How are your business goals looking right now? Are you drowning in an endless sea of tasks and can’t find a coast to save your life?

You’re not alone. It is not uncommon for business owners to set out with a lofty vision for what they want to achieve in the next year (or three), only to start sinking — not because their goals were unrealistic, but because they lacked a strategy and smart plan to get them there.

We all know that without a step-by-step plan, your ambitious long-term goals will remain just a dream. And a dream that’s not grounded in the here and now can be fleeting. Yet year-long business goals can easily make you and your employees feel both confused and overwhelmed at the same time. 

The solution? Three-month goals.

Why 90-Day Goals Are Key to Your Business’s Success

By narrowing your vision to 90 days, you can break down goals and turn them into doable plans of action. Here’s why the most successful entrepreneurs plan their businesses 90-days at a time, and how you can turn your company around by following the same formula.

Your business becomes more adaptable to change

The biggest problem with one-year goals is the time-frame. A lot can happen in twelve months; goals can become irrelevant, or procrastination sets in because there’s always tomorrow.

By planning your business in 90-day chunks, you create an environment of accountability while still leaving room to adapt to market trends and change course as needed.

Also, if a goal does not work out, it is easier to go back to the drawing board and realign for the next 90 days, rather than waiting a whole year before hitting the reset button.

You learn to say no and prioritize what matters

When trying to achieve a goal, there will always be a list of things to accomplish. However, not all of them need to be done today, this week, or even in the next 90 days.

By learning to identify which tasks will directly help you achieve your three-month goals, you will be able to say no to time-wasters and clear up your task list for the items that truly matter. Not only will you become less “busy,” but your employees and business will become more focused and productive.

You improve communication and teamwork

Do your employees understand the company’s goals? Are they on-board with where your business is going?

Creating a team that is aligned to your goals is fundamental to great strategy execution. One of the biggest benefits of three-month goals is that they are small enough for everyone in the company to understand and collectively work towards achieving.

When your team knows what it is they are working towards, they can easily prioritize their tasks. This will allow your business to break the cycle of broken resolutions and start achieving its goals.

How to set three-month business goals

Step 1: Choose three core goals

For your first 90-day roadmap, choose three goals that you want your business to focus on for the next quarter.

Make sure these goals are SMART:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Realistic

• Time-based

It is also a good idea to write them down. According to a study by Gail Matthews at Dominican University, people who write down their goals accomplish significantly more than those who do not.

Don’t be afraid to be ambitious; just remember you only have three months to turn your goals into reality.

Step 2: Involve your team

Once you have your three goals, involve your team. Ask them how they feel about focusing on these for the next 90 days, whether they think 90 days is a doable time-frame, and how it would feel to achieve these goals.

This simple exercise is a fantastic way to get feedback, create accountability, and ensure you are focusing on great goals that your team is just as committed to achieving.

Step 3: Break each goal down into actionable items

The final step is to unpack your goals and turn them into actionable snippets. Each team should take a look at the three goals and identify the actions that would need to be completed each day, week and month.

Once team goals are set, each team member should do the same with their own task list. When the goal is broken down into specific tasks, it becomes obvious what to do, and it creates small measurable steps that are easily tracked and adjusted accordingly.

Are you ready to commit to the next three months?

A 90-day goal demands action right away. They are not too long or too short. In fact, they are the perfect length to combat procrastination and see measurable results in a short amount of time.

Successful business owners know that setting one, two or three-year goals is pointless without a plan on how to get there. By turning your biggest ambitions into relatively bite-sized chunks, you can crack down on procrastination and long to-do lists, and focus instead on how to get from A to B one three-month-step at a time.