A Professional Tip Brought to You By: Cathi Mitchell Beecroft CPC, CTS

New Quarter, New Goals.  With a successful Q-1 in the books, how can we make sure that we continue achieving our goals in the quarters that follow?

First off, let’s ask ourselves if this is a realistic goal to attain in the timeline that we’re allocating. If the answer is no, then reevaluate both the goal and the timeline and get real with ourselves. Let’s start by breaking it down.

Whether the plan is around yourself or your team; whether it is a personal or professional goal, they can all be broken down the same. Think like a business in this regard and focus on quarters – three months at a time. Trends usually occur in threes, so this is a great way to assess how you are doing each quarter towards your end goal and if needed to adjust what you are doing to accomplish it.

Take your end goal and work backwards. If it is business revenue or production increases that you are looking to meet, figure out what you need to obtain each quarter to reach the goal. Then go ahead and break it down even further to determine what activity you need to incorporate each month to reach those quarterly, and ultimately annual goals.  You can then breakdown the activity weekly and even further, daily to ensure you are working towards your goal. Incorporate monthly check ins to provide confidence that the activity you are performing is netting the results to reach that ultimate goal. If you are not on track, don’t fear. With this strategy, you can tweak your plan at each milestone to get back on track for success. Take this same process and apply it to anything you want to achieve, like a personal weight loss goal or perhaps a home renovation project. This method can also be applied for a team goal. Just assign different tasks to each member and create touch points to ensure all parties are managing their responsibilities well. When you break it down into more measurable time increments, you have the power to assess and adjust as needed.

As you move through the quarters and reach each quarterly goal, you are achieving another 25% of that lofty challenge you started. Congratulations! You will have developed habits that will keep you going through the rest of the year, and will learn to pivot when needed. It is important to start with a goal that is doable in a 3-monthperiod and that you are committed to reaching.

Hold yourself accountable each day, week, month and quarter to the results you need, and you will meet or exceed target with ease. Everything is doable with the right plan. Make this your mission to start using quarterly goals. It’s a game changer.