For the past decade, I’ve essentially lived my life in 100-day sprints.
Not with a rigid conformity or any precise adherence — but more as a mental framing to complete meaningful chunks of work or behavior changes that sit in an established time-bound “intensity container” for review. (And likely why I've morphed my previous innovation agency into a sprint lab!)
Treating all time the same is a fallacy.
There’s a reason why businesses chunk down the year into quarterly and monthly allotments — setting timeframes to evaluate effort and work done. However, this linear and static treatment of time is too one-dimensional. Depending on our physical and emotional states as dictated by levels of arousal, we immerse ourselves in an experience differently and therefore perceive time differently. So performing a task in flow vs. listening to a dull lecture on an irrelevant topic can literally move the needle of time in completely different ways. So adjusting the level of novelty, urgency, intensity, and meaning on something can completely change our relationship to a chunk of time – especially when we need to produce something on the other side of it.
So, missing from the hamster wheel quarterly cycle are two things I like to add to my sprints: quality and intensity.
(Particularly important if you work on your own and need to design in motivational drivers).
Quality: the nuances in intention and attention behind how I show up.
Rather than it being just a straightforward Q3 goal (ie. retest marketing campaign), I like to go beyond evaluating the reason behind the pursuit and emphasize my intention. This can give its ‘meaning’ more of an energetic charge so that I show up with a different quality. So for example, if I’m re-testing a failed goal with a new parameter, then I will pay attention to my attitude and intent to serve clients differently rather than fixing my previously failed tactic. I’ll frame it with that new quality instead (ie. “all-in partner-in-crime” energy). This could mean that I show up less with the energy as an outside consultant — but that of the fractional co-founder they urgently need right now.
Intensity: adding challenge by adjusting the duration, environment, accountability or outcome.
Rather than going through the motions of habituation, I like to add a nuance of intensity to challenge my existing skills and level up my capacity to do the work in unfamiliar circumstances. That might be halving the time to do the same thing (Parkinson’s Law), doing it in a slightly uncomfortable environment, telling my coach it’ll get done, or delivering more than I think I’m capable of.
This intensity container of a time-bound goal with greater meaning and new curveballs changes the game on an endless cycle of work. And teaches this old dog new tricks.
That said, not all 100-day sprints are intense. (Nor should they be).
Changing it up matters as we ultimately learn from contrast. Some need to be slow, known and methodical. Others, like getting on an unfamiliar rollercoaster ride. In fact, in order to live your life in sprints, you need to intentionally design both blank-time (with nothing to do, nowhere to be) within your sprints AND large swaths of time where you're maintaining the status quo and finding a steady rhythm. We all need to retreat here and there too.
How are you designing in intensity containers to your day for better delivery?
