“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

This unappetizing aphorism is credited to Mark Twain, but it probably came from Nicolas Chamfort, a French aristocrat living in the 1700’s. Bryan Tracy, renowned motivational speaker, thought enough of the quote to write a book about it.

Despite conflicting interpretations of what the statement really means, or why it originated, I think the lesson in it matters. You have the choice to deal with things as you see fit.

Avoid unpleasant tasks and, perhaps, struggle to move forward, burdened by dread, while making less progress than you otherwise could. Or, confront the things you don’t like readily, willingly and decisively. Tensing in anticipation of pain is often the worst part. Instead, choose to eliminate or reduce that experience when you can.

Few things could really be so disgusting as eating a live frog, and if you’re playing up your most despised tasks as if they are just that terrible, you’re hurting yourself for no good reason. You’re imagining pain and suffering and in the process making it real.

A Huffington post blogger once suggested that, rather than seeing the issue as a frog to eat, we should reframe it as a happy task. Yeah. I guess. But as I’ve said before, what do feelings have to do with it? Your actions do more than prove how you feel— they prove who you are.

You get things done.