“If you can’t do it in 90 days, you can’t do it ever”, Anaggh Desai
If there’s one thing we’re AFRAID of as a small team, it is the Big Company Syndrome.
See this? It’s our nightmare.
Waiting for a clear brief to be shared, NOT moving our backside unless we’re nudged by the “person in charge”, doing the bare minimum, and getting stuck in the loop of processes and approvals instead of executing. SCARY.
So, we have now decided to do this –
✨ Anything that we don’t get to move in 90 days, we will quit ✨
How did we stumble upon this? Like most other things, inspired by one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on. In this case, it comes from Anaggh Sir, one of Saurabh Garg’s mentors.
What do we mean when we say this?
With any project or idea, or if we’ve NOT moved an inch or made any progress in 90 days, we will quit it. We will not give in to the urge to make excuses, allow ourselves another month, or give it another shot.
Sounds harsh? We don’t think so. 90 days is a LOT of time. We see it this way – even if we’re having two slow weeks, we have 10 more to show up.
Can we define “moved an inch” and “progress” here?
Before we share an example to quantify “progress”, let us tell you what we DON’T mean.
Giving an idea 90 days does NOT mean that we’ll ONLY have 90 days to complete it. Or, succeed at it. Most ideas take a lifetime to see to fruition. Some take generations. C4E in our heads will take a few generations!
So, in these 90 days, if we see one of these two, we continue.
1. Sensible progress (for each project, we quantify this)
2. Some signs of success or impact
For instance, we recently started talking about sustainability on Instagram. With @projectsustainabilityx, we plan to share ALL that’s happening in this space through engaging and interesting content.
For us, this is merely an experiment that could evolve into something larger.
And, we’ve given ourselves 90 days.
We will continue @projectsustainabilityx if:
- We’re able to be consistent with the input (content on IG) for 3 months
- Gain 5000 followers
As of today, @mannatrandev, DRI of this project, can confirm that we’re seeing an increase in followers and have also hit our first 1M on one of the reels.
Why is this guiding principle important to us?
Two reasons:
💣 We want to plant bombs, often and fast. As a team, we want to shoot arrows in the dark, increase our luck surface area, and dip our toes in multiple things. You might say that it’s because we’re looking for that one thing that’ll help us make a dent in the universe.
💣 To do that, we need to adopt a sense of urgency. We believe that many have great ideas, but only few execute. The only way for us to create impact would be to be those people who execute first.
In short, our 90 days guiding principle keeps us on track. And ensures we do both (1) and (2).
Can this be your guiding principle too?
Yes. If you’re currently building something, and want to give yourself 90 days, here’s how you can start:
1. If there’s an ongoing project that you’ve been wanting to accelerate, we suggest pausing for a second. Analyse where you are currently. When did you begin? What did you decide to do? And, how much of it have you achieved? This will help you get some clarity on your current speed and state of execution.
2. Once you’ve got that clarity, give yourself 90 days. And, answer this.
In 90 days, if I do or see one of these three things: ____, _____, _____, I will continue.
For instance, one of our humans, Chandni, wants to host YEP – a Young Entrepreneurs Scenius. It’s a coveted WhatsApp group of under 25-year-olds building interesting things. For her, metrics could be one of these:
- A structure or guidebook for what happens at YEP
- First 5 people
Chandni says, “If I’m unable to design a structure in 90 days, it just means I don’t want this as much as I think I do. I had this idea 3 weeks ago and I chickened out because I haven’t done this before. Now, I have 90 days!”
Finally, we have an invitation!
If you’ve got a project you want to take to execution and are intrigued by this method, write to us. We can help you define the metrics and share more about how we do it. Maybe even chat about life and learn a thing or two from each other!
Until next time,
The C4E Humans