Some of the earliest productivity advice I heard was to always “eat the frog first.”
If you aren’t familiar, the idea is that whenever you have some awful, dreadful task that you need to take care of (e.g. eating a frog), you should do it first before anything else. Your will power is supposed to be “fresh” and taking on that difficult task first will make everything easier for the rest of the day.
There are two problems with this advice for people with ADHD.
One, it sounds totally logical! It makes sense! If I finished my most difficult and dreaded task first, the rest of the day will feel easier! All right, what awesome advice!
But for ADHD brains, this advice is a trap.
We set out to eat the frog first. We sit down, stare at the frog, and the frog stares back. The weight of the task hits, your brain feels impossibly overwhelmed and desperately invents excuses and distractions and anything else to keep you from doing this task. Not only do you fail to eat the frog. You waste your entire day staring at the frog and getting nothing else done at all. The frog has won.
Trying to eat the frog first doesn’t work if you can’t eat the frog at all.
My brain doesn’t run on “do this because it’s important.” I need momentum. I need that feeling of things happening in a rush around me where I can feel the winds of accomplishment.
So I say try the opposite: eat the ice cream first.
Start with a task you want to do, something you know will be easy!
Reply to the “fun” email. Get up to make some coffee and water the plants while it brews. Cross off those two-minute tasks that are easy and sound fun.
Doing the “ice cream tasks” might feel a bit like cheating... but that’s kind of the point!
ADHD motivation builds momentum through action, not willpower.
Doing any action makes it easier to do the next action. Momentum is the key. Focus on forward movement more than meaningful progress.
Once you’ve steamrolling through the easy tasks, then you can turn toward the frog.
Now it doesn’t have a chance, you turn toward the big ugly frog task and get halfway through without even realizing it.
Start where starting is easy, and focus on building up your motivation momentum.
This week’s worksheet: Eat the Ice Cream First. Find the easy start that builds momentum.
P.S. If these motivation ideas have been clicking for you, they’re the foundation of my video course, ADHD Motivation Mastery. The course goes well past just getting started, it also covers keeping momentum, actually finishing, accountability that doesn’t suck, and building a motivation playbook that fits your specific brain.
It’s currently on sale for ADHD Awareness month, check it out here.