of Time Management.

Typically, an individual should be fresh, have more energy, less stressed and tired, and be more alert at the beginning of the working day. This is then a good time to be able to focus more intensively on the more difficult or unwanted tasks so as to get them out of the way.

Later in the day when a worker may be feeling fatigued and more prone to distractions, then that is the time to tackling the less demanding, easier and less time-consuming tasks.

The aim of this technique is to maintain and improve productivity by a better understanding of how fatigue and distractions often arise and increase as the day progresses.