Welcome to The Passdown: The 3-1-0 Method

By W. L. "Jax" Jackson

Welcome to the first edition of The Passdown.

If you have ever stood watch, you know exactly what a passdown is. It is the intelligence the outgoing watch stander hands to the oncoming watch stander. It ensures you have everything you need to execute the mission without any fluff or filler.

That is the purpose of this newsletter. Every week, I will provide you with tactical lessons and drills to help you navigate your career transition.

I speak from experience. I spent thirteen years on Navy active duty and twelve years in the Air Force Reserves. I have worked as a federal recruiter at the Pentagon and helped hundreds of veterans translate their service into civilian careers.

However, I also lived the hard transition myself. In 2012, I left the military with a master's degree, a security clearance, and thirteen years of leadership experience. I expected to have options. Instead, I ended up stocking shelves at Sam's Club wondering what went wrong.

I realized then that the civilian world will not translate your service for you. You have to do it for them.

The Problem I Had to Solve

During that time, I was working hard and applying to jobs constantly, but I was spreading myself so thin that nothing received the attention it deserved. I would end the day exhausted, only to realize I had not moved anything forward that actually mattered.

To fix this, I built a simple system to force myself to focus called the 3-1-0 Method. I still use it every single day.

It consists of three parts:

3 Priorities: You identify the three things that actually move the needle today.

1 Objective: You select the single most important task that must get done, no matter what else happens.

0 Excuses: You maintain zero tolerance for quitting, delaying, or rationalizing.

Every morning before I check my email or let anyone else dictate my schedule, I write down my 3-1-0. The "1" is the thing I protect at all costs, and everything else waits until that task is complete.

Some days, my objective was finishing a resume for a specific job. Other days, it was making a phone call I had been putting off. You likely already know what matters most on any given day, but you are letting the noise get in the way.

Your Drill

Tomorrow morning, before you touch your phone, write down your 3-1-0. List your three priorities and circle the one objective that must happen. Execute that task first.

Lock on. Execute. Win.

— Jax

P.S. This method is the spine of the Zero Fluff system. If you take only one thing from this newsletter, take this.

Connect with me:

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• The Nexus Chronicles on LinkedIn

The views expressed are those of the author based on personal experience and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the Office of Personnel Management, or the U.S. Government.