Ninety Days Away
The 90-Day Sweet Spot: Why Quarterly Planning Unlocks Long-Term Success
I am experimenting on myself to find the sweet spot of goal setting and planning functionality. On one hand, I love check boxes and endless to-do lists. On the other hand, I am building a long view with big sky goals. Well, if I have living time left to me. I envision a "five-year plan” not so much a "10-year vision." But what if the real magic happens somewhere in between a daily to do list and a life goal?
This winter, I have incorporated the idea that 90 days—roughly one quarter—is the optimal timeframe for creating momentum that compounds into genuine long-term success. What I can’t finish today I don’t want to put off until next years resolution list.
The Problem with Planning Horizons That Are Too Short or Too Long
Daily and weekly planning keeps us busy, but busy isn't the same as purposeful. When we plan only for the immediate future, we become reactive firefighters, constantly responding to whatever feels urgent. I am a daily planner. But I feel like I could do better. I recently started pre-filling my daily to-do list for the week to come with projects for each day. Mostly because I saw too many days where I failed to have anything set up to work on in advance. We mistake motion for progress and rarely step back to ask whether we're moving in the right direction.
Annual planning and five-year visions sound impressive, but they suffer from a different problem: they're too abstract to drive daily action. A goal that's years away feels distant and theoretical. When the deadline is that far off, it's easy to procrastinate, rationalize, or lose motivation entirely. Every year, I want to accomplish the same goals or lose the same weight as were on my list last year. There needs to be a bridge between daily goals and long-term success.
Why 90 Days Works
Three-month planning hits a remarkable sweet spot. It's long enough to accomplish something meaningful, but short enough to maintain urgency and focus.
It's concrete enough to act on. Ninety days from now isn't some hazy future date—it's next quarter, a specific point you can envision. You can reverse-engineer what needs to happen weekly and daily. The timeline feels real, which makes the plan feel actionable.
It allows for meaningful progress. Three months is enough time to develop a new skill, launch a project, build a habit, or create a tangible result. You're not just checking boxes—you're moving the needle on things that matter.
It keeps motivation alive. When your finish line is visible on the horizon, you stay engaged. Each week represents a meaningful percentage of your total timeline, creating natural accountability without the overwhelm of impossible daily quotas.
It forces prioritization. You can't do everything in 90 days, which is precisely the point. This constraint forces you to identify what truly matters and say no to distractions. Paradoxically, doing less within each quarter allows you to accomplish more over time.
How Near-Term Planning Creates Long-Term Success
Here's the real power of the 90-day framework: it transforms vague aspirations into a series of concrete achievements that compound over time.
Think of it like this. If you want to write a book—a multi-year endeavor—the goal can feel paralyzing. But what if you committed to writing the first three chapters in 90 days? Suddenly, you have a finish line. Complete that quarter successfully, and you've built momentum and confidence. Do it again, and you've got half a manuscript. Four or five quarters later, you're holding a complete draft.
Each 90-day cycle becomes a building block. You plan, you execute, you reflect on what worked and what didn't, and then you plan the next quarter with greater wisdom. Over the course of a year, you've completed four meaningful cycles. Over three years? Twelve opportunities to course-correct, learn, and compound your progress.
This is how near-term planning creates long-term success: not through rigid adherence to a years-long plan that becomes obsolete, but through consistent forward motion that adapts as you learn.
What am I reading this week?
I had the 90-day goal setting on my mind when I started Kamala Harrris’ Book, 107 Days. What did she do in 90 days? Took over a failing election bid, took on the richest man in the world, and very nearly won the whole shooting match.
Book Review: 107 Days by Kamala Harris: A Campaign Chronicle from the Inside. Kamala Harris's "107 Days" is a firsthand look at one of the most compressed and consequential presidential campaigns in modern American history. As the title refers to the whirlwind period when the 2024 election turned on one bad performance. It was a hard election between two old unpopular men. They were out of pep and out of money. Neck and neck when Biden dropped out.
Too late to matter.
I think when President Biden decided not to seek re-election, he set Harris up fail. Between his announcement and Election Day 2024, Harris moved mountains in her sprint to Election Day, 107 days away. It would test Harris and her team in unprecedented ways.
The Historical Context
This memoir arrives at a unique moment in American political history. Harris writes candidly about the challenge of stepping into a presidential race with barely three months to make her case to the American people. The compressed timeline meant traditional campaign strategies had to be reimagined, and every day carried enormous weight.
What Works
Harris's writing is at its strongest when she pulls back the curtain on the decision-making processes that shaped her campaign. Her descriptions of debate preparation, strategic pivots, and the constant balancing act between authenticity and political necessity provide valuable insights into modern campaigning. The book also shines in its personal moments. Harris reflects on what it meant to be the first woman of color to win a major party's presidential nomination, the weight of representation, and the conversations with her family about taking on this challenge.
The Perspective
As with any political memoir written so close to the events described, "107 Days" is inherently a subjective account. Harris offers her perspective on what happened and why, but readers seeking a fully objective historical analysis will want to supplement this with other sources and accounts. In my own experience of this story, I can’t believe it has only been a year. The shock of the pivot to Harris and the Trump win made me feel like the earth was turned upside down. When I started the book, I felt all the butterflies in my gut all over again. I think her next book should be called. “I told you so.” I do hope she runs again. She was so close.
Final Thoughts
"107 Days" serves as both a personal reflection and a historical document of a remarkable moment in American politics. Whether you supported her candidacy or not, the book offers a fascinating window into what it takes to run for the highest office in an extraordinarily compressed timeframe. For political enthusiasts, campaign staffers, and anyone interested in the 2024 election, this memoir provides context and color that can deepen our understanding of this pivotal moment in history.