Setting The Right Quarterly Goals

Happy July, friends! July is my favorite month of the year for a few reasons, but mainly because it’s my birthday month. Actually today is my birthday! I typically create a new goal list for the top things I want to accomplish this year. Last year was my 31 while 31 list. But this year I’m taking a different route. As I work harder and harder to build my business and develop my professional skills, I thought it was time to talk about setting the right quarterly goals for yourself and for your business.

We like to plan 3 months at a time so we can keep track of all. the. things. that need to get done. So of course, when a new quarter comes along we not only plan our calendar, but we also create new 3 month goals. It can be hard setting the right quarterly goals so we’ve developed a system to help us streamline the process.

One of the worst things you can do for a new quarter or new goal is to not keep in my mind your previous ones. You need to be reflecting and tracking how far you’ve come over the last few months or so. Are you any closer to reaching your next goal? Did you hit your target and now need to create a new one?

You may even be in a situation where you realize your goals have shifted and you no longer desire them. That’s okay, but you still need to spend a little bit of time reviewing previous goals and then creating new ones.

Around this time each quarter I try to plan some time in my day to make sure I can reflect.

Keep Your Goals In An Organized Place

I like to keep track of my personal goals and my business goals in Trello. It helps me to stay on top of them. I found that when I would write them on pieces of paper or in a journal then they somehow always get misplaced. I fill up the journal with other tasks and then have scraps of paper floating from journal-to-journal.

But you need to find a central location for your goals – a place to track your progress, the steps it’ll take to reach them, and your deadline.

Spend Time Reviewing and Reflecting

I might be a broken record at this point, but it is important to reflect on the past month. If you’ve been working towards a goal – financial, health, career or a personal goal then you need to see how much you’ve accomplished. For example, let’s say your goal is to save $5,000 in your emergency fund. You might think “oh I’ve failed at that because I don’t have $5,000,” but what could be the reality is that you did have $5,000 but your baby got sick so you had to pull for the insurance deductible. Maybe your fridge broke and you had to replace it. Maybe you overspent and weren’t able to put back as much as you thought.

Just because you didn’t reach your goal by the end of the quarter doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means life happens, so by spending time reflecting on how far you’ve come then you can start to turn around the negative talk. Being hard on yourself is one of the worst things you can do when reaching a goal. While your self-talk is negative then you actually start to believe that you will never succeed and that’s not okay.

Set Realistic New Goals

Did you reach a goal or two and now need a new one? Have your goals shifted and you no longer desire your current goals? Now is the time to spend a few minutes or hours setting new goals. But the key is to set realistic ones. If you make $3,000 a month and want to save $4,000 then that might be a little hard to do. So you need to be aware of your other commitments when setting your new goals.

Schedule Your Next Review

Now is the time to calendar out your next goal review. We tend to plan at three months at a time, so each quarter is when we like to sit down. However, you may want to start off with monthly goals. But go ahead and pull out your paper planner or Google calendar to set a time. Make sure the time you pick is feasible. Don’t pick Monday at 10:00 a.m. when you work 8-5 during the week. Make sure you’re setting yourself up for success by being mindful of your review time.

Have A Money Date

I talk about money dates a lot around here. I think they are vitally important to financial health. It really gives you and your spouse a chance to be on the same page with money, bills and goals. So make sure to have a money date when you’re setting your new quarterly goals.

So you might be thinking what are my 3rd quarter goals for my business? Well here they are:

– launch new product in the shop
– create content for new course coming up
– create weekly videos for the YT channel
– create 3 posts a week for the blog
– become a guest on a podcast
– continue to serve my readers