In the space of a week, two readers asked me about my previous post on the 100-Day Planning Method I’ve used with some of my coaching clients (and I use myself). So I put out a tweet to see if there would be interest.

Joe Holland @joeholland

Folks keep asking me how I do 100 day planning. I know it’s late in the year for this, but if I wrote up my method, would anyone be interested in some sort of template or suggested review and planning exercise? I’m thinking a 3–10 page pdf.

4:03 PM ∙ Dec 12, 2022

I received enough likes and replies that I decided to codify what I do. If you’re interested in that content, including a template, an example, and a reading list, you can pick it up here:

100-Day Planning Guide

Crowdsourcing Makes it Better

I’ve requested feedback from almost everyone who has downloaded a copy, resulting in several typo corrections and some additional material being added. To be clear, I’m not a productivity geek. In fact, I’m pretty dubious about the whole industry (and it is an industry). But I am passionate about helping leaders pick their heads up and ensure they’re headed in the right direction.

The illustration I use with my coaching clients about this is one of open water swimming. I was a competitive swimmer (and swim coach) for most of high school and college. It is very important for young competitive swimmers to learn to breathe from both their left and right sides. If they don’t, their stroke gets lopsided in some pretty ugly ways. But the one thing you don’t want a swimmer to do (in a pool) is to pick his head straight up out of the water and look forward. I don’t want to bore you with all the hydrodynamic reasons this is really bad (i.e., it is the driving equivalent of riding the brake). However, when I started doing triathlons and long open-water ocean swims (multiple miles), it became absolutely essential to pick my head up and look in front of me. If I didn’t, the current could drastically affect my course. Leadership is like open water swimming. You need to lift your head up every once in a while and ensure you’re not off course.

That’s how 100-Day planning helps leaders.

Grab a Copy and Get in Touch

If you download a copy, let me know how I can improve it. I’m very limited in the number of guys I can coach. But if through my writing, I can drop some things I’ve learned from working with uber-competent leaders, I’d love to share where I can.