The Daily Edge

Simple Strategies to Increase Efficiency and Make an Impact Every Day

David Horsager, David Horsager

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781626565975
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Business Skills

Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager frequently hears executives lament that their hands are more than full trying to balance the barrage of tasks they face on a daily basis. While he never set out to be a productivity expert, Horsager realized that over the years he has developed and adopted dozens of extraordinarily practical time- and energy-saving techniques that could help today's leader. The key objective is to become so effective in the little things that you have enough time for more meaningful interactions.
In The Daily Edge, you'll learn strategies such as identifying the key Difference-Making Actions on which to focus your efforts. Perhaps it is time to set a personal or even company-wide 'Äúpower hour,'Äù during which you do not attend meetings, answer the phone, or reply to emails, creating the time and space to really focus and get things done. The thirty-five high-impact ideas Horsager introduces in succinct, quick-read chapters are easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that enables you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you're able to honor all your relationships, both personal and professional.

Tip 1

90-Day Quick Plan

Eighteen years ago a man challenged me to not complain for 90 days straight. I couldn’t complain about anything, not food, not the weather, nothing. That changed my life. Some people say you can change a habit in 21 days. I question whether that is long enough. While 21 days may be too short, an entire year is too long. Think about it, most people can’t keep their New Year’s resolutions for even two weeks. People often think, “I have all year to get going on that.” 90 days is a sweet spot. It is a short enough time frame to stay absolutely focused, and yet it is long enough to get more done than most people get done in a whole year. When I lost my weight, the first 90 days were the most important. In those three months, I lost thirty-three pounds, but more importantly, my thinking about food, exercise, and how I spent my time was transformed. Everything changed in 90 days.

Most strategic planning is done at an off-site retreat, yet provides little momentum toward action. Instead of an annual planning session, try making a 90-Day Quick Plan. Every 90 days we encourage everyone on our team to create a 90-Day Quick Plan. It gives leaders and teams an actionable framework that provides clarity and leads to tangible results both personally and professionally.

Here’s how to make it work. Pick an area of your business or life that you’d like to address, and then ask six questions. The plan should take less than 30 minutes to create.

Question 1: Where am I? If you do not know where you are today, you cannot know where you would like to be in the future. (If you are doing a 90-Day Quick Plan as a team, ask, “Where are we?” and use “we” in the following questions as well.) Ask this question and you will be able to quickly identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example, where am I in my relationship with my kids? Where am I in my health? Where am I in comparison to expected sales? Where are we as far as the number of people we are reaching with our message or product?

Question 2: Where am I going in 90 days? Remember, it is not one year or five years like many strategic plans. Thinking about your answer in question 1, where would you like to be in 90 days? Write a clear, quantifiable (numerical if possible) goal. You will likely accomplish more than you thought in just 90 days!

Question 3: Why am I going? If the “why” is strong enough, the plan does not need to be perfect. If a building is burning and my kids are in it, I don’t need to know every detail—I’m going in because my “why” is so strong. When your team is motivated and unified, they’ll do the little things differently. They’ll stay passionate and focused, and they’ll finish.

Question 4: How are we going to get there? How? Keep asking how? until your team commits to taking specific actions.

Question 5: How are we going to get there? I press people to ask how? until they have come up with a specific action they will take starting today or tomorrow at the latest.

Question 6: How are we going to get there? I have found people must ask how? at least three times before they are clear enough. It may take asking how? seven times in order to get enough clarity. The point is don’t stop asking how until you or your team has decided on a specific action that will be taken starting today or tomorrow.

Making It Happen

I remember when I really got this idea of asking “how?” three times. I was training and consulting with one of the biggest heath care organizations in North America. They needed change! They were losing funding and patients. We were toward the end of our Trust Edge Experience. One hundred fifty top people including the CEO and senior leadership team were all seated at round tables. Each table had defined a specific challenge they were going to tackle. I remember asking one table full of top leaders about what they needed to take action on in order to grow and be more trusted. The table leader said, “We need to be clearer.”

I said, “How will you be clearer?”

After brainstorming with his group, the table leader said, “We are going to communicate more.”

I said, “How?”

After more brainstorming, he said, “We are going to hold each other accountable.”

I said, “How?”

The table, seated with bright minds and fine leaders, had to be pushed three times in order to realize they needed a more specific action plan. They worked together to create a plan for communicating more often and more clearly. An important piece of their plan was how they were going to hold each other accountable to this effort. They were able to start following their plan the very next day.

On a personal level, when I decided to lose weight, I kept asking “how?” until I went from “eat less and exercise more” to defining fifteen specific actionable ideas I could implement on a daily basis.

With greater clarity around your 90-day plan, you will gain the trust of your team and bottom-line results will follow.

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“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision.” —Helen Keller

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To watch David teach the 90-Day Quick Plan, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQsZRU8TW-4

However beautiful

the strategy,

you should

occasionally look

at the results.

—Winston Churchill

Tip 2

DMA’s: Difference-Making Actions

Have you ever had a day in which you worked really hard but felt like you didn’t get anything done? Many people look at their to-do list and get so overwhelmed that they end up doing nothing! The DMA strategy gives powerful clarity. It works beautifully especially once you have your 90-Day Quick Plan. It was inspired by a strategy successfully used by Charles Schwab of Bethlehem Steel Company, the first American to earn a million-dollar annual salary.

DMA stands for Difference-Making Actions. DMA’s simply give focus and intentionality to do the most important things every day. This simple strategy will increase results like nothing else. Make a habit of doing DMA’s on a daily basis and your impact will multiply.

Here’s how it works:

The DMA Strategy:

1. First thing every morning, take a sticky note.

2. At the top, write your most important current goal.

3. Then write the numbers 1-5 down the page.

4. Next to the 1, write the most important thing you could do today to accomplish that goal. Then write the next most important thing under 2, and so on.

5. You now have a list of the 5 most important things you could to today that would make the biggest difference in accomplishing your goal and ultimately fulfilling your organization’s mission.

When you write your DMA’s, make sure they are FUN:

F= First priority first. List your tasks in order of priority and then do them in order. Don’t start working on the second task until you have finished the first one or you have come to a roadblock that requires someone else’s help. Your DMA’s are the most important actions for the day! Don’t attempt more than five, or you might get overwhelmed and do nothing. If you can’t boil them down to a few simply stated tasks, then you probably need to restate your goal.

U= Under the main vision and current major objective. DMA’s are the five most important actions you can specifically take today to move your organization forward. They must come under your main vision and help accomplish your most important and current priorities!

N= Number attached. It is not a DMA unless there is a specific number attached. In other words “Calling more prospects” is not a DMA, but “Making 10 sales calls” is. “Organizing your office” is not a DMA, but “Organizing for 20 minutes” or “Cleaning out 2 drawers” are DMA’s. Difference Making Actions must be quantifiable.

It is important to note that DMA’s are based solely on what you can do, not what others need to do. In other words, “Calling three people” is a DMA as that does not rely on whether anyone answers or not. However, “Selling 5 gadgets” is not a DMA as it relies on what others must do. If you consistently do your DMA’s, great outcomes will follow.

Each time you complete a Difference-Making Action, put a line through it. Believe it or not there is great satisfaction in seeing that sticky note at the end of the day with five lines crossed through your most important tasks. I once had an intern fresh out of college who was invaluable to our organization. Every day he accomplished his DMA’s and then left that sticky note on his cubicle wall. Each day he added his next sticky note with lines through his accomplishments. Do you think he needed to be micromanaged? No way! There was proof on the wall he was doing Difference-Making Actions that moved our mission forward every single day.

Helpful DMA Hints

Be focused. When you write your DMA’s, make sure that they are focused. Your DMA’s are the most important actions for the day—you shouldn’t have any more than three. If you can’t boil them down to a few simply-stated tasks, then you probably need to restate your...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Simple Strategies
• Acknowledgments
• Tip 1. 90-Day Quick Plan
• Tip 2. DMA’s: Difference-Making Actions
• Tip 3. Power Hour
• Tip 4. Focus
• Tip 5. Decide Now
• Tip 6. SEEDS First
• Tip 7. Manage Your Energy
• Tip 8. Log It
• Tip 9. Excellence, Not Perfection
• Tip 10. Plan Tomorrow Today
• Tip 11. Energize
• Tip 12. Go Ready
• Tip 13. Efficient E-mail
• Tip 14. Phone Habits
• Tip 15. Maximize Meetings
• Tip 16. Flight Plan
• Tip 17. Wake Up
• Tip 18. Clear Desk
• Tip 19. Automate
• Tip 20. To-do List ABC’s
• Tip 21. Master Faster
• Tip 22. Mind Mapping
• Tip 23. Back Up
• Tip 24. Go Paperless
• Tip 25. Shortcuts
• Tip 26. Don’t Go Gadget
• Tip 27. Don’t Get Hooked
• Tip 28. Optimize
• Tip 29. Bundle
• Tip 30. Get Un-stuck
• Tip 31. Stock Up
• Tip 32. Say No
• Tip 33. Reflect
• Tip 34. Habit Change
• Tip 35. People First
• Resources to Sharpen Your Edge
• About the Author