To my surprise, I signed a book contract in September of that year. I turned in my manuscript to the publisher by the end of the calendar year. No, I didn’t hit the New York Times list by the end of the year. But I did write a book that would hit the Times list the following spring.

Surprisingly, my manuscript almost didn’t get published. Six weeks before the book was to be printed, the publisher called to tell me he was afraid he was going to have to cancel its publication. He simply couldn’t sell it. (Books are pre-sold to retailers before they are ever published.) The major retailers just weren’t interested. I did my best to convince him it would work. Sure enough, he decided to take a gamble and went ahead with a small print run.

The publicist they assigned to me started booking me on radio talk shows. Two months after it’s publication—and about 150 interviews later—The Millennium Bug, my first book, hit the New York Times Business Bestseller List where it stayed for over seven months. And it all began by writing down a goal to make it happen.

In our company, we have adopted 90–Day Objectives as a way of life. All of our divisional leaders are required to submit their goals. We require a formal progress report each month. It’s not complex or very sophisticated. But I believe it has gone a long way toward creating a focused and disciplined organization that produces consistent results.

In case you never received any instruction on this simple but important skill, I’d like to offer some pointers. First, why prepare 90-Day Objectives? Four reasons:

As an example, here are my work objectives for the current quarter. (I also maintain a list of personal objectives.)

(Note: Items with XXXs are specific numbers and names on my actual list.)

Let me point out several important things about these objectives that you should emulate in yours.

I look at this list every morning and try to populate my Daily Task List with actions that will move me closer to attaining my objectives. Every day, I try to identify at least one “next action†and do it. If you have never done this before, you won’t believe the focus that this will bring to your life. I also pray over each objective. I know my limitations and am very much aware that I can’t accomplish what I believe I am supposed to do without God’s help. (If you can accomplish an objective without God’s help, you’re not thinking big enough.)

If you have never tried this before, I want to challenge you to give it a shot. In fact, I double-dog dare you. Call it “The 90-Day Challenge.†Write your goals down, and make them happen. Please let me know how it goes. If you want a little accountability, post your goals in the comments section below.

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