Hi friends,
I used to write a list of goals every January, stay excited about them until late February, and then forget about them. Actually, it’s not that I forget—it’s that other things take priority, and my list recedes to the back of my mental log.
This happens because simply writing a list of goals doesn’t work. Often, we overcommit.
What works for me, more often than not, is breaking the year into three quarters and committing to one goal per quarter. That’s three major goals a year. It’s manageable, and it’s something.
This is how I started my YouTube channel, this newsletter, and how I’ve set my writing goals. Do I always accomplish everything I set out to achieve? No. But since I’m only working on a few goals a year, it’s much easier at the end of each quarter to review how I spent my time and figure out what went wrong. Often, things outside my control dictate my time. But if it’s procrastination or a lack of commitment on my part, I can pinpoint the problem and decide whether to address it or let it go.
For example, a while ago, I was posting short-form videos on social media but found myself slacking on scripting and recording. At the end of that quarter, I sat down to journal about it and consciously decided to stop posting short videos because I wasn’t enjoying the process anymore. Instead, I ramped up my long-form videos from 2 per month to 4-5 per month.
How to Plan Quarterly
- Dream Big:Start with a pen and paper (not a computer) and write down your dreams. This might sound fuzzy, but if you’ve never done it before, you’ll surprise yourself. These aren’t promises or commitments. They’re the astonishing things you’d love to achieve if everything went your way—money wasn’t an issue, and you had all the time in the world.
- Identify Realistic Goals:From this list, some dreams may feel too big to achieve in your lifetime, and that’s okay. Focus on the ones you feel strongly about and could realistically accomplish in the next 3-5 years.
- Focus on One Goal Per Quarter:Choose one goal from your smaller list to focus on for the next three months. Open a calendar and block out specific times each week to work on it. Scheduling your work makes it far more likely to happen than keeping it as a vague idea or to-do list on a paper. To add accountability, share your goal with a friend or spouse and ask them to check in on your progress every two weeks.
- Adjust Priorities Each Quarter:In the second quarter, you don’t abandon your first goal. Instead, you prioritize your new goal while continuing to maintain progress on the first one. After working consistently on something for three months, it often becomes an easier lift.
By limiting yourself to one major goal per quarter, you avoid spreading yourself too thin. Trying to tackle six goals in January often leads to dabbling in many things but truly accomplishing very little. Like the famous saying goes, less is more.
— Mohamed
📖 Books I’m reading?
I’m currently rereading two books:
The Artful Edit, because I’m editing a draft of a short story I recently finished.
Returning to Haifa because I been part of launching a book club with Eiha, and if you are interested you can still join us before our first Zoom meeting on January 12th.
🔖 Quote I’m pondering
“The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even if your effort falls short it may exceed an ordinary success.”
— Kevin Kelly
Source: Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier
📸 Through My Lens
Please give me feedback on the newsletter by replying to this email. Do you find it worth your time? What do you want more or less of? Or other suggestions?
Thank you for reading!
Mohamed