{"id":269,"date":"2017-07-28T16:43:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T16:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynnricker.com\/?p=269"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","slug":"eat-the-live-frog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/?p=269","title":{"rendered":"Eat the Live Frog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.\u201d \u2013 Mark Twain<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I read this statement recently, and was equal parts repulsed and curious, until I read the text that followed.\u00a0 The article mentioned this is a famous Mark Twain quote, which somehow I had not heard before; it goes on to discuss how it is apropos to life in the business world.\u00a0 If you think of your worst task, make it your frog, and tackle it first thing in the morning, then any given day you accomplish your highest priority to-do.<\/p>\n

While this is an inspiring thought for the workplace, it can just as easily apply to life in general.\u00a0 In making a commitment to do the most important thing first, before you have time to think too much, you just may accomplish it before you procrastinate. \u00a0However, the idea of doing the most difficult and unappetizing task first, even before email and caffeine, seems daunting, and for people more purposeful than myself.<\/p>\n

I recently started a bullet journal.\u00a0 I like having all my different to-do lists and Post-it notes organized in one place.\u00a0 Each morning, still lying in bed, I now ask myself what is the live frog for today? \u00a0 Somehow in the context of a live frog, the humor makes it a challenge I want to undertake.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s a work report I can\u2019t find the right words to finish.\u00a0 Other times, it is research for a disease that\u2019s rare, lacking readily accessible information. \u00a0At the end of June, it was books.\u00a0 Although I like running a business, I disdain accounting.\u00a0 It always seems to be $0.07 off here, $3.42 off there.\u00a0 I don\u2019t seem to have the patience to find such a discrepancy. If there was a big Facebook dislike button, I would push it, right there over top of book keeping. \u00a0But, for a whole week, I ate the live frog each morning, legs and all.<\/p>\n

Recently, the frog is sunscreen.\u00a0 My kids are at summer camp where they swim each morning.\u00a0 I would have thought this would be welcome fun, given our recent stint of hot weather. Apparently, having to put a bathing suit on right away in the morning is akin to torture.<\/p>\n

NOOOOOO! I want to eat my cereal first.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to!\u00a0 I want to wear my monster truck T shirt!<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like that sunscreen.\u00a0 It smells weird. I want the green one!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But, we lather on the toxic death cream in the morning, and off they go to swim lessons.<\/p>\n

This past weekend\u2019s frog was weeding, particularly the patio, where weeds emerge from every crook and cranny, impervious to prior weeding attempts.\u00a0 I should marvel at nature\u2019s tenacity, these hardy leaves curling out of the sandy soil between the patio stones. \u00a0It\u2019s slow and tedious work.\u00a0\u00a0 Due to the narrowness of the cavity, I\u2019m not really getting the roots.\u00a0 I sigh, knowing they will grow back.<\/p>\n

The sun is hot, already 90, though it\u2019s morning yet.\u00a0 The tidewater air is heavy with humidity.\u00a0 Sweat beads up and tickles my skin as I move on to the next row.\u00a0 Frustrated, I spray vinegar and dish soap. \u00a0A few days later the weeds are dead.\u00a0 But, although they\u2019re brown, they\u2019re still there, and it looks worse than before.\u00a0 The roots still hold fast as I try to tear them asunder, the papery thin leaves giving way under may finger tips.\u00a0 Eventually, it is finished, and I feel a ridiculous sense of accomplishment looking at the clean, neat bricks and mulched beds.<\/p>\n

The thing I like best about eating the frog is the energy that inevitably follows, no matter how arduous the task.\u00a0 Afterwards, simpler tasks seem easy, and my to-do list shrinks as the day goes on.\u00a0 Given such efficiency, sometimes I find myself with free time in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

This, along with work being lighter than usual, has me relishing my summer afternoons, after a very busy first half of the year.\u00a0 I take advantage of it, and go to explore some local museums.<\/p>\n

I learn more about Frederick Douglass, who lived as a boy on a plantation just a few miles away.\u00a0 I visit the new Harriet Tubman museum, and read about her courage in assisting so many friends and family to freedom.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I stand on Long Wharf and gaze at the peaceful ships resting in their slips, their lines clanging in a pleasant dissonance that resembles wind chimes.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to imagine what it looked like when slave ships from Africa were docked here.\u00a0 Harriet Tubman herself saw two of her older sisters sold off at auction on this wharf to buyers from plantations in the south.\u00a0 She never saw either of them again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It makes me feel guilty to be frustrated at weeding.\u00a0 For them and countless others, it must have been such difficult work, farming tobacco or other crops in the hot Maryland sun.<\/p>\n

I wonder what their live frog was.\u00a0 What keeps one going in such conditions?\u00a0 Is it love of family?\u00a0 Does life still hold some sweetness?\u00a0 Or is it just about making it through the day, to sink into bed at night, or a straw pallet on the floor, more likely.<\/p>\n

It is easier to have been born into it, I wonder, and never know another life?\u00a0 Does practiced discipline of not wanting too much ease the pain of such a life, or is it mandatory to keep on hoping? \u00a0I think maybe the heart wants no matter what.<\/p>\n

Maybe the live frog was work: keep going, biding time, always looking for an opportunity, like Harriet. \u00a0She patiently waited, and then went, moving under the cover of night, no matter the weather, wading tidewater swamps, following the North Star.<\/p>\n

The North Star is constant, always appearing in the same place in the night sky, no matter what the season.\u00a0 A guide, a beacon \u2013 perhaps it was a comfort to those seeking the ultimate reward: freedom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.\u201d \u2013 Mark Twain I read this statement recently, and was equal parts repulsed and curious, until I read the text that followed.\u00a0 The article mentioned this is a famous Mark Twain quote, which somehow… Continue reading Eat the Live Frog<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78aL7-4l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}