You have to set a goal with a time limit that causes you to take action today.  I picked 90 days because I wanted to give myself enough time to accomplish something but not so much time that I wouldn’t.   ~Tom Mendoza

Not long ago I was facilitating a strategic planning session with a group who had developed a strategic plan several months earlier.  I asked the group, “Are you on pace with your current plan?”  One person spoke up and said, “Well, yes, we’re on pace with everything because we just developed it four months ago.”  Then another person responded, “I’d say we’re behind on everything because it’s been four months and we’ve done nothing.”

This is what I see frequently.  Organizations create strategic plans with long term goals and then it just sits there.  They assume they have lots of time to reach their goals, so they procrastinate.

Michael Hyatt, when CEO of Thomas Nelson said “In our company, we have adopted 90-Day Objectives as a way of life.  All of our divisional leaders are required to submit their goals.  We require a formal progress report each month.  It’s not complex or very sophisticated.  But I believe it has gone a long way toward creating a focused and disciplined organization that produces consistent results.”

Fast Company recently published an article that provides five reasons to set 90-day goals.

1. 90 Days Isn’t Too Long. Annual goals (12 months) seem so far away that you assume you can always start on those goals later. Ninety days, however, can hold you accountable to the long range goals, but in smaller chunks.  In other words, I have to get started on my goals, today, if I’m going to achieve it in 90 days.
2. 90 Days Isn’t Too Short, Either. Ninety days allows you to look just far enough into the future to make it challenging, but still be achievable.  It also helps to eliminate the lengthy to-do list and forces you to focus on what’s really important.
3. You Can Reset Quickly.  I’ve seen clients set annual goals and when they realize it wasn’t the right goal, they wait until next year to reset.  Who has time to wait a year to reset goals?!  As I’ve heard other clients say, “We’re going to try new things and fail fast.”
4. You Don’t Spread Yourself Thin. Having lots of goals isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But, when you give yourself 90 days, you focus on a few at a time, because you know there’s another 90-day period arriving shortly to focus on other goals.
5. You Can Make Personal Goals Part of the Mix. When you’re working on two to three goals four times per year it can allow for space to think about other areas of your life as well.  Integrating goals for vacation time, exercise, reading, spending time with friends, etc. can help to achieve the work-life balance you’ve been dreaming about.

90-Day Goals: Enough time to accomplish something but not so much time that you won’t. What are your goals for the next 90 days?