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Most entrepreneurs don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because they don’t consistently execute.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re assembling a plane after it’s already taken off, you know the feeling. That’s how I once ran my business, and it nearly destroyed me. I had revenue, investors, and a motivated team, but no clarity or systems. Everyone was firefighting. Chaos ruled. And eventually, the plane came crashing down.
It took hitting bottom for me to realize the truth: hustle alone doesn’t build lasting businesses. Execution does.
But not just any execution, the kind backed by science.
Decades of psychology and behavioral economics research reveal four conditions that make execution inevitable: accountability, specificity, measurement, and deadlines. When these conditions are present, progress compounds. When they’re absent, even the most driven founders drift.
The difference between a business that thrives and one that flatlines isn’t inspiration, hacks, or even timing. It’s whether you’ve built an operating system that aligns with how human beings actually follow through. That’s what I call the science of execution.
And it’s the foundation of my 90-Day Sprint program.
The Four Science-Backed Drivers of Execution
1. Accountability: The Evolutionary Edge
Accountability is one of the most powerful interventions for follow-through. A major meta-analysis found that monitoring progress significantly improves goal attainment, and the effects are strongest when progress is both recorded and reported to others.¹ Even the expectation of accountability, knowing someone will check in, raises adherence to commitments and boosts motivation.²
Why is accountability so effective? It taps into our evolutionary wiring. For millennia, human survival depended on reliability to the group. Our capacity for self-awareness and self-regulation co-evolved with social bonds.³ ⁴
In the Sprint, accountability is engineered into every step: clarity calls, execution check-ins, and biweekly coaching sessions that make follow-through unavoidable.
2. Specificity: Turning Vision Into Action
Ideas inspire, but specificity drives execution. Five decades of research confirm that specific, challenging goals consistently outperform vague or easy ones.⁵ Clear goals sharpen attention, increase persistence, and improve strategy.
Further studies show that proximal, well-defined subgoals not only accelerate mastery but also boost intrinsic motivation.⁶ And the ability to balance vision with near-term specificity correlates with better self-control, higher earning potential, and improved health.⁷
In the Sprint, we translate your vision into a concrete Strategic Roadmap: annual objectives distilled into 90-day OKRs and 2–3 high-leverage projects. This ensures every action aligns with the bigger picture.
3. Measurement: Closing the Feedback Loop
Execution improves when progress is made visible. Classic studies show that tracking progress against specific goals increases performance.⁸ ⁹ A meta-analysis of feedback interventions covering over 600 effect sizes found a reliable positive impact on performance, with the strongest results when feedback is task-specific and tied to goals.¹⁰
Measurement works because it creates feedback loops: awareness of the gap between “where you are” and “where you intend to be” triggers corrective action.¹¹ ¹² Neuroscience evidence also suggests that deviations from goals activate brain regions tied to motivation and regulation, nudging people back on track.¹³
In the Sprint, you work with a tracking sheet and dashboard that surfaces progress weekly. It’s lightweight, practical, and designed to reinforce momentum.
4. Deadlines & Implementation Intentions: Making Action Inevitable
Without structure in time, execution drifts. Research on implementation intentions, if-then plans that specify when and where an action will occur, shows medium-to-large improvements in goal attainment across dozens of studies.¹⁴
Deadlines also enhance self-control. Self-imposed deadlines help reduce procrastination, though evenly spaced external deadlines are often most effective.¹⁵ In health behavior studies, assigning a concrete time and place to a plan significantly increased the likelihood of follow-through.¹⁶
When combined with mental contrasting (visualizing both obstacles and solutions), if-then plans become even more powerful, producing measurable gains across contexts.¹⁷
In our 90-Day Sprint program, every priority is anchored in time: tasks are broken down into clear commitments and reviewed biweekly. This prevents drift and ensures consistent delivery.
The 90-Day Sprint Roadmap
The Sprint isn’t a course. It’s a doing system that installs clarity, systems, and leverage by hardwiring these four science-backed principles into your business.
Step 1 — Clarity Call (30 min)
Define your challenge, clarify expectations, and set your ideal outcome.
Output: Scope confirmed + aligned expectations.
Step 2 — Strategy Deep Dive (90 min)
Set your annual vision, define 90-day OKRs, and prioritize high-leverage projects.
Output: Strategic Roadmap + OKRs.
Step 3 — Execution Plan (60 min)
Break down initiatives, set up your tracking sheet, and create feedback loops.
Output: 90-day plan + accountability system.
Step 4 — Biweekly Coaching (6 sessions)
Stay on track, remove blockers, and course-correct in real time.
Output: Progress. Clarity. Results.
Final Deliverables: Annual & 90-Day OKRs, Weekly Task Tracker, Sprint Dashboard, Final Debrief.
The Modular Advantage
One of the unique strengths of the Sprint is its modular design. Each 90-day cycle is a self-contained “sprint,” but also a building block in a larger operating system.
That means you don’t just fix problems for one quarter, you create a repeatable rhythm of strategic alignment and execution that compounds over time.
Module 1 (Clarity): Sets your strategic direction.
Module 2 (Execution): Installs systems and accountability.
Module 3 (Leverage): Scales what works and codifies progress.
At the end of one sprint, you’re not finished, you’re stronger. Each cycle equips you with clearer strategy, sharper systems, and more leverage, so your business scales sustainably without adding more chaos.
The Choice Every Founder Faces
At some point, every entrepreneur runs out of external answers. The books, courses, and hacks stop working or reveal themselves as distractions.
Some will keep searching. Others will start building.
There is no chasm to leap. There is only a bridge to build, one brick of accountability, one brick of specificity, one brick of measurement, one brick of deadlines. Put them together, and execution becomes inevitable.
That’s what the 90-Day Sprint delivers: clarity, systems, and leverage, installed in 12 weeks and refined with each modular cycle.
If you like to work together, here is information about the program.
Click below if you like to send me a message.
Juan Salas-Romer is President & CEO of NHR Group, a firm that builds, invests in, and transforms companies and properties. He holds a BS in Entrepreneurship from Babson College and an MBA in Finance from Boston College. With two decades of experience across finance, real estate, hospitality, and education, he is drawn to opportunities others often overlook.
His focus is uncovering potential in underperforming assets and turning it into lasting growth. He also partners with founders as a strategic ally, helping them clarify vision, make sharper decisions, and build businesses that endure.
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90-Day Sprint Program testimonials.
“Before the program, I was overwhelmed — too many priorities, constant second-guessing. Within two sessions, I had a clear roadmap and the confidence to act on it.” — Monica G., Creative Agency
“The 90-Day Sprint gave us the clarity we needed to make tough decisions fast. Our team is more aligned than ever, and we’re executing with confidence.” — Sarah M., Manufacturing
“What impressed me most was how quickly we moved from chaos to clarity. The framework we built is still driving growth six months later.” — Alex R., E-commerce
Check out the Vault. My growing inventory of tools, apps, tactics and prompts to build and scale smarter.
Footnotes
Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198–229.
Oussedik, E., et al. (2017). Accountability: A missing construct in models of adherence behavior. Patient Preference and Adherence, 11, 1285–1294.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1977). Self-focused attention and the experience of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(9), 625–636.
Silvia, P. J. (2002). Self-awareness and the regulation of emotional intensity. Self and Identity, 1(1), 3–10.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). Work Motivation and Satisfaction: Light at the End of the Tunnel. Psychological Science, 1(4), 240–246.
Bandura, A., & Schunk, D. (1981). Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41(3), 586–598.
Fujita, K. (2008). Seeing the forest beyond the trees: A construal-level approach to self-control. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1475–1496.
Locke, E. A., & Bryan, J. F. (1969). The directing function of goals in task performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(1), 35–42.
Matsui, T., Okada, A., & Inoshita, O. (1983). Mechanism of feedback affecting task performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 31(1), 114–122.
Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254–284.
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1977). Self-focused attention and the experience of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(9), 625–636.
Wicklund, R. A., & Duval, S. (1971). Opinion change and performance facilitation as a result of objective self-awareness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7(3), 319–342.
Knutson, B., Rick, S., Wimmer, G. E., Prelec, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2007). Neural predictors of purchases. Neuron, 53(1), 147–156.
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.
Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219–224.
Milne, S., Orbell, S., & Sheeran, P. (2002). Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation. British Journal of Health Psychology, 7(2), 163–184.
Oettingen, G., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2010). Strategies of setting and implementing goals: Mental contrasting and implementation intentions. In J. E. Maddux & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Social Psychological Foundations of Clinical Psychology (pp. 114–135).
Awesome framework. Execution is more valuable than any plan or idea out there.
thanks for breakdown...especially the emphasis on accountability and specificity.
Turning a vague vision into concrete, time-bound actions is clearly the key differentiator.