Be Better Today: Using the Power of 3 to Drive Improvement

When things in life or work start piling up, people either tend to feel overwhelmed and shut down or buckle down and get to work. From my experience, the people who buckle down tend to only focus on the “action” of getting to work… of getting busy and may not be focused on the right things to do. 

That is when you need to take a breath, step back, and focus on what you need to improve to move you forward.

Be Better Today
I created the Be Better Today tool as a method to help you drive targeted improvement. It comes down to the idea that if you narrow your focus on Being Better Today than you were yesterday, you will move forward gaining momentum.

I introduce this tool in my 3 Pillars of IMPACT sessions to simplify the continuous improvement process by establishing the mindset of forward progress on a single improvement area without having to do a formal program that causes you to quit before you even start. 

The Power of 3
There are scores of research to be found that stress the importance of narrowing focus to enhance your effectiveness. The Rule of 3 by J.D. Meier used applied psychology to support the productivity framework of limiting to three things in any given period. 

It comes down to narrowing your focus, breaking things into digestible bite-size chunks, and then focusing further on the priorities. 

Identify Your Target Improvement Area
This is the area where you want to be better and improve yourself to have a greater impact. I’ve had people select things like goal setting, improved engagement with their work team, hitting a project timeline, and even getting an athletic scholarship. 

You can view the Targeted Improvement Area as a goal which may help keep you focused, but for some, the goal-setting process can be intimidating and the process of identifying the perfect measurables can leave them stuck. So, we focus less on a measurable value to achieve and more on the process of moving forward.

Ultimately, the word Target means we want to narrow the improvement area, but it rarely is a one-to-one cause and effect. In the next step we want to identify three focus areas to help move you forward. 

3 Focus Areas
We now use the Rule of 3 to bring focus to your targeted area of improvement. If you can't identify three, then your targeted area is too narrow. Take a step back to get a border view and reset the Targeted Area of Improvement.

Identify the three areas where you can focus to gain improvement. If your Targeted Area is to establish a healthy lifestyle, maybe your 3 focus areas are healthy eating, regular exercise, and mental health. 

There could be more focus areas, but we want to focus on the top three. Don’t cause undue stress by trying to find the perfect three or to phrase them in inspirational, life-changing, motivational poster quality words… just choose 3 areas and put them in order of importance.

Creating Action
Next is where we focus on identifying the action steps that will create the forward movement. You identify three specific actions that need to be done in each focus area. Only three. There may be 20 actions that need to happen but right now, we are creating and building momentum to help you Be Better Today than yesterday.

Under each Focus Area, the actions need to be sequenced but also prioritized. By this I mean there may be something that won’t be required until step 4 or 5, but it’s important to ensure you are moving in the right direction. (I.e., creating recipes and meal plans before going to the grocery store.)

Put it to Work
Now you are probably looking at your BBT Tool and saying, “what happened to three?”  Remember, bite-sized chunks. While there are three actions under each Focus Area, we are only going to focus in on the #1 action under each area.

When you get one of the actions complete, you then move on to the next action under that Focus Area, maintaining your focus on three activities. When all three actions in a focus area have been completed, you can add in more actions that need to be done to achieve that focus area. If that Focus Area is now complete and you have success, you can add a new Focus Area or if there are no more to add, then focus on two actions within a different Focus Area. Remember the Power of 3. 

Start Being Better
That’s it! No fancy project plan book. No costly subscription fees. Just spend some time in reflections, put pen to paper, and begin. 

Be sure to make a copy of your filled out BBT tool so you can have one at work and one at your home. Keep it prominent and visible. Don’t put it in a drawer where it is forgotten with all of your past efforts. 

Find an accountability partner. Share with them how you want to Be Better Today and ask them to check-in with you to see how you are doing. Once you explain, maybe they will want a BBT Tool of their own to complete. 

Let the Be Better Tool help you reach your potential to drive IMPACT, Beyond Today. 

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