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Education

StreetSmarts SM

Master the 90-day game for success

By Marc Beauchamp you to apply the principles of small, incremental actions
Bankcard Life (hitting singles) and the aggregation of marginal gains.
I'm sure you've heard of the Chinese Proverb that states,
n my Aug. 10, 2020 article, issue 20:08:01, I dis- "A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single
cussed the importance of having targeted outcomes. step." If you believe this to be true, then the wrong first
Having one-year, three-year and even 10-year goals step could begin a journey that could take you very far
I provides wonderful visions for you to create from, off course. So it's important to make sure you take the
but where the real game is played and won is in 90-day appropriate first step and start your journey headed in
(12 week) increments. the right direction.

I encourage you to dispense with annualized thinking In the book The One Thing, authors Gary Keller and Jay
and think in 90-day blocks of time. The human brain Papasan share what they call a focusing question to help
is limited in its capacity to focus for extended periods. you do just that: begin the journey headed in the right
Ninety days is the perfect time frame for keeping your direction. The question they ask is, "What's the one thing I
brain engaged, motivated and focused on your desired can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier
outcomes. Each segment builds upon the next to help or unnecessary?"
you drive toward the one-year target, which builds to the
longer-term vision. When planning, ask yourself this focusing question
and build your strategy and actions around the answer.
As you continue to chunk it down, break your activities One integral tool to use to complete your "One Thing"
into monthly, weekly and daily segments. This allows is time blocking. Time blocking is the practice of setting
aside specific scheduled time each week to work on your
priority outcomes.
The human brain is limited in
its capacity to focus for extended For most people, that is at the beginning of the workday
when your brain has the most mental energy and focus.
periods. Ninety days is the perfect Remember: No email. No phone calls. No interruptions of
any kind. Just focus on the task at hand.
time frame for keeping your brain

engaged, motivated and focused Cal Newport put it this way in his book Deep Work:
Deep work happens when you get to have a period of
on your desired outcomes. uninterrupted time to focus on a single task or activity.
Successful intellectuals do their best work when they go
into isolation and get into deep work mode. (See Figure 1)

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