In my recent posts about how I set goals and how I plan out my month, I referenced that I like to break my goals down by quarter. I find that breaking down my yearly goals by each quarter makes them much more manageable, and it really helps me focus in my monthly planning on actionable steps I can take to accomplish my yearly goals. Since we are now wrapping up the third quarter of 2020, I wanted to share how I review each quarter and plan out my goals for the upcoming quarter.
While I try to time my quarterly review a week or so before the next quarter starts, I usually don’t end up doing my planning until the first week of a new quarter. My quarterly planning process usually lines up with my monthly planning process for the upcoming month. While it is a lot of planning at once – usually I end up doing the quarter, then month, then week, then day – the whole process actually is really motivating. I come away from it with a renewed sense of motivation for going after my goals and tackling everything I need to get done.
For simplicity’s sake, I like to do my quarterly planning in 3 steps: Review last quarter, review my yearly strategy & goals, and then set quarterly goals.
1. Review last quarter.
The first thing I do in my quarterly planning process is review the last quarter. I truly believe that growth cannot happen without a means to assess progress, so my previous quarter review is the foundation for my whole quarterly planning process. I like to ask myself 4 questions:
- What went well?
- What could have gone better?
- How can I build upon my success?
- How can I improve on my shortcomings?
This is basically my version of a SWOT (success, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis. I treat these questions similar to journal prompts, and I try to answer each question with responses that cover each area of my life – for me, that’s Personal, Organizations, Work, and my Blog.
I also like to review my quarterly goals from the previous quarter to answer those questions. Priorities can always shift, so sometimes goals from last quarter aren’t necessarily important anymore. Regardless, I like to reference goals that I accomplished in the “what went well” question, and then I’ll probably reference goals that I didn’t accomplish in the “what could have gone better” question.
I tend to be overly critical, but I do try to be a little forgiving when I answer these questions. There is no shame in not completing every goal you set out to accomplish!
One of the most useful parts of these quarterly reviews is that I can reflect back on them throughout the year to see what I have accomplished and am most proud of. It can be really helpful, especially on a day you are feeling down, or if you need to reference what you accomplished for a performance review at work!
2. Review yearly goals and strategy.
After I complete my quarterly review, I like to review both my yearly goals and strategy.
First, I usually review my yearly goals. I like to start with these so I can remind myself what I really want to focus on and work on this year. I used to always abandon those New Year’s Resolutions so early on – committing to reviewing my yearly goals on a consistent scheduled helps me stay accountable to those goals!
Sometimes, when reviewing my yearly goals, I find that my original goals and plans have shifted. That certainly couldn’t be truer than the curveball that 2020 has been!
So, during my quarter 2 review (or mid-year review) this year, I decided to make a “revised yearly goals” list in addition to my normal quarterly planning process. It really helped me to gain clarity on certain things that I knew wouldn’t happen anymore (sayonara to all travel plans!), and it helped me gain focus onto new projects and responsibilities that I picked up at work. All this to say, plans are going to sometimes change, and that is okay!
After I review my yearly goals, I also like to review my yearly strategy. This is something I already do on a monthly basis, but I find it to be useful to do during my quarterly review too. If I see that there are any big projects that are due at some point during that quarter, I usually add them to my quarterly goals list too.
3. Set quarterly goals.
After I reviewed my yearly goals and strategy, I pick out the goals that I want to work on. For goals that are particularly large, I usually choose the next step for that goal and add that to my quarterly goals list.
I also like to reference my questions from my quarterly review when setting goals – specifically the last 2 questions about building upon my success and improving on my shortcomings. Is there anything from here that I want to work on this quarter so it can be in my list of successes next quarter?
After I finish setting new goals for the quarter, I flip back to my goals for the last quarter. I cross off anything that I accomplished, and I migrate forward any goals that I didn’t get to that I want to work on in the upcoming quarter. I like to leave this step for last so that I focus more on what I want to accomplish from my yearly goals and less on what I didn’t accomplish last quarter.
Sometimes, I find that there is a goal on my old list that isn’t really a priority anymore, nor do I want to work on it anymore. In this case, I draw a line through it and leave it behind. I don’t beat myself up about it or question my decision. Our priorities can always shift, and sometimes you have to get rid of tasks that are dragging you down in order to make room for new opportunities in the future.
Simply reviewing my last quarter, reassessing my yearly goals, and setting some goals for the upcoming quarter has really helped me focus in on what I want to accomplish each quarter. Keeping this routine simple and consistent has definitely helped me stick to it the last few years. My quarterly planning process has been really useful to accomplishing my yearly goals, and I hope that these tips can help you accomplish all your goals that you have set for the last few months of 2020!
What plans do you have for the last quarter of 2020?