Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to set quarterly goals. New Year's resolutions are great,
Speaker 1: but a year is a long time. Quarterly goals can
Speaker 1: keep you motivated toward a visible finish line. So lots
Speaker 1: of businesses report their earnings quarterly. They forecast how the
Speaker 1: business will run over the quarter, and they report back. Now.
Speaker 1: I know not all companies love investors breathing down their
Speaker 1: necks every quarter, but this ninety day timeframe provides a
Speaker 1: lot of accountability. A quarterly check in acknowledges that a
Speaker 1: year is a really long time, and it's wise to
Speaker 1: have at least a few points along the way to
Speaker 1: take stock and pivot if necessary, or to set new targets.
Speaker 1: I think this is a good way for people to
Speaker 1: think about their lives as well. I'm sure you have
Speaker 1: big bucketless goals, and you probably have annual goals too.
Speaker 1: But as this episode airs near the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter of the year, why not take stock of
Speaker 1: how things are going and figure out what you'd like
Speaker 1: to do by the end of June. That is, what
Speaker 1: are your second quarter goals. You could take a few
Speaker 1: minutes to look back at the first ninety days of
Speaker 1: the year. What did you get done, what did you like,
Speaker 1: what worked, what didn't work so well. Then you might
Speaker 1: think about any big annual goals and think about whether
Speaker 1: those could be accomplished or partly accomplished in the next
Speaker 1: ninety days. You might also think about whether there are
Speaker 1: other things you'd like to do in general, as you
Speaker 1: think about what's on the calendar and the weather and
Speaker 1: so forth. There are a few upsides to this approach. First,
Speaker 1: it's hard to know in December all the details of
Speaker 1: what life will look like next December. I think we
Speaker 1: can get a pretty good sense of a year, which
Speaker 1: is eighty seven hundred and sixty hours. But the further
Speaker 1: you get into the future, the murkier everything becomes. The
Speaker 1: next ninety days, on the other hand, are starting to
Speaker 1: get pretty clear. You might already have some trips booked
Speaker 1: or know when the weekends will be. During busy seasons,
Speaker 1: when things are already planned. Because the landscape is more known,
Speaker 1: you have a better sense of what will be possible.
Speaker 1: Setting goals every ninety days also allows you to set
Speaker 1: more goals without things being in competition. If you want
Speaker 1: to train for a half marathon and be in a
Speaker 1: community theater production, that might be a lot to take
Speaker 1: on at any one point in addition to your work
Speaker 1: and family responsibilities. But you could train for a half
Speaker 1: marathon over three months as a Q two goal. Then
Speaker 1: you could audition for a performance in Q three and
Speaker 1: have that be a goal for later in the year.
Speaker 1: You don't try to cram everything in at once, but
Speaker 1: you also don't feel guilty as you're training for that
Speaker 1: half marathon that you have failed at your theater goal.
Speaker 1: It's still there, it's just timed to a different quarter.
Speaker 1: So take a few minutes now to look at the
Speaker 1: landscape for the next three months. What do you hope
Speaker 1: to do, What do you need to do to make
Speaker 1: that happen. What time can you block out to work
Speaker 1: on these things? How will you know if you've accomplished
Speaker 1: your goals? Then ninety days from now, hopefully you will
Speaker 1: be celebrating several things, and then you'll be able to
Speaker 1: focus on some new goals, confident that everything is getting done.
Speaker 1: In the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.