Introducing the PM Whisperer

Your One-Stop Shop for Curated Product Management Career Resources

Today’s tip: eat the frog.

Welcome to the Product Management Whisperer, a blog post series designed to provide best practices and tips for product managers looking to improve their skills and advance their careers. 

In today’s changing world, Product Managers need to continue our personal growth to stay effective and relevant. At the same time, this is easier said than done when we have so many things on our plate. As a product manager myself, I know how overwhelming it can be to sift through endless videos, podcasts, and newsletters at night to find worthwhile career development advice and put it into practice. 

That's why I created the Product Management Whisperer. This newsletter is here to serve as your companion on your career journey, curating and providing the most valuable and relevant information to help you succeed. Drawing from my experiences and industry experts, I'll share top-of-mind insights, best practices, and tips to help you continue to improve and grow your career. My goal is to cut through the noise and provide clear and actionable "whispers" that you can implement in your day-to-day work.

Whether you're a new or seasoned product manager, the Product Management Whisperer has something for you. Subscribe for new whispers delivered to your mailbox, and let me be your guide in your product management journey.

This Week’s Whisper: Eat the Frog

To kick things off, the first tip I wanted to whisper is the “eat the frog” framework, a powerful productivity tool to help Product Managers prioritize the most important things that we want to accomplish in the week. 

Have you ever started the week with a few high-priority things you want to accomplish, only to end the week without even touching them? As product managers, especially product leads, your time is in high demand by many people. As soon as you start a week or a day, you get pulled into many urgent chat threads, emails, and meetings to address important matters for your team. You go from one meeting to another, not even having time for a break, and end the week feeling overwhelmed and defeated when you still haven’t made progress on the things that matter to you. 

I have been there more times than I can count. I would start the week blocking Wednesday and Friday off, because these were the days I didn't want to have meetings. As the week passed by, however, meetings started to crop into my calendars. For some weeks, Wednesday would even become the heaviest meeting day for me! Sound familiar?

Then, one day, I decided to give the “eating the frog” framework a try. The phrase “eating the frog” is derived from a quote by Mark Twain, who famously said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” As strange as it sounds, this framework works, because it encourages individuals to tackle their most important or challenging tasks first thing in the morning. It’s also backed up by science: a 2019 study from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology concluded that starting your day enhances efficacy.  

That’s why, despite being a night owl, for a few days a week, I started going to bed at the same time as my four- and six-year-old kids and setting an alarm for early in the morning. Each night, I would identify the task I wanted to work on, reading through all the materials once to let information settle quietly in my subconscious mind. The next day, I would wake up when everyone else was still sleeping and “eat the frog” before I connected with the world again through emails or chats. It worked! 

I now get so much done during these hours. Once my kids are up, and I get back to my normal daily routine, I feel a sense of accomplishment, since I’ve already done the most difficult thing. I start my workday with excitement and energy, rather than dread. Additionally, by completing the most important tasks, I can ensure that I make progress on the things that matter the most. 

This framework works in every aspect of life, even outside the workplace. For example, I have been wanting to start this series for a long time, but work and other priorities always seemed to get in the way. Today, I “ate the frog” by working on it first thing in the morning, and now it's no longer hanging over my head.

So, if you’re looking to make progress on the high-priority work on your list, try eating the frog. When you start your day by tackling the most important task on your list, before you get connected to the world, you may be surprised at how much more you can accomplish!

If you want to learn more about this process, Dinnie Muslihat breaks it down beautifully in her Medium article, “How to Eat That Frog”. You can also check out Bubba Mills’ article for Forbes, “Frogs: The Breakfast of Champions”.