We are halfway through 2017! As longtime readers know, I make quarterly goals each year. I aim to set a major goal each quarter in each of three life categories: career, relationships, self. I find that quarterly goals work better than New Year’s resolutions because you can do many things, while still focusing on one goal at a time. In any case, here’s how I did on the first two quarters, with a look ahead to see if the goals I set for the last two quarters are feasible.
Q1
Career: Write 50% of Off the Clock (my next book) — Done. The manuscript is written, I’m polishing now.
Relationships: Plan a fun summer for the kids with camps. — Done, or at least as done as this will ever be. We have had some hits and misses but we have some good ones coming up too.
Self: Do speed work on the treadmill at least once a week (defined as 6 intervals >9.0 mph). — Not done, but mostly because I decided to change my goal to consistency. I ran at least a mile a day during all of Q1 (and Q2, etc.)
Q2
Career: Finish first draft of Off the Clock — Done.
Relationships: Take a family spring break trip. — Done. We went to Hawaii, which was actually reasonably relaxing since we left the 2-year-old at home.
Self: Run 21.7 miles per week (averaging a 5k a day) — Done! My average for Q2 was just slightly over 3.1 miles/day.
Now, looking forward…
Q3
Career: Read a book a week. — As I have already finished 80 books in 2017, I am pretty sure this will happen. My goal in particular was to read more fiction, since writers should be readers, and I have definitely done so. (Have you looked at my reading guide yet?)
Relationships: Do mommy days with each of the older 3 kids. — Done! I did 2 of the 3 in Q2, but it still counts.
Self: Use my time in the car better, listening to podcasts, TED talks, classical music. — Still a work in progress. Since the other goals for this quarter are in the bag, I’d better focus my attention on this one.
Q4
Career: Either revise the novel (again!) or start over during NaNoWriMo. — Planning to revise the novel, but we shall see. I’m not dealing with the novel until my edits on Off the Clock are done.
Relationships: Do another overnight date night with my husband. — Potentially we will do this in late August to time it with our anniversary. In progress.
Self: Make a list of things that need to be replaced, and do so, rather than continuing to work on an office chair draped in a blanket that’s covering the giant hole in the seat. — Well, I’m still sitting on the blanket. Guess I have my work cut out for me in Q4!
How about you? If you made New Year’s resolutions, or quarterly goals, how are you doing on them? Are you halfway done? Or have you designated times in the latter half of the year to accomplish them?
In other news: I have an on-sale date for Off the Clock: May 29, 2018. Mark your calendars 🙂
I do something a little different in that I set goals for the quarter right before the quarter begins (instead of for the entire year). This has worked really well for me and has helped me break bigger new year’s type resolutions into smaller, measurable goals and action steps. I also have a weekly accountability meeting that helps me stay on track and focused.
Thanks for the reminder on Quarterly Goals Laura, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed that the year was half over. Alissa – who do you have your weekly accountability meeting with – yourself? or someone else. I need this!
Lulu – I have a friend who I meet with via Facetime for about 30-45 minutes. We have a standard set of questions and we brainstorm if one of us is having a particular struggle. Earlier this month we did a half day planning retreat to reset and talk through the next half of the year. It really helps refocus each week.
Alissa – thank you so much for taking the time to reply and outline your accountability meetings and planning. Facetime – genius. I’m inspired! I’m being very brave to ask if you’d mind sharing your standard questions?
Lulu no problem – we cover what went well (aka victories of the week); what didn’t go well (losses); and then talk through any fixes/things to try and then what are the intentions and actions for the coming week.
Thank you so much Alissa for your standard questions/structure. I emailed a friend with the accountability meeting idea and she called me, saying she’d had the same idea. How in sync was that! Your format and ideas will make it easier to get started without everything needing to be perfect. A huge thank you again for the idea and structure. All the best for a great week.
How fantastic! Good luck!
@Alissa- a weekly accountability meeting is a great idea. More people should do that!
I love the idea of quarterly goals and accountability meetings. Some of my friends think this is being a bit obsessive, though… 🙁
Besides the questions and being able to track your progress, I think that having a good friend for that kind of meetings is the best part!
We are always the best friends for others we care about – supportive, but not indulgent- though I feel that to ourselves we can be either too harsh or too permissive.. So.. the best is to do it with a good friend 🙂
My goals for the year were big and difficult to break down into steps (have baby, finish PhD) but PhD has been submitted and baby is due to make an appearance in the next few weeks. Work has been wrapped up and am now a lady of leisure.
For Q3:
Keep baby happy and healthy and mom and dad sane
Q4 will be a bit more of an adventure – need to defend said PhD before heading back to work in the new year.
@Cb- what a year! Congrats on both!