The Power of Procrastination
My *agent recently introduced me to the concept of Eating the the Frog. Allow me a moment to strain every ounce of my self-control in order to not make a cheap gag about French cuisine.
Okay, I’m back.
Eating the Frog is some entrepreneurial guru’s theory that you should start the day tackling the the most difficult task on your To Do list.
There are many reasons why I am not an entrepreneurial guru, and frankly, we don’t have time to list them all here. However, the primary reason is that in my head I keep mistaking it for Boil the Frog. I know what you’re thinking, that I have French cuisine on the brain. Boil the Frog is an entirely different kettle of fish. Sorry if this is getting confusing.
Boiling the frog is the concept of not throwing the poor amphibian into a pan of boiling water because, sensibly, it will hop right out again. The idea is (please don’t try this at home) to put the frog in cool water and slowly increase the heat.
It’s a handy metaphor for something (don’t boil frogs?) but not factually correct. According to Wiki, thermoregulation means ectotherms aren’t stupid and will hop out of water when it gets too hot for comfort. As we all know, ectotherms are those things in Ghostbusters that leave a trail of ectoplasm behind. This is why my daughter is the scientist of the family and I draw silly stories about raccoon backpacks.
“That’s what you get for trying to boil an ectotherm, Peter.”
You can see why I am not asked to give well remunerated motivational speeches to hedge fund managers. A.B.B. Always. Be. Boiling. To be honest that does sound like something hedge fund managers would respond to.
“Let’s go over this one more time.”
This is a long way of saying I am not one for Eating the Frog. I will go to great lengths to put off the hardest task of the day. Why do today what you can put off until the end of the week and feel guilty about every moment until then?
May I stake my own claim to entrepreneurial wisdom and suggest Don’t Be Eating the Frog as my unique management style? Or, Dude, what did the frog ever do to you? That would stand out on the shelves of the airport bookshop, don’t you think? Perhaps it needs some work. I’ll workshop it and get back to you.
* Did you notice I casually mentioned I have an agent ? Why would anyone believe there’s a percentage to be eked out of the meagre profits of Andi Watson Enterprises, previously Titanic PLC? Beats me but Janna signed the contract so there’s no backing out now. Not true. She made it very clear in a sub clause in ALL CAPS that she could back out anytime she wanted and after this week’s frog’s legs theme I wouldn’t blame her.
Janna is warm, enthusiastic, optimistic, a people person and a frog eater, in short all the things I’m not.
I have recruited the aid of an agent to help me navigate the shark infested waters of children’s book publishing. I will hopefully have some news on that front coming soon.
You can also thank/blame Janna for persuading me start a newsletter.
Did you know you can download much of my backlist immediately in handy DRM free PDFs while fully supporting me and not another tentacle of that online book retailer vampire squid? There’s even some stuff for free and who doesn’t like free?
Here’s the first two panels of my work-in-progress for tomorrow’s Patreon story. Anyone else order stuff late at night, totally forget about it and then are mystified by its arrival weeks later? Titled/coloured/polished/corrected strip will be revealed tomorrow.
Remember, people: Always. Be. Boiling.
Take care,
andi