Time for a Quarterly Review

In previous posts I’ve described crafting a vision of our ideal and having goals to move from reality to ideal. Let’s talk about the Quarterly Review.

What is a Quarterly Review?

A Quarterly Review is the time you take to get above the tree line of your life, to survey the path you have tread, and to look ahead. Basically, to review the progress you have made on your goals and to review your life plan. For my life plan I have used to book Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy. For actual planning I use the tools of the Full Focus Planner to set annual and weekly goals. The planner has space and questions that prompt my quarterly review. It can look a little different based upon your planner, or your methodology, but the basic components are the same.

Get Away for Your Quarterly Review

The first step in a good Quarterly Review is literally to step away. That’s a challenge during a pandemic. If you can, get to another physical space. Could be a friend’s beach house, or even an extended stay at a coffee shop. Or if you are stuck at home maybe it’s a relaxed afternoon on the deck or even a cozy area that’s different than your normal work environment. Plan at least four hours for this exercise.

Follow This Agenda

The next step in your Quarterly Review, once you are settled, comfortable and free of distractions, is to follow this basic agenda:

1. Spiritual connection — I spend time praying and practicing contemplative prayer as part of my goal agenda. This focuses me on my most important values and that fact that I believe my life is centered on God’s will. You’ll want to do some version of this depending upon your faith or spiritual tradition. At a minimum, review your spiritual values that center your sense of being and purpose for your life. Sometimes music or nature can prompt your mind and heart to enter this space.
2. Review your life plan — If you have written a plan this is the time to pull it out and read it and pause to think about it. A good life plan will address the various dimensions of your life (as the book Living Forward does) or perhaps the various roles in our life (as Stephen Covey does with his schedule big rocks idea) or both. If you don’t have a current plan you can still do a mini version. Brainstorm the areas of your life from Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Emotional, Relational, Vocational, and write down one area you would like to grow in the next 90 days. Describe that as a broad goal. For example for Relational it might be, “I want to be more emotionally present with my wife and kids.”
3. Write goals for the next quarter — This is where you get specific. Think about objectives that would fulfill a goal. For example, to take the example above, I might write “Put away all electronic device distractions while preparing, eating and cleaning up meals so that I can focus on conversation with my wife and kids.” This is a type of habit goal that I could measure by tracking daily. I could develop a routine of hanging up my phone just as I open up the fridge to start making dinner. You want to have a specific objective for each broad vision statement that you reviewed in step 2.
4. Record everything to make it reviewable weekly — written goals have a better chance of being achieved. Success goes up even further when reviewed weekly. Even higher success comes through sharing those goals with someone! Spend time to share with a spouse or a friend your key quarterly goals.

Focus on First Things First

Once you have done your Quarterly Review you need to focus on a couple key decisions:

1. When will you review the goals every week? Schedule time for this and keep this appointment.
2. What are your projects that can create the best results? Prioritize these in your weekly schedule. Hint: they should be coming directly from your quarterly goals.
3. What happens when you have a bad week? Sometimes we have a week where we do nothing about our biggest priorities. We get sucked into many other things. No problem. Don’t spend time in regret. Simply review the goals again and focus on making significant impact doing what’s most important.

If this process of a Quarterly Review is new for you, I believe you are about to see more lasting change in your life. This is a lifelong habit and practice that will pay great dividends in helping you focus on moving toward your ideal self and crafting your best life. You got this!

Question: When will you schedule time to do your Quarterly Review?

Leave a note in the comments or send me a message if you found this helpful or want to add to the conversation! As always, let me know if I can help you on the path to your best self.

Peace,

Jeff