I learned a great phrase recently: “Everyday you should swallow a frog.”
It sounds gruesome, but what it means is, everyday do something you don’t really want to do, but that needs to be done.
I’ve been doing a lot of cold calling in the last few weeks, which I have no fear of, and do quite well (I think), but it’s still something I’m not that fond of doing. None-the-less, everyday I do some cold calling, I swallow that frog.
I think some time ago I did a post about how nobody should be working – that if you really love what you do it doesn’t feel like “work”. So yes, you’re still at your job, but you’re not working – you’re playing!
I still believe that, but having to do this cold calling is reminding me that sometimes, in almost any job, even if we LOVE what we do, there are some tasks that feel like swallowing frogs.
So how do we make the swallowing of frogs easier?
To quote Mary Poppins – “With a spoon full of sugar”
Yum – sugar coated frog!
OK so maybe that wouldn’t be so yummy, but again the idea is sound. I find that if I sandwich my cold calling between two things that are much more “play” like (things you really enjoy doing), it goes so much easier.
So that’s my advice for today. I am in fact doing that right now. I am going to start my calling for the day right after I finish this post – which for me, is much more fun.
For some people, writing a blog post would not be so much fun, but if it was something that you needed to do for your “work” then perhaps you could do it after you check email or write some particularly stylish code, what ever works for you.
So until the next time remember to keep laughing and that a spoon full of sugar helps the frog go down.