Ep# 097: Quarterly Planning With Your Person
If you’re anything like me, you love to set goals for yourself. Many people set goals for the New Year, but really anytime my situation or path changes, I’m setting new goals for myself to keep me on the right path towards the vision I have for my life. Do you do this too?
We have the best intentions, but then: life happens. We get stressed because we have so much work to do. Or we don’t check in on our progress consistently, and we forget about the goal. There are so many things that can go wrong when trying to achieve a goal.
So I want to let you in behind the scenes today on something we’ve started doing as a family this year that is making all the difference in keeping on track toward our goals. We call is a Recalibration Session, and it’s basically just very intentional quarterly planning.
I recommend this process for all couples, even if you aren’t both working in the same business. This exercise is geared towards doing it with a spouse or your significant other, however it can also apply to doing it with a key team member as well. Succeeding in your business isn’t just about your business metrics, it’s about you as a whole person and your quality of life.
Keys to success:
Get out of the house and away from the kids
Even if you don't have kids, get out! You need to be away from the distractions and obligations of being in your house.
Try to choose a neutral and calm environment. Michael and I go to the library and sign in to a conference room.
Make it fun and something you look forward to!
Michael and I like to think of it as a day date! This is a time to dream and plan and make sure you’re on the right track and to be inspired by the possibilities. So get yourself in the right headspace heading into the day.
Bring snacks
I’m serious, this is key! If you’re locked in a library room with your partner for 6 hours without food, you’re going to get hangry. And hangriness does not lend itself to a productive or positive experience.
Pick health, quality snacks to keep you on your A-game, and smuggle them in because the library doesn’t usually allow them...
Schedule these on the calendar
Treat these days like important meetings that you cannot miss
Schedule out the entire year so you can’t make excuses or risk forgetting
Bring supplies
I recommend a white board for fleshing out messy ideas, and a notebook for each of you
Create an agenda beforehand
This is optional, don’t let it stress you out
This shouldn’t be time-stamped, just a loose list of the things you want to make sure to cover written in the order you want to go over them
Topics to Visit (or Revisit)
Reconnect with (and restate if necessary) your vision - make sure you’re both in alignment with it
Look at your progression towards your personal goals, family goals, and business goals. Remember, this quarterly planning session is about you as a whole person, not just your business. Evaluate whether you’re on track.
Schedule in time to celebrate your wins so far and determine what the rewards for those wins are. If you aren’t pausing to recognize and acknowledge the wins that you’re having, then what is this whole thing for?! Find something that you will look forward to and make it worth pushing towards your goals outside of the financial successes. A couple of my favorite rewards are booking a weekend trip, or taking the day off and heading to the beach!
This is not the time to schedule in the real granular tasks. Keep this big picture: launches, vacations, goal deadlines, etc. You can also think about setting up a block schedule for your week/month, or think about what type of schedule works best in this season, but avoid getting to nitty-gritty on this day.
Resources for Organizing Projects:
If it’s financially possible for you, I highly recommend hiring a Project Manager. Our project manager is phenomenal. She takes all of my launch plans and breaks them down into a timeline of the tasks that need to get done by whom and by when.
Utilize 21st Century technology! and start a joint calendar. Google Calendar, iCal, whatever platform you like the most.
Keep an at-a-glance calendar somewhere where you can both see it.
Find a project management system that makes sense to your brain and use it. We use Trello, and I love it; it’s not overwhelming, it’s not scary, it’s very user-friendly. Some other options are: Asana, Microsoft To Do, Todoist, Any.do
Budget planning:
Some ideas to talk through:
How much money is available to put towards growing your business? And is this in alignment with your goals? You need to have a strategy here.
How are you funding your business? Where is the revenue coming from?
What are you doing to ensure profitability first?
How are you going to allocate resources?
So, to recap: Quarterly planning days, monthly check-ins (half days if you can), and then Sunday game plans, and you’re golden!
If you implement this, you are going to get rid of so much stress and you will start to accomplish your goals consistently. Bring your person into this process and make it a priority.