LifeDev

One of the main reasons I went to college was because I wanted to “invest in my future”. This essentially meant that by going to college early on in my adulthood, it would pay off later in life.

While this concept is nothing new, it’s surprising how long people think it takes to get results from endeavors. Our society is chock-full of a want for “getting better at X”, but we don’t necessarily want to put in the time that it would take to establish a base. We want the quick fix that requires no work. Yet at the same time, we don’t necessarily look at how soon our results can be paid off. Many times we think that success is equivalent to years of hard work. That’s not true at all. You can measure your goals in smaller increments too.

There’s a rule in business called the 90-Day rule. It’s basically this: Whatever you do today, you’ll see the benefits 90 days from now. If you wonder why your business is floundering now, look back and see what you were doing 90 days ago. Patti Brotherton puts the 90-Day Rule into practice with her real-estate business by prospecting for houses an hour a day.

The way to have a good stable career in real estate is to always be working 90 days out. Don’t get wrapped up in your sales and forget to prospect. You can make sure your business plan pays off. All you need to do when you have many sales going is remember “an hour a day.” If you keep prospecting an hour a day you will be one of the top agents anywhere!

Now, I can’t comment much on the real-estate business, but I can tell you that this is 100% true for just about anything. If you’re a blogger, writing for an hour a day will pay off greatly in 90 days. The average age for top blogs at Technorati is almost 3 years. I’m sure there are other examples too.

The main gist of this post is this: If you’re not thinking about where you want to be 90 days from now, you’ll never end up there. By putting the work in and doing what has to be done today, you’re ensuring success for 90 days down the road.

[If you're looking for great way to keep track of your goals and a way to make sure you stick to 'em, check out Joe's Goals. It's a simple but effective way to make sure you're doing what you need to every day.]