Setting Quarterly Goals
The start of a new quarter is the best time to refresh your goals! You can reframe old goals, let go of ones that are no longer serving you, and start new goals. Let’s dive into a goal refresh together!
Celebrate Your Wins
The best thing to do at the start of a new quarter is to celebrate your wins. Answer the following questions:
- What did you accomplish this quarter?
- Where did you see growth?
- What are you most proud of?
Let Go of Goals that are No Longer Serving You
Most of us will have goals left over from the previous quarter that we didn’t quite accomplish. This is your permission slip to let them go.
If you want to go on a deep dive, you can analyze why those goals didn’t work out. It can give you insight so you can plan goals that are a better fit for you. You don’t want to spend a lot of time here. I want you to focus most of your energy on your wins and your new goals. But you can ask yourself these questions:
- Did you not plan enough? Was it too big?
- Did it turn out to be not interesting to you?
- Was it just procrastination? Check out Episode 7 on How to Stop Procrastinating & Why You Do It in the First Place
- Did something change that made it no longer a priority?
- Did it just not happen?
For those goals you didn’t accomplish, you can choose if you want to try again or if you want to let them go and move on. Remember, you can absolutely let it go. I’m giving you a permission slip. If you didn’t accomplish it, it wasn’t meant to be, and that’s okay. I fully believe everything happens at the exact right moment.
Reflect on the Last Quarter
Next, let’s do some reflection on the last quarter. Is there anything that worked well for you this quarter? Is there anything that didn’t work well? Think back on your goals, systems, habits, routines, or anything else in your life.
For me, something that worked well this quarter was making it a habit to exercise consistently each week. I feel so much better when I work out, it puts me in a better mood, and I’m more productive when I get home. So that’s a sign that it’s a habit I want to continue to cultivate this quarter.
Something that didn’t work well for me this quarter was spending too much time on my phone. So this quarter I want to put my phone down at 6pm each night.
After you’ve asked yourself what worked well and what didn’t, you can then get a bird’s eye view of each area of your life. I learned this technique from the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets, and I highly recommend it! You want to take a look at the following 8 areas:
- Spiritual/Personal Growth
- Spouse/significant other
- Family
- Friends
- Health
- Finances
- Recreation
- Work
In each area, give yourself a rating from 1-10, and then ask the following questions.
- Why did you give yourself that rating?
- What are you saying yes to?
- What are you saying no to?
Setting Goals for the New Quarter
Brainstorm:
The first step is to brainstorm your goals. What have you already committed to? What do you want to accomplish? Don’t limit yourself here. Allow the creativity to flow! Once you’ve made the list, do the following:
- Eliminate anything that’s not tied to your vision/purpose – we talked a little bit about vision casting in Episode 1 of the podcast so check that out.
- From what’s left, circle the top 3 things you want to focus on for the quarter.
- Put the rest on a backburner list
- Is there anything you can automate or outsource?
- If yes, make automating that or outsourcing it one of your 3 goals. Check out Episode 11 of the podcast for help with that!
Setting Your Goals
For help with this section, DOWNLOAD my Goal Setting Action Plan for FREE and complete it for each goal!
For each goal, write it down and then ask yourself:
- Why is it important?
- Does this fit in with your purpose? If so, how?
- How will it help you get to where you want to be?
- How will you know when it’s completed?
More questions in the action plan so be sure you download it at christijohnsoncreative.com/goal-action-plan
Break it Down
Next, break it down into 3 milestones and set a due date for the milestone if you want. From there, write out your action steps. Make sure they’re specific. Leave no room for procrastination, overwhelm, or confusion
For example, instead of “do market research,” your action steps might be
- Make a Google Form survey
- Share the Google Form Survey on IG stories
- Reach out to 10 people to do a call with me
- Schedule the calls
- Review notes from Google Form survey
- Review notes from Calls
Keep this where you can see it. Put the milestone pages on your fridge. Write the milestones in your calendar/planner.
Setting New Habits for the Quarter
Chelsea Foster teaches about this in her membership, which I HIGHLY recommend. Check it out at chelseabfoster.com.
- Pick 1-3 habits for the quarter.
- Write exactly how & when you are going to practice this habit
- Write when you will have it be an ingrained habit
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