I wrote in this Instagram post “April is the new January”, partly as a joke but mostly because I really believe that any time you want to set goals is perfectly in order and just great. Please set any goals rather than no goals.
You know that I set annual, monthly and weekly goals so I’m firmly in the detailed goals camp.
However, today I’m talking to many of you who need permission to lighten up with your goals.
Maybe you want to set quarterly or seasonal goals instead?
Let me give you some ideas:
Quarterly goals
In my Let’s Do This workbook (you can still get it here) there’s a page for quarterly goals. I put this in the workbook originally because some things in my life (personal/ house/ holidays) happen very much in seasons.
For example, the first part of the third quarter of the year is all birthdays around here.
Can you think of what happens in your life in terms of quarters? Birthdays, work pressures, house projects, annual holidays? Perhaps if you set goals in quarters it would help you instead of making you feel overwhelmed?
Seasonal goals
We’ve all seen those summer lists on Pinterest and Instagram. I do some seasonal lists but definitely not summer (summer is not my favourite season as long-time readers know). I do make a Christmas list (which happens during our summer), autumn and winter lists though.
Here’s my current autumn list.
I find seasonal goals very helpful in reminding me to get to the things I do want to do, but if I don’t write them down and name them, they often go by forgotten.
E.g. in Spring, I always put jacaranda photowalks on my list. Our city is carpeted in purple blooms and it’s just gorgeous.
The co-host of the Best of Both Worlds podcast, Sarah, divided this year into quintiles (I had never heard of this before) but it made perfect sense because she was on maternity leave for the first two months of the year, and then the rest of the year is divided as she saw fit. Loved it – makes sense for her situation.
I re-read her post now as I’m writing this one, and I realized she combined the concept of quarters and seasons. By the way, Sarah is an upholder 🙂
So try something different – grab a page or your bullet journal and write down a few autumn/ spring goals, or some 2nd quarter goals.