I recently listened to an excellent episode of the Lead to Win podcast by Michael Hyatt and his cohost (and daughter) Megan Hyatt Miller. The topic was achieving your most important goals, and Michael and Megan shared a simple yet brilliant strategy they titled “The 3×3 Goal Achievement Strategy.”
I highly recommend you listen to the full episode and benefit from the hosts’ wisdom, but for now here is a very basic summary.
The hosts contend that the key to multiplying your productivity, progress, and achievement is to limit your focus. They explain that most people sabotage their own goals by setting far too many. Or as someone once described it, “most people take one step in 20 directions instead of 20 steps in one direction.”
Michael and Megan recommend selecting a more reasonable, attainable number of major goals, like 7-10 per year. From that starting point, they promote their “3×3 Goal Achievement Strategy.”
This 3×3 strategy consists of—you guessed it—three simple components:
- Quarterly “Big 3” Goals
- Weekly “Big 3” Achievements
- Daily “Big 3” Tasks
These three Big 3s are the objectives you are going to focus on for a given period. So at the beginning of each quarter, you should sit down and determine what your Big 3 Goals are for that quarter. Michael makes a point to distinguish between goals and projects, explaining:
“Obviously, you’re going to have a lot of projects you need to accomplish during the quarter but they don’t rise to the level of a goal. A goal, by definition, is something that’s outside the whirlwind of all of your activity, business as usual.”
At the beginning of each week, you should dedicate time to choose your Big 3 Achievements for the week—those things that will move you forward in your major projects and toward your Big goals.
At the beginning of each day, you should select your Big 3 Tasks—those three biggest, must-do items on your to-do list. Megan notes: “You want to choose three and onlythree must-do tasks. These are things that are definitely important; they may also be urgent, but that you’re going to commit to accomplishing today.”
Obviously, Michael and Megan encourage everyone to try this excellent strategy for translating your annual goals into quarterly goals, weekly achievements, and daily tasks. But you might be skeptical, or might not be sure how to get started. So they suggest you start at the level of the Daily Big 3 first, and see how it goes. Then, no matter how long your full list of to-dos is,
“You’re going to get to the end of the day and know that no matter what else happened in your day you’ve accomplished three really important, high-leverage tasks that are driving your goals and your business forward in some meaningful way, and that’s a great feeling.”
Just take a few minutes each morning this week to identify 3 must-do tasks for the day, and then work to get them done. If you like the results, keep going! You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!
