The 90-Second Principle

Arlen Busenitz introduced me to the notion that there is great power in 90 seconds. As you begin to understand this concept, you will become more effective and successful and save huge amounts of time.

The basis of the concept comes from the familiar adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It takes a great deal more time and money to fix a problem than it does to prevent the problem. Consequently, the time you spend preventing problems is as valuable as gold. I will show you that seconds of your time can save hours of time, frustration, stress and money. I want you to learn to use 90 seconds “now” to avoid a problem, think-through a decision, fix a problem or save time down the road.

Example 1: You have just moved in to a new home. You have your dog tied up in the back yard because you have not installed the fence—that will come after you put in the new lawn. One afternoon you notice that the rope that secures your dog is beginning to fray. You figure that within a few days you will replace the frayed rope with a new length of rope you have in the garage. Two days later your dog breaks loose. If you had taken 90 seconds to replace the frayed rope when you first noticed it, you could have prevented two hours looking for your dog, $10.00 printing flyers, a trip to the county dog pound and an un-told amount of stress.

Example 2: Your boss gives you an important document. Rather than taking the 60 seconds to immediately file it in the proper file, you put it on one of the stacks of papers on your desk. When you need that document in a hurry two weeks later, you frantically spend 30 minutes leafing through piles of papers on your desk, trying to stave off anxiety, because you do not want to be late for that meeting with the boss.

Example 3: Instead of taking a few seconds to note the date and place of your next team meeting and mark it in your calendar, you decide to trust your memory. Several hours (or maybe days) later, you have forgotten either the date or the time of the meeting. Now you must interrupt someone else’s busy day to get the information, or, worse yet, the meeting may already have been held without you. You may pay a price for your forgetfulness for months to come.

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a phone call at 303-225-0328. There is never a charge for my consultation time, whether talking to me on the phone or in person. Yes, you read correctly, my consultation time is always free.