Quarterly Planning Strategies for Productivity on Autopilot – 6 Steps

Quarterly planning is a strategic productivity technique to organize your goals and objectives into a 90-day action cycle. This method is designed to help you accomplish more meaningful goals in less time.

And the half-year mark is coming up fast! So it's time to reflect on past successes and future targets to keep momentum going and make this a successful year in your business.

This month I'll cover  a number of "Quarterly Planning Strategies for Productivity on Autopilot"

For this week's post here are 6 easy steps to follow to get started so you can better manage your work and increase your productivity in quarterly chunks:

1: Start with A Clear Vision

Define what success is for your business: number of customers, sales revenue, even dreams and aspirations for your business. Visualize what you want for your business and life.

If you already have a business plan, then you have a good base to start from.

Hang on to that vision! It will carry you through good times and especially the not so good ones.

2: Set Your Dates

A quarter can be any 3-month period you choose. It's a good sized chunk of time, not too short, not too far out, where you can really make a dent in your goals without loosing motivation.

Ideally, these periods should be set to make sense for your business and its processes. Keep in mind your busy seasons, when your customers have the most revenue or problems to solve, or any other important information that could affect the flow of business.

Most businesses and organizations use a standard calendar year to define their quarters as it's a no-brainer, or lines up with the fiscal year their business runs on.

• Q1 – January 1 to March 31
• Q2 – April 1 to June 30
• Q3 – July 1 to September 30th
• Q4 – October 1 to December 31st
  

3: Outline Your Quarterly Objectives

Now that you have determined your quarterly periods, you need to develop three main objectives you wish to work on for the next three months, where each of those targets can be reached within three to four weeks. These main objectives should align with your vision and idea of success that you set in step one.

4: Create Action Steps, Deadlines, and Prioritize

Develop three to four action steps that allow you to accomplish the main objective you set for that month. Be clear on the resources you need, your strengths and weakness involved in achieving your goals, obstacles that may get in your way, and help you may need. Then set deadlines and prioritize as high, medium, or low.

This way, you know which actions to work on first to get you where you need to be and on schedule.

5: Be Mindful and Keep Track

Be mindful of your actions, practice discipline, and track your results for real success.

Be realistic. Overscheduling yourself will only lead to disappointment and demotivation.

6: Pause, Assess, Repeat

You can’t have a successful plan if you don’t take the time to evaluate its effectiveness.

Make sure it's optimized for your goals and business success. Get rid of anything that's not working. Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole is just a waste of your time.

Reflect on the actions and goals you accomplished. What worked?  Do you need to do more of that? All successful plans change and grow over time.

If you haven’t already changed to a quarterly schedule yet, give it a try by starting with these 6 steps. You might find that you have clearer vision and more motivation working within 90-day timelines!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay