You’ve set a personal goal for yourself at the beginning of the year.
You’ve clearly identified what you need to do each day to reach your goal.
You set out with the best of intentions, then one thing pops up, and then another, and you realize you’ve gotten off track.
You’d really like to monitor your progress, but you’re unsure as to how you should proceed.
How can you stay true to your goals this year without getting overwhelmed?
A Word About Quarterly Reviews
Quarterly reviews are common in the business world.
They are helpful for tracking finances, marketing plans, personal sales targets, and much more.
The year is divided up into four quarters as follows:
Quarter 1 (Q1) – January, February, March
Quarter 2 (Q2) – April, May, June
Quarter 3 (Q3) – July, August, September
Quarter 4 (Q4) – October, November, December
Reviews are held the month after a quarter has ended.
So, if you were to review everything that happened in Q1, you’d prepare all your notes, reports, and documents and hold your meeting in April.
Quarterly reviews can be helpful when it comes to your personal goals because they encourage you to take a bird’s eye view of where you are currently, and where you’re going. Since you know there will be a review, you will also be better prepared. It’s like setting an accountability check for yourself.
You will no longer be wandering aimlessly throughout the year; you’ve got specific goal posts set along the road ahead.
Start:
Choose a goal or project you’d like to work on.
This could be your New Year’s Resolution or any personal project, such as putting together that ’65 Mustang that exists as a thousand parts in your garage, downsizing your home, eating more fruits and vegetables, losing weight, saving money for retirement or your dream vacation, or staying on top of your Zumba classes.
Write down the details of your goal or project!
A goal has to have specific details with quantifiable outcomes so you’ll know when you’ve reached your goal.
Write down no more than three goals for each quarter.
Schedule quarterly reviews into your calendar.
Your quarterly reviews will take place after every quarter in early April, July, October, and January, respectively. Schedule at least an hour for your review.
Remember, this time is reserved especially for you and your dreams. Treat this time as if it is an exciting and important date; avoid canceling or double-booking your appointment. Treat yourself with the respect you would a colleague, friend or romantic interest.
Review what has been successful in the previous quarter and what needs work. Analyze and be honest with yourself. This is important work for the success of your project.
Store your quarterly review notes in a safe place. Continuing working on the day-to-day tasks for your project.
Be sure to refer to your goals for guidance and direction, as necessary.
Hold your review.
Here are some ideas to help keep you motivated (and honest) during your quarterly reviews:
Set up a special ritual. Do something nice for yourself at each review. You could go out to your favorite restaurant or cafe, or stay at home on your couch with your favorite hot beverage, listen to an inspirational song, or write in your favorite notebook with a special pen.
Hold your review with a friend. There is power in numbers! See where you’ve been, make plans, and provide support, accountability and motivation for one another.
Keep yourself honest. Thinking about skipping a review session? Having a mini-penalty in place can keep you on track. This “penalty” is an action you must take if you don’t complete your review. You could pay a friend a “penalty fee,” make a donation to a cause, or forego your favorite coffee for a week; whatever motivates you.
Here’s a seven-step strategic planning process:
Step 1: Review your past year
Get an overall view of the direction of the business. How much time did you spend working in, rather than on, the business?
- Has your team been working effectively and productively together?
- What goals/milestones did you achieve in the last year?
- What difference has this made?
- What did you not achieve that you intended to? Why not?
- What has been the impact?
Step 2: Review your current position
Do an objective review of the last quarter and an overview of your current situation – focus on what is still missing/needs to be done.
- What was your profit margin over the last quarter?
- What goals/milestones mark the end of this quarter?
- What did you not achieve that you intended to? Why not?
- What do you need to carry over or continue working on into the next quarter?
Step 3: Set your personal goals
Define your long-term goals (5-10+ years), break those into three-year goals, then into one-year goals.
The drive to make your business a success often comes from the knowledge that this success will allow you to achieve your personal goals.
Step 4: Create your plan
- Categorize your goals.
For example, travel, finances, family, social life, charity/community, business etc.
Flesh out your business goals and categorize them, e.g. marketing, recruitment, finance, team etc.
- Prioritize your goals.
Choose one goal in each category that is of highest importance; the one you must achieve no matter what else happens. Highlight this.
- List the actions required.
Next to each goal, write down the actions you need to take to achieve it. Be specific and realistic. Hitting milestones keeps us motivated.
- Divide into manageable time blocks.
Split the actions out over the four quarters of the year. Then split these out across the thirteen weeks of the quarter.
You have now created a clear set of tasks to do every week in order to achieve your goals.
Step 5: Assign accountability
Now clarify who is doing what.
Create an accountability chart. Take all the functions – head of company, marketing, finances etc., and make sure that for each:
- There is a person who is held accountable for this role.
- There is a list of KPIs (key performance indicators) that tracks that function’s performance.
- There are clear results/outcomes from that role that directly relate to lines on your profit and loss report, balance sheet or cash flow statement.
During this process ask yourself:
- Is there more than one person in a role?
- Is there a person in more than one role?
- Are there any empty seats?
- Would you rehire the person in charge of this again?
Step 6: Create default diaries
For each accountable person there will be weekly actions required in order to maintain the KPIs.
Block out time for these every week so that they’re completed no matter what other tasks crop up.
Plan other appointments and activities around these core tasks. We all are familiar with the object lesson of putting the big stones in the jar first, then pouring in the pebbles and sand to fit around them.
Step 7: Review your plan weekly
At the start of the week, look at your weekly plan. Check off the actions you completed and highlight the ones you did not. For the latter, ask yourself why. Is the goal no longer important, or do you just need to adjust in order to prioritize the tasks?
This quick review will leave you more focused on the right areas of your business. This will result in greater and more consistent growth, rather than continuing along on a plateau, or seeing gains and pullbacks.
Don’t be too hard on yourself, your first goal is to get better at this every quarter. If you feel you are too far away from your goals, then lower them for the next quarter to reduce the burden of being overwhelmed.
After a year or two, you will determine the months and quarters when you are most productive. I always start strong the first two quarters, then gradually decline during the third, and come back with a strong finish in the fourth. I know I do this naturally, so I cut myself a little slack and end up being efficient and balanced as a result. If I wanted to see even more productivity, I could focus on setting different goals for the third quarter and focusing on upleveling my performance during that time period.
I used to be the same with my work weeks, coming out super strong and working hard on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday through Thursday slowing the pace a bit, and finally coming back to finish up the week with an efficient and focused Friday. I changed this pattern because I like to take Fridays off now, so I trained myself to go strong Monday through Wednesday, then take conference calls and catch up on Thursdays. Friday is my review day, or I take time off to recharge.
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