How to Be Crazy Productive Using Quarterly Goals

posted on : April 1, 2021 posted by : Stephanie 0 Comment

Want to be crazy productive without feeling utterly overwhelmed? You can get more done in the next three months than you normal would in a year using quarterly goals. And I’m going to show you how!

What Is a Goal?

First things first, let’s get some definitions out of the way.

The term “goal” is thrown around A LOT. As such, it has a lot of definitions. For the purpose of this article, a goal is going to be a focused and measurable achievement.

Example: By the end of this quarter (April-June) I will release four new products in the Praying Penguins store. (p.s. this is a real-life goal, so be on the lookout for some awesome new stuff!!)

Ok, now this goal can then be broken down into sections or projects. In this example, each product is a separate project.

And, each section or project can be further broken down into tasks. Tasks are the tiny, individual steps you have to take to complete each project and each goal. Continuing our example, a task would be to sketch out a draft of the new homeschool planner (*spoiler!!*). Or to create a graphic for the store front.

Quarterly Goals

I demonstrated this in the example above, but your goals will fit within the window of three months. This is KEY! Planning goals for an entire year DOES NOT WORK. Ask anyone who’s ever made a list of New Year’s resolutions…

Now, your quarterly goals may add up to a bigger “year” goal, but I strongly encourage you to keep your focus on the the next three moths.

How to Set Your Quarterly Goals

Alright! You are ready to dig into your goal-setting, but where to start? Everyone’s brain works a little differently, so you will have to see what works best for you. This is my process:

Step One – Brain Dump

Sorry, I know some people hate the term brain dump. In my quarterly planner, I use the phrase “on my mind.” Whatever you call it, you need to get everything rolling around in your brain down on paper. It’s ok if it isn’t in the form of a goal yet, just write everything down.

Step Two – Sort

Next, sort everything from your brain dump into categories. Mine divide into homeschooling, Praying Penguins, and writing. Obviously, there a lot of other things I have to do: housework, errands, go to the gym, miscellaneous life tasks, etc. I have a post coming soon about how I organize all my extra tasks. For now, we’re just focusing on GOALS.

TIP: Keep it to three categories! We really can’t focus on more than three goals in a quarter while staying productive.

Step Three – Prioritize & Write Your Goals

Now that you have your categories, prioritize the goals/projects/tasks from your brain dump.

Take your top priority for each category and turn it into a measurable goal!

Step Four – Brainstorm Projects & Tasks

You’re almost done! Now, take each of those goals you just wrote and spend some time brainstorming all the projects and tasks involved in accomplishing each goal.

Step Five – Prioritize Your Projects & Tasks

Time to prioritize again. Choose the top task for each goal and get it done this week! Repeat until you’ve reached your goal! You can add more tasks as you work through your goal, depending on how much time you have during the week.

This is a learning process, so you will have to make adjustments as you go along. I include a quarterly review in my planner. But when you first start doing quarterly planning, you may want to also do monthly reviews to see if you’re on track to reach your goals.