Eat the Frog As Early as Possible in Your Career

Mark Twain once said: 

“If the first thing you do in the morning is to eat the frog, then you can continue your day with the satisfaction of knowing that this is probably the worst thing that will happen to you all day”

Productivity expert David Allen used this quote to talk about how you should do the hardest thing first thing when you get up in the morning. There is a career version of this too. When you are starting off your career,  you should volunteer and try to do the most complex and most challenging thing. In a Big company, take the toughest projects that no one wants. Or join the startup  over taking that prestigious big company. 

Why would you do that? Well, for one thing you will learn A LOT. You will exercise mental muscles that you never knew you had. It helps you build personal momentum. And whatever happens you will be better off than where you started even if things don’t work out. 

I experienced this at Yahoo!. I took on everything they asked me to do and asked for more. I was lucky enough to be in a fast growing company. But I was doubly lucky to end up in what was at that time an ignored but fast growing part of the business. International growth. Then I also volunteered to take on the online marketing side of FIFAWorld Cup 2002. That made my career there and I was off to the races. It was a brutal, gruelling 100+ hours a week for a period of 10 months. But boy was it worth it. This set the foundation for my rise through the organization over the next 10 years. 

The project gave me exposure to key people at all levels throughout the organization. The relationships I built throughout the organization served me well in all the executive roles I held later on. It allowed me to push through projects others could not. You also never know who will notice you either. My work got me in front of most of the C-level leadership team at Yahoo! 

Many of the most successful people I know in technology, on Wall Street or any other industry shared a common road. They took the hard, unsexy route (at that time) and grinded it out. Eating the frog early allowed them to get their reps in, measure themselves against the best and acquire the skills & experience faster than their peers. This allowed them to take advantage of the big opportunities that came their way later on. 

To paraphrase Indiana Jones: “It’s not about the years, it’s about the mileage”

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