🤖 FITTER, HAPPIER, MORE PRODUCTIVE 🤖
What is it? Robin Sharma’s 90/90/1 rule is simple but effective. For the next 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your #1 priority—the task or project that will have the biggest impact on your organisation.
Why use it? I see a common thread in the leaders I coach—they’re always busy, but not always making the space for strategic, creative work. Blocking out dedicated time for these high-impact tasks—the important rather than the urgent—is absolutely key. The 90/90/1 rule forces you to make your most important work non-negotiable.
Increased focus: Eliminating distractions first thing in the morning helps you dive deeper into meaningful work. Consistent progress: By committing 90 minutes daily, you make tangible strides on projects that usually get pushed aside. Better decision-making: Strategic thinking requires uninterrupted time, and this approach creates the space for it.
When should I use it? Use the 90/90/1 rule when you need to:
Tackle a high-priority initiative: Whether it’s a strategic review, fundraising campaign, or new programme launch, this rule ensures you make progress daily. Plan your planning: If you’ve felt stuck or overwhelmed by competing demands, this framework helps you refocus on what really matters. Prevent decision fatigue: When you’re constantly reacting to fires, you lose sight of bigger goals. This approach helps you shift from reactive to proactive.
Why it works. 90 minutes is the perfect block of uninterrupted time to focus on your most strategic or creative task—the one that will make the biggest difference in your organisation. It’s about working on the business, not just in the business.
Dedicating 90 minutes without distractions allows you to enter a state of deep work, where creativity and problem-solving thrive. The power of small, sustained efforts compounds over time, delivering massive results by the end of 90 days. Focusing on your top priority helps you filter out less important tasks and streamline decision-making.
Get started. Here’s how you can implement the 90/90/1 rule in your work immediately:
Identify your #1 priority. Start by asking: What challenge, if addressed, would move my organisation forward the most? Or, What opportunity, if seized, would create the greatest impact? If stuck, work with your team on an impact-effort matrix. Examples: completing a strategic plan, designing a new programme, or launching a fundraising campaign. Block out the first 90 minutes of each day. Schedule a recurring 90-minute meeting with yourself every morning, and protect this time from interruptions—no emails, no meetings, no distractions. Commit for 90 days. Track your progress as you go, but stick with your focus for the full 90 days to see the results compound. Avoid switching priorities halfway through.
If 90 minutes is really impossible for you, what with the school run and busy commute and all, then adapt it to be a 45/45/1. Or a 30/90/1.
Something is better than nothing.
And my pro tip? Do not look at your emails before you start. Scanning emails will immediately fill your thoughts with urgent tasks and considerations that will limit your creative thinking.
Adjacent frameworks.
Daily Manifest. A single-page distillation of the "best of" many different habit tracking apps, journal formats, coaches, and time management systems into one priority system. I use it and love it. The Eisenhower Matrix—A decision-making tool that helps you prioritise tasks by urgency and importance, which is great for identifying your #1 focus. Deep Work—Cal Newport’s time-blocking approach takes 90/90/1 further to stress the importance of long, undistracted stretches of time to work on cognitively demanding tasks.
Futureproofing. Tools like Motion already promise to optimise your schedule by suggesting the best times for focused work. But AI tools just aren’t great at high-level strategic thinking. So the magic bullet here is using AI assistants to clear admin work, and then lean into what humans do best—complex, creative, and analytical thinking.
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