The Final 90 Days of 2020

The final 90 days of 2020 are upon us! Enough time to execute a 90 day plan in 2020. Yesterday I listened to an incredible man called Alan Lorenz would stated, ‘The last 90 days are the most important of the whole year’. As people we go through seasons just like the weather. Winter time is when people sleep on their dreams, hibernate and wait till the new year. But not us. When we execute a 90 day plan we have a running start. Whilst everyone waits for January 1st and spending the first few days of January waking up from the Christmas food coma, we are ready and slaying, because we did the groundwork in 2020.

A 90 day plan is simple but not easy. The process is simple. A few things done consistently everyday. But it is challenging to execute everyday. Sure, the first few days are a breeze. I’ve got this in the bag, you say to yourself. But what happens on a random day on your day 36. When it is pouring down with rain. You’ve been stuck in traffic for hours due to roadworks. A colleague pissed you off. You haven’t eaten all day. You’re too tired for that workout. You want to chill at home and leave all things 90 day plan till tomorrow, fresh start you say. It is THOSE DAYS that you need to get it done. Because it is on those days that get you the habit and NO MATTER WHAT attitude. Choose a couple of simple things that you can embed into your current routine. You are essentially ‘sowing the seeds’ over the 90 days with the understanding beforehand that you won’t start seeing the fruits of your work until day 91. The goal can be based on anything; business goal, body goal, health, life. Include some small measurable actions that you can track. Let’s face it, the 90 days are going to pass anyway whether we like it or not so we may as well focus on growing ourselves. 

My Previous 90 day plan

I finished my very first 90 day plan last week! There were 3 things I did:

1. 5.30am power hour. 1 hour of focused work. I chose to do this in the morning because I knew I could crack on with the rest of the day with a positive mindset knowing I’ve already put in an hour of focus. Over time that is an additional 90 hours extra of work gained
2. Read 10 pages a day minimum and a ‘book a week’ challenge. 
3. I was also meant to do an hour of social media engagement everyday but didn’t execute this, ended up doing this a few days a week. I will implement in my new 90 day plan

MY 8 TOP TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL 90 DAY PLAN

1. WORK BACKWARDS. Know what it is you actually want by the end of 2020. What are your outcomes? You want to do a power hour? Okay great, but why are you doing it? What will you do in the power hour? There needs to be a destination. I used my power hour to connect with people on LinkedIn and read up on my Google Alerts in my industry. I now have nearly 5000 connections on LinkedIn and consistently up to date with all knowledge related to my industries for BIND London. Be ambitious but realistic also. Challenge yourself but know what you can stretch yourself to do in 3 months. I know that having a large social network is achievable and will set me up for next year as I have already built rapport with some key players which, long term, can lead to the much larger goals.
2. DISTINGUISH YOUR DAILIES AND WEEKLIES. Some activities are daily actions and some aren’t. With the 90 day plan you are focusing on smaller daily activities. Your weekly tasks you schedule in as you would have done before. A 90 day plan focuses on something done consistently everyday. For instance I read industry magazines once a week. I train at the gym 3-4 times a week so that wouldn’t go into my 90 day plan, although I might want to do 1 form of workout a day for an added challenge e.g. yoga at home, try a new class.
3. KEEP IT SIMPLE. As simple as brushing your teeth, having a shower, getting dressed, your 90 day plan should become EMBEDDED into your day as opposed to TAKING OVER your day. You don’t put the rest of your life on hold to get a 90 day plan done. If you feel like that’s what is happening, then you either need to revise what you’re putting in your 90 day plan or reorganise your day and time management. Keep it to maximum 3 things.
4. NOTIFY THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. When I crowdfunded back in May I notified my family. They weren’t initially supportive of the idea of my decision to crowdfund during a pandemic but I put them on notice that over that 35 day period there were certain things I couldn’t participate in or attend as I would be laser focused and have my undivided attention on my crowdfund. If you have a busy lifestyle (which many people do) or your partner/flatmate etc aren’t used to you waking up at 5am to do a power hour let them know. They might even be your cheerleaders when the going gets tough.
5. SCHEDULE your 90 day plan activity. What gets scheduled gets done. If you’re blasé about your goals then your outcome will be blasé also. What you put in you get out. This is what happened with my social media engagement goal. I didn’t schedule it in so there were some days I missed. My power hours were scheduled (it helped that it was at the same time everyday) so it became a non negotiable
6. TRACK THE ACTION NOT THE OUTCOME. The outcome will naturally happen from day 91 off the back of the actions. I will give an example on how to embed all 8 tips below.
7. HAVE A SYSTEM TO TRACK. It will make you feel good when you can see your progress. You will know that the work you are putting in is paying off. I chose to do my 90 day plan every single day in one go, knowing it would include weekends but I decided to do it anyway. You can choose if you want to do your 90 day plan in one go or over a longer period of time. You may do it 5 days a week. This means week 1 are days 1-5, week 2 are days 6-10, week 3 are days 11-15 …. and so on. A 90 day plan may take you 5 months to complete, 6 months, maybe more. The goal is to get it completed! Note however, success loves speed so if you want to see results faster, do it daily.
8. ‘NO MATTER WHAT’ ATTITUDE. As mentioned at the start of this blog, the first few days are a breeze. It’s the tough days that will challenge and stretch you. You may decide to miss a day and do double the next day. Then you’ve missed an additional day, and another after that. Before you know it it’s spiralled and you can’t remember what day you’re on and you start doubting yourself. You will feel SO GOOD at the end of the 90 days. There will be new habits and skills you will have gained, as well as the feeling of accomplishment. 

I take my 90 day plan as a form of self care. I know that doing it makes me become a better person, better business woman etc. 

Here is an example of using the 8 steps for a goal of someone wanting to drop 2 dress sizes by 2021 (I’m using a body goal as it is easily measurable and I have clients who have goals like these). 

1. WORK BACKWARDS. Note that I didn’t say goals are to ‘lose weight’ or ‘lose lockdown lbs’. Losing weight could be 1lb, 10lbs, 50lbs. Dropping 2 dress sizes is a clear goal you can measure.
2. DISTINGUISH DAILIES AND WEEKLIES. Weekly actions may include meal prep, healthy food shop. Dailies could be 30 minutes – 1 hour movement a day. Eating 5 meals a day. Sticking to your nutrition plan everyday, and timing when you’re eating. Drinking 3 litres a day.
3. KEEP IT SIMPLE. 5 meals a day, 3 litres water and 1 hour movement are 3 maximum tasks. If your weekly task of meal prep etc is executed it will make your dailies that much easier. 
4. NOTIFY YOUR PEOPLE. Tell your family your plan. They may decide to join you. You could get an accountability partner to do it with you or support you. If they don’t want to do it or support you let them understand you’re serious, e.g. don’t offer foods that they know will deter you from your plan, tell them in advance of your workouts so there is no miscommunication 
5. SCHEDULE. Workout times in the diary. I have a rule with my water, ‘2 litres before 2pm’ so I know I’m on track. Some of my clients even put their meal times as alarms on their phones (my serious ones lol).
6. TRACK THE ACTION. As mentioned above, tracking your meal plan, water intake and movement. There is no point jumping on the scales every single day. You’re focusing more on the outcome and not what it takes. Where focus goes, energy flows
7. HAVE A SYSTEM TO TRACK. You may have a checklist in your diary. Take a photo once a week to track. Track your body composition result. Take 1 fitness activity you know you can measure e.g. time it takes to run 5K, how many press ups can you do in 60 seconds.
8. NO MATTER WHAT ATTITUDE. If you commit to doing back to back everyday, then follow it through. If you do it Mon-Fri you can do that also. You set the standard based on the outcome you want to achieve. 

These are the months of groundwork! I hope you have found it useful and I will be sharing my new 90 day plan on the blog as I go.