The 90 Rule
Reserve your capacity for opportunities that score 90 or above
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 98%
The 90 Rule converts vague prioritization into a hard comparison. Place an opportunity, commitment, or activity on an importance continuum from zero to 100. If it scores 90 or above, treat it as a candidate for essential attention. If it falls below 90, give it a clear no or negotiate its scope, timing, or ownership. The mechanism prevents the broad middle of merely good options from consuming a calendar one reasonable yes at a time. It is particularly useful after success produces abundant optionality, because the decision threshold rises with the cost of lost focus. The result is not inactivity; it is a portfolio of fewer commitments with enough time and energy to execute each at a much higher standard.
Origin
McKeown presents the rule as a practical way he has learned to help successful people become more selective as their options expand.
Core principles
- 01Importance should be judged on an explicit continuum
- 02A high bar protects scarce capacity
- 03Anything below the bar needs rejection or negotiation
How to run it
- 1
Name the candidate
State the opportunity or commitment precisely enough to judge it. Include the actual scope rather than an attractive label.
Pro tip Score the real request, including preparation and follow-up.
Watch out A vague candidate will receive a vague and inflated score.
- 2
Score its importance
Place the candidate on a zero-to-100 importance continuum relative to your essential outcomes. Use 90 as the acceptance threshold.
Pro tip Compare it with what must be displaced to make room.
Watch out Do not score based only on excitement or social pressure.
- 3
Reject or negotiate the rest
Give sub-90 candidates a clear no or reduce their scope, timing, or ownership. Preserve capacity for the few opportunities above the threshold.
Pro tip Negotiate when the underlying need matters but the proposed form does not.
Watch out A reluctant yes still consumes real capacity.
In the wild
A successful operator reviews ten proposed projects against the year's most important outcome. Two score above 90, three are renegotiated into small advisory roles, and five are declined. The operator can now give the two essential projects protected time instead of making token progress across all ten.
→ The calendar reflects comparative importance rather than accumulated optionality.
Common mistakes
Scoring in isolation
An opportunity may look important until compared with the work it displaces. The score must reflect opportunity cost.
Turning every sub-90 into a yes
The rule has no effect if the middle of the scale remains acceptable. Below-threshold work must be declined or materially renegotiated.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for people with more good opportunities than they can execute well.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for fixed legal, caregiving, or emergency obligations that cannot be declined on an importance score.
From the transcript
“they have to apply what i would call the 90 rule you're saying what is 90 or above essential you know on an importance continuum”
“anything that's below that is either a clear no you actually just eradicate it or at least negotiate it”
From the episode
Greg McKeown: Essentialism & The Pursuit of Less
Greg McKeown