Eating a Frog
February 15, 2011
A few days ago my friend Paul Ward shared a bit of wisdom with me. In the course of a conversation about how some things are hard to do, he shared something that Zig Ziglar told him a few years ago.
“If you’ve got to eat a frog, looking at it doesn’t make it any better.”
That’s certainly true in the literal sense. Looking at a frog makes it worse in my opinion.
But the deeper meaning is also true. In life we all have to do unpleasant things from time to time: make a tough decision, say no to a friend, turn down a proposal, confront sinful behavior, have a difficult conversation, tackle a hard problem, talk to people we know will disagree with us. Sometimes we have to do hard things that we know will disappoint our friends.
That’s like eating a frog. It’s no fun, no one likes it, and it’s never easy.
But looking at it doesn’t make it any easier. Sometimes we put off a hard phone call precisely because we know it won’t go well. Putting it off usually makes it worse.
Zig Ziglar is right–about frogs and about life.
Do the hard thing and get on with your day. Eat the frog and move on.