Secret #6: Do the Toughest Things First

“Eat a live frog first thing every morning and
it’s doubtful anything worse will happen to you all day.”
- Mark Twain

To be more productive with goals you set, tackle the toughest parts of your tasks first. Normally, the toughest part is the part that causes the most stress and is probably the reason why most students won’t finish a project and remain a C instead of an O person.

Where most people go wrong is they do all the little and easy things first to get them out of the way so they can focus on the major task of the day. Usually what happens is all those little (usually less significant) things eat up your time, and then you eventually decide to put your large/important task off until the infamous “tomorrow.” Then this cycle repeats itself over and over until it messes you up completely and you get completely stressed out!

To avoid this, start with the toughest part first when your energy level is at its highest. If you can’t figure out what is the most important thing for you to do, the best technique to identify it is figuring out which part you are procrastinating on doing the most. My good friend Michael Simmons, author of The Student Success Manifesto, taught me that usually

The thing we procrastinate on the most or 

have the most resistance to wanting to do 

is most likely the most important next step.

Once you identify what that particular task is, focus on the benefit you will gain from completing the task, not the actual arduousness of the task itself. Then suck it up and start working on it ASAP.

The stress in your life will dramatically drop when you take this approach to school and to life. Usually the anticipation of the work is much worse than the actual work itself. If you want to call a company to get an internship or job, the anticipation of making the phone call is much worse than the actual phone call itself. The more you apply this principle, the more you will truly understand it.

Arel Moodie is widely known as America's Top Young Speaker. He has spoken to over 65,000 students in 39 states and 2 countries on the topics of student success, student leadership and student entrepreneurship. He is a leading authority on helping students of this generation succeed in school and in life. He is also the best selling author of the book Your Starting Point For Student Success. To find out more about Arel's book, go to www.startingpointbook.com. To find out more about Arel's speaking please go to www.arelmoodie.com.