Maybe 2024 hasn’t quite gone the way you wanted it to. You’ve lost momentum on your goals, the honeymoon phase of the new year is over, all of life’s overwhelming tasks have taken over, and you don’t even know what your goals are anymore.
There’s hope! Let’s get you back on track in April and treat the second quarter of 2024 as if it’s a brand new year.
We tend to be a little too lofty with our goals whenever we embrace the new year. We’re feeling excited to leave the past behind and start fresh. We’re looking forward to rocking that new workout gear on our new treadmill we got for Christmas. We’re motivated, eager, and looking forward to our summer body for the vacation we’ve booked at the beach.
Then the first weeks of the new year turn into months, and we realize we haven’t kept up with anything. I’ll start tomorrow. Then we think, I’ll start next week. The it’s this week is too busy. Oh wait, I’ll start next month instead. I have too many unexpected things to handle right now. Sound familiar?
April is the perfect time to get off that negative procrastination wheel and make some easy changes. Shift your mindset and treat the second quarter as its own year. Pick your top 3 goals and only focus on those. This will require some intentional time to determine what is most important for the next 13 weeks (yes, the calendar year quarters actually have 13 weeks), but, it will keep you motivated and re-energized to work on those goals and achieve them in 3 short months.
This concept isn’t new. Actually, Brian Moran & Michael Lennington wrote about this concept in their 2013 book The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months. And I wouldn’t promote anything that I myself haven’t already tried. I’ve been using this type of concept for many years, having it reinforced with my Full Focus Planner, which is a planning system implemented on a quarterly basis. This helps me break down each quarter into focused goals, weekly action items to consistently move the needle, daily tasks, and reminders of my priorities through sketching out my daily routines and Ideal Week. I’ve made huge strides on goal achievement through this system and chunking my calendar year into 4 smaller “years.” Learn more about the Full Focus Planner system HERE.
Side note: Want to plan out next quarter using the Full Focus system as a guide? I host FREE quarterly planning sessions to guide you through the next quarter, gain clarity on your goals, determine how you want your daily routines to look, and how to break down your quarterly goals into weekly action steps. Click here to join me at my next one: https://erinclemens.com/workshops/
Some of the benefits to treating the second quarter as its own year:
- You can start fresh as if it’s a “new year.”
- It’s easier to keep your goals in sight for three months versus twelve.
- You can simplify a lot of lofty annual goals into focusing on just three, and you will actually achieve them!
- Life can throw us some curveballs throughout the year. Thinking in smaller increments keep us sane and keeps our goals manageable.
- It’s quicker and easier to review a handful of goals and action items each day.
- It’s less overwhelming and stressful when you can be intentional about a small number of goals at one time.
- It’s easier to turn one of your quarterly goals into a habit that you can then continue throughout the rest of the year or longer.
- You have greater control over your behaviors so you can achieve your goals.
- You can more quickly determine if a goal is no longer suitable during a shorter quarter than waiting an entire year to come to this conclusion.
Your current actions are creating your future. If you want to know what your future holds, look to your actions; they are the best predictor of your future.
The 12 Week Year by Moran & Lennington
Have I convinced you to consider Q2 as your next mini year? If so, here are the next steps:
- Carve out 1-2 hours this week in your schedule that will be free from distractions. Plan which quiet place you will go to for this exercise.
- Choose three goals you want to focus on and achieve over the next 3 months. Do some self-reflection by asking the questions listed in the table below. This will help you determine which goals you should pursue this quarter.
- Write out your three goals in the SMART framework. (Not familiar with this? See January’s blog post about how to write SMART goals.)
- Get out your planner, a journal, notebook, or even a sheet of paper will do. The important thing is to write it down. Think about your first goal. What is the very next step you need to take to move forward on this goal? For example, if your quarterly goal is to make 10 minutes of meditation a daily habit, your first step is NOT to dive right in the next morning and sit in quiet solitude for 10 minutes. Instead, your week one action item is to spend 15 minutes researching apps you can download on your phone. This might include posting on social media to get recommendations from trusted friends. Then in week two your action item is to narrow down those apps to 3 and choose the one that will most fit your needs. Then in week 3 your action item would be to download the app, set your alarm for 5 minutes earlier than usual, and meditate for 3 minutes daily. During week 4 your action item would be to mediate for 5 minutes daily and create a habit log that you can place somewhere that you will see it every day. Weeks 5-13 are dedicated to action steps that gradually increase your meditation time and daily checking off on your habit streaker sheet.
- Repeat step 4 for each goal, writing down small action items each week.
- Refer to those action items daily. Make a few copies of your three quarterly goals and keep them visible. I like to post them on my bathroom mirror, in my daily planner, and on my desk. Sometimes I’ll also put them in strategic places. For example, if I’m training for a race then I’ll put a reminder to myself inside the refrigerator to make healthy eating choices.
- Schedule time each week to complete your action items. You can block out one chunk of time to tackle it all at once, or block out smaller chunks of time over several days to work on one of your goal’s action items. They key is to schedule it as a meeting with yourself and to treat it as important as you would any other scheduled appointment.
- Order your Full Focus Planner HERE so you can be prepared for the next quarter.
- Register for my next free quarterly planning session HERE so you are ready for a “new” year in July.
ASK: Self-reflection questions to determine your top 3 goals:
| Will this goal advance me to the next phase of work/family/health? |
| How will achieving this goal make an impact in my life? |
| How would achieving this goal make me feel? How would I feel if I never achieved this goal? |
| On a scale of 1-10, how motivated am I to achieve this goal? |
| Does this goal fit in with my overall long-term vision for myself? (Don’t have a long-term vision? No worries, we’ll talk about this in the third quarter.) |
| Can I realistically commit to the time involved with this goal during the next 12-13 weeks? |
Prepare for the third quarter
Use this current quarter to be very intentional about what I’ve detailed above. If you create and stick to your plan you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve. You’ll realize that you accomplished more this quarter than you did during all of last year! When all those little ideas pop into your head and you start to lose focus on your current goals, find a place to jot them all down so you have them later to consider as part of your third quarter goals. The hardest part will be to remain relentlessly dedicated to completing your 3 goals with extremely focused pursuit when new ideas, temptations, and procrastination all rear their ugly heads to prevent us from moving forward. We have a tendency to want to shift focus when things get challenging, so remember to remain steadfast, embrace the challenge, and revel in the feeling of accomplishment and pride when you achieve your goals!
Cheering you on to a successful second quarter “year”!