Why the “Rule of Three Routine” can help you reach your goals

In 1830 a patent was filed that would enable the creation of modern professional sports. The patent was for the lawnmower and it was filed by Edwin Budding. Before the lawnmower, lawns with evenly cut grass were difficult to achieve. Lawns were cut by hand with a scythe. The work was labor-intensive and required highly skilled workers. As such it was expensive and time-consuming. Only the very wealthy could afford it.

The lawnmower would change all that

Large fields could be mowed in hours and at a fraction of the cost. Some historians credit this with the rise of professional sports and other leisure activities that require smoothly cut grass. When Edwin Budding submitted his patent, he had no idea the impact it would have. Similarly, it’s easy to underestimate the power of submitting to useful routines in helping us reach our goals.

Today we’ll cover

A. Why routines are important in goal achievement

B. The rule of three routine

C. How to keep goals and plans in mind

A. Why routines are important in goal achievement

Imagine that you lived in a topsy-turvy world with some strange rules. Brushing your teeth is expected but you are not allowed to brush them when you get up in the morning or at night before bed. And further, you are not to brush your teeth at the same time of day from one day to the next. I’m sure you can guess that in that world, cavities and other dental problems are extremely common. Why?

Because without a routine people will frequently forget to do any important activity

The same happens with our other goals such as getting in shape. Maybe you decide you will run every day or go to the gym three times a week. But if you don’t specify exactly when you will do these activities such as “gym at 6 am before work” or “running at 5 pm after work”, your activity exists in the no-man’s land of vague intentions.

Maybe you get it done, but maybe you don’t

Routines ensure that you actually do what you intended to do. And many of us intend to set goals but we don’t always do it. That’s when it’s important to use routines to make sure goal-setting happens too.

B. The rule of three routine

J.D. Meir works for Microsoft as a software designer. When he arrived there he was given a lot of work to do and not much guidance about how to manage his time. Soon he was floundering. How long could he last without getting a hold on how he spent his time? So he came up with a very simple procedure. Each week he set only three goals for what he wanted to accomplish that week. Each day he set three goals for what he wanted to accomplish that day.

This allowed him to say “yes” to those things that were truly important and “no” or “later” to those things that were not

His program was so successful that he taught it to his colleagues at Microsoft and thousands of others online. I use a variation of his system myself and it’s made a huge difference in my ability to get things done. His system can be expanded to monthly and yearly planning as well. Just set three goals for the year and three goals each month that help fulfill those yearly objectives. Of course, if we don’t remember to set our goals, knowing the routine will do little good. So how do we remember to do it?

C. The easiest way to remember to do a new activity is to use something you already do as the “trigger” to remind you

For example, if you get your coffee before you sit down at your desk to work, you can make having the coffee in hand be the trigger for setting your daily goals. If you pay rent or a mortgage payment at the first of the month, then you can have that be the trigger for setting your monthly goals.

To remember the “trigger” you can place post-it notes on an item connected to the routine

So to use coffee as a trigger, you could put a post-it on the coffee maker. Of course, it’s not always easy to find a trigger you can use reliably, that’s when our smartphones can come in hand. You can set a monthly reminder to occur on the first of the month or each morning at 9 am to remind you to do any task including your monthly goals.

But does this work if I’m already overloaded with goals and priorities?

That’s precisely when it helps the most. Like you J.D. Meir also had too many goals and priorities heaped on him. This kept him from focusing effectively. And feeling pulled in so many directions creates stress and further reduces performance. He performed better and got better reviews from his supervisors after using the rule of three consistently.

And he’s not alone

Neuroscientist Tina Seelig, Ph.D. wrote about how the US military uses this idea in her book What I wish I knew when I was 20 “The U.S. Marine Corps and other military services use the ‘Rule of Three’ as a general principle. They’ve found that people can only track three things at once. The entire military system is designed to reflect this. A squad leader is in charge of three fire team leaders….” She also mentions that the military did eventually try a rule of four as an experiment and effectiveness dropped by large margins. Of course, implementing the rule of three does not guarantee success in goal setting. There are key mistakes to avoid.

We can make our goals too easy or too vague

Studies by industrial psychologists Locke and Latham from 1969 to the present have shown that goals are more effective when they are specific and challenging. Instead of “Get in exercise this week” make it “Run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 30 minutes at 6 am.” That’s specific and if you don’t like getting up early, that’s also challenging as well.

To sum up, we’ve covered three aspects of routines. Why it’s important to create them. How to use the “rule of three routine” in goal setting and how to remember this goal-setting routine.

There was a time when a manicured lawn was the exclusive province of the extremely wealthy

Now the average person can have smoothly cut grass around their home due to Budding’s invention of the lawnmower. The same is true of goal achievement. It doesn’t have to remain the province of just a few special people. All of us can create the life we want as long as we create routines that serve us.

Next step

I hope you’re convinced to try the Rule of Three Routine to get your own goals. However, if you feel it’s a good idea and have a hard time getting yourself to do it, you may find my article titled Three Ways To Do What Matters Even When You Don’t Feel Like It helpful.