The Rule of Three
The rule of three is a highly effective productivity technique. The idea is to focus on three daily goals. However, these are not just random goals; instead, they are informed by three weekly goals that you set at the start of the week. These three weekly goals are guided by three monthly goals, which are derived from three yearly goals. This will allow you to make a connection from your vision of where you want to be at the end of the year to your daily tasks. In this post, I outline why this approach is so powerful and what you need to do to make it work effectively.
Why does it work ?
There are a number of reasons why the Rule of Three is so effective.
First, it connects long-term goals (yearly, monthly) with the day-to-day work (weekly and daily goals). This helps you stay focused over long periods of time. It makes it easier to work on boring or difficult tasks, because you are aware that they contributes to a much bigger goal. This helps you avoid procrastination and stay on track more effectively
Second, the Rule of Three "forces" you to look at your goals on a regular basis. This means they will be at the forefront of your mind. This makes it much easier to recognize opportunities when they come along. There is a well-known theory in psychology called "The Red Car Theory" (see video below). It’s about how our awareness works. The world is extremely complex with too much information. This means our brain has to get rid of unnecessary information and focus on the most salient bits. What we filter out depends very much on our current mindset. If you are hungry, you will see food and restaurants everywhere. If you are not hungry, you don’t consciously notice this information. In a similar fashion, keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind will help your brain to see opportunities connected to them. The Rule of Three is a great daily reminder of where you want to go and helps your brain notice ways to get there.
Why only three?
The number three is a good compromise. If you choose too many goals, say 10, you will get easily overwhelmed. In addition, you set yourself up for failure. Even if you get 9 out of 10 done, you will feel like you have failed. Another point is that our brains are not made to hold too many things in focus. We get easily distracted, even blocked, if there are too many items that compete for our attention.
Also, choosing three is a low enough number and forces us to make decisions, to set priorities. It's hard to do, but saying yes to something is saying no to everything else, at least for the time being. It's important to train the "saying no" muscle.
On the other hand, if you just have one goal, we can get too hyper-focused and miss opportunities. Also, during a week or a month, we have ebbs and flows of workflow and energy levels. Being able to switch between different goals can be really refreshing and can keep us motivated.
What kind of tasks should I choose?
Depending on the level, i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, your level of specificity will change as well. Take for example, your daily goals; you should think of simple, doable, individual tasks. You should know exactly what needs to be done. Typically, you can describe them with a verb, for example, write an email to Mary, prepare for a meeting with Bob, etc. However, be aware, we are really bad at estimating how long it takes us to finish a task. We all have been there saying, “ I just quickly finish this text in 10 mins,” then it takes us an hour. This can be very frustrating. Therefore, it's better to define the task as "I will work on this task for a certain amount of time”. Even if the task is not finished, your daily goal has been achieved. I use the Pomodoro Technique (25-minute slots) for that (see my blog post on to use it).
For your three weekly goals, you should think on the level what could be achieved if you work over multiple days on it. This means your weekly goals/tasks will be naturally bigger than your daily ones. Your monthly goals are even larger, more ambitious, and your yearly ones even more so. The higher the level (monthly, yearly), the more vague your goals will be. You might not even know how to get there. You only know your first step.
To make it a little more concrete, here is an example of how this could look like (it's from my goals a few years back).
Yearly Goals
Here is an example of how the three yearly goals could look:
Submit 5 proposals
Submit 10 papers
Submit promotion application
Note that the goals are not phrased as "funded proposals" or "published articles", because this is out of our control. What we control is the effort that we put into it. This is better measured by how many proposals or papers we will submit. Also, note that the actual number will heavily depend on your level in the academic hierarchy and how big your group is.
As you can see, the yearly goals are quite high-level and vague. For example, you might not know which 5 calls you will submit your proposals to. However, as pointed out with the "red car theory", looking at your goals regularly will allow you to see opportunities when they come along. Also, your first step to achieve your yearly goals could be to sit down and identify the calls.
Your yearly goals can also include something health-related, for example, going to the gym regularly, swimming or running certain distances, or just the number of total steps. For example, a few years back I wanted to achieve 10,000 pushups over the course of the year. I simply calculated how many I could do on average every single day and rounded to 10k as this sounded like an exciting number.
Tip: If you decide on your yearly goals, make them ambitious. As humans, we are bad at estimating how much we can get done over a long period of time. If you don’t push yourself, you will not grow!
Monthly Goals
Based on your yearly goals, at the beginning of each month, you can then derive 3 monthly goals. Using the yearly goal example, these could look like:
Deliver draft of the vision for fellowship proposal
Submit paper A for conference X
Finish experiments for paper B
As you can see, they are naturally more specific than the yearly goals, but they still need multiple days, even weeks, to finish. For some tasks, such as submitting to a conference, the deadline might fall within this month. This is quite common and it makes it an obvious goal.
Also, you won’t work on all three yearly goals every month. In the example above, there is no goal related to the promotion case. This could be because the deadline is later in the year. There will be ebbs and flows throughout the year. The important thing is to ensure you don’t forget about them.
Weekly Goals
Again, based on the previous monthly goals, 3 goals for the current week could look like this:
Finish Figure 1 for Fellowship proposal
Incorporate feedback from co-authors for Paper A
Give feedback to student on their first results for Paper B
Weekly goals are even more concrete. It might take only a day or a few days to finish them, and you know exactly what needs to be done. When you set your weekly goals, make sure you check also your calendar to see how much time you have available. Maybe your week is full of marking, or you are at a conference and your regular working patterns are disrupted. Adapt your goals accordingly.
Also, if there is a clear deadline connected to on of your goals, this takes priority.
Daily Goals
Here are 3 daily example goals based on the weekly goals from above:
Work 30 mins on translating the draft drawing of Figure 1 into a vector graphic version
Work 60 mins to include co-author’s feedback for Paper A
Work 30 mins on replotting figures for Paper A to make them clearer
Note that the tasks are not defined in the form of “finish task …”, but rather in the form of “Spend X amount of time working on …”. The reason is that we are really bad at estimating how long a task takes. If we are not able to finish it, we get frustrated and demotivated. If you define a time window, however, success can be measured very easily.
As before, adapt your goals according to your workload. If you have a lot of meetings, try to find quicker tasks. While they are smaller steps to achieve your given goals, they are still progress.
Tip: A good technique to work a certain amount of time is the so-called Pomodoro Technique. I have written a more detailed blog post explaining how to use it [link].
What should I do after I have done my three tasks?
When you have finished your three tasks, you’ve made progress and taken (small or big) steps toward your goals. Congratulations! You have won this day! If you can pull that off every single day, you will win every day and you will be able to achieve highly ambitious goals.
Make it a habit!
The best way to make it a habit is to incorporate it into your morning routine (see my blog post). Work on your goals before you’ve even checked email. Make your goals a priority. Otherwise, the day-to-day grind will completely exhaust you and you will have no energy left for your big goals.
Sometimes, while working on your three goals, you might get so inspired that you want to keep going. Use the momentum, even if it means that you have just finished one of the three tasks! Don’t stop just because the timer has gone off. Be flexible! After all, you’re working on goals you’ve set for yourself, and achieving them should align with what you want.
On the other hand, it can happen that you barely get through your three goals. However, these moments are very important as well. This is when you train your muscle to stick to difficult problems. This is what makes the difference. Are you willing to work despite not being highly motivated? It’s OK to make tiny steps to get to your goal. Big audacious goals are so prestigious because most people give up.
When I am finished with my three goals, I check my email for the first time that day. Often this means that fire-fighting starts. However, I am much more relaxed because I have already successfully worked on my goals and I don’t have the feeling that I “just get everything out of the way to start working.”
More resources
I have mentioned a number of techniques that you can leverage. Here are links to read more about them:
I have written up a blog post on how to work on your biggest projects. It’s called Eat the Frog.
Check out my blog post about the Pomodoro Technique. It can help you to stay on track.
Working on your three things should be part of your Morning Routine. Make it a habit!
You can also think about leveraging your evenings to decide you on your three daily goals.
Work Smart, and be Remarkable!
Let me know what you are working on in the comment section below. Have a great day!
- Helmut
