A More Manageable Way to Set Goals: Quarterly Summits

Increasing your chances of sustainable success by setting goals four times a year instead of just once in January

Setting smaller goals, more often, creates momentum that carries you forward. Each quarter is like a new year. You take stock, reset, and create new horizons. A quarterly pace allows you to pivot and adjust as you go while still having enough time and focus to achieve your goals. Setting goals each quarter gives a new burst of energy and allows you to set a smaller number of goals that are both more focussed, more manageable, and more likely to be accomplished.

What is a Quarterly Summit?

We came up with the name Quarterly Summit because it seemed full of possibilities and purpose. It reflected that the sessions involve looking back to all that happened in the past quarter, celebrating successes, and looking toward the next set of goals. Quarterly Summits are a very simple system for setting goals on a quarterly basis instead of an annual one. I have found them to bring an unprecedented level of focus and ability to take action to my life that has been very empowering.

The idea of setting quarterly goals in this way stems from a podcast I listened to with Greg McKeown who wrote a very useful book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. He calls them “Quarterly Offsites” and our first summits four years ago began with his suggested format and questions. Our questions and format has significantly evolved over the years to the one that I share below.

In a Quarterly Summit, you’re looking back to the last quarter, taking stock of where you are at this moment, and then looking forward to where you want to go. It’s all about finding your own internal motivations and priorities – and then honouring them by aligning your actions to them.

How to do a Quarterly Summit

First, set aside a half day or so at the end of each quarter. Print out this sheet of questions. Go somewhere different than your usual haunts. Turn off your phones and devices. Work through the questions slowly, on paper and in conversation with whoever you are with (if anyone).

During this session, you will first look at the goals you set in the previous quarter, how you did on them, any struggles you may have had, and any learnings you wish to take from those three months. Next, you will look at what you currently have on the go. Finally, you will set some clear, manageable, and immediately actionable goals for the upcoming quarter. I arrange my goals in order of priority. This helps me to make game-time decisions if needed during the week.

Sometimes, I also carry a goal over to the next quarter. For example, if my daily painting habit is working but still feels fragile or in need of attention, I will continue it as a main goal the following quarter. Eventually, repeat goals become habits and no longer need to be a focus. This can create an amazing feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

You can do these summits alone, with your partner, or with a friend. I typically follow a similar format for Painted Stories and do summits alone on an as-needed basis. The regular non-business Quarterly Summits, I do with my husband. I find the joint hashing out of ideas, identifying of roadblocks, and strategizing how to overcome struggles to be invaluable – and a wonderful way to connect, too.

As for creating action steps, I may make a some initial tasks immediately following a summit, but I generally prefer to create them as I go. This allows for flexibility and breathing room. It also helps me to stay motivated and not feel as though I am simply executing on a mountain of tasks.

The shorter timelines helps to build momentum as you achieve your goals. I find 3-months to be the perfect duration for a project – not too rushed, and not so long that you stagnate.

Creating daily and weekly steps

Weekly check-ins: A key component to quarterly summits is setting aside time to check in weekly on how you are progressing. This helps you to catch yourself before going off-track, allows you to address any difficulties you encountered, and look toward the next week. For several years, we would go out for a drink or a tea after work on Friday evenings. It was a wonderful way to catch up on how our weeks went, connect, and talk about the weekend/following week.

Planning your upcoming week: I use a GTD task management app (Nirvana, update: I now use Trello for task management) for keeping track of and checking off to-dos. You can use any system that works for you. I set aside about 15-minutes or so each Sunday. I look at the next two weeks in my calendar and create any tasks that are needed. I then do a brain dump of anything that’s on my mind or that needs to be done. Then, I organize my upcoming week, ensuring there are steps toward each of my goals (or, if not, that I am intentional about it). Being able to see my week ahead of time in this way really helps me to get a ‘feel’ for the upcoming week, what the pacing and focusses will be. I talk more about this is my post about leveraging the rhythms of weekly routines.

Eventually, repeat goals become habits and no longer need to be a focus. This can bring an amazing feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Why Quarterly Summits are so effective

Setting goals on a quarterly basis means you are working within a shorter timeline and with a smaller number of goals. It is important to keep the scope and number of goals small. I find 3-4 is the most I can manage. If I try to add more than that, I tend to feel like I’m juggling too many head spaces and projects.

Setting goals on a quarterly basis allows you to break larger goals down into more manageable projects, and then into even smaller actionable tasks. The shorter timelines helps to build momentum as you achieve your goals. I find 3-months to be the perfect duration for a project – not too rushed, and not so long that you stagnate.

In my experience, there are almost always surprises that come up in a quarterly summit – it may be something you didn’t realize was so important that becomes a top priority, you may find insight on something that has been going on in your life or a new way of looking at things, or sometimes an entirely new goal comes to the fore.

I believe this happens because you’re setting aside time for yourself, you’re getting quiet and listening, you’re looking back to the last quarter, taking stock of where you are at this moment, and then looking forward to where you want to go. It’s a wonderful time for getting perspective on what’s most important to you. Not what others think is important, or what others are setting as their goals, this is all about finding your own personal internal motivations and priorities. It is about hearing them – and then honouring them by aligning your actions to them.

I can definitely say that these quarterly goal-setting sessions have been an absolute game changer in our lives. They have helped us to become amazingly focussed, productive, aligned, and deliberate in our actions.

I can definitely say that these quarterly goal-setting sessions have been an absolute game changer in our lives. They have helped us to become amazingly focussed, productive, aligned, and deliberate in our actions.

Reviewing the past year and looking toward the year ahead

Toward the end of the year, we spend a separate session looking back over the past year. We look at what worked, what didn’t, and set our sights toward the year ahead. This is an effective way to to regroup, celebrate all that was accomplished, and think about key themes for the coming year.

The annual review is about looking back at the past year and then looking toward the upcoming year in a big-picture way. As a result, we ask different questions in our annual review. I’ve included them in the Quarterly Summits PDF (link below).

Initially, we tried to do the annual review at the same time as the January summit, but quickly found it to be both overwhelming and less effective. We now do an annual review sometime around Christmas, when feeling antsy and in need of a reset. We do the January summit as close as possible to the first day/week of taking action on our shiny new goals! You can do them whenever works most effectively for you.

Making them your own

I can definitely say that the amount of time these summit sessions take is more than made up for in the effectiveness and focus with which you are able to move toward your goals. I have also found that the longer we use these systems, the faster we get at them. As they become habits and regular parts of your routine, they require less and less effort to do.

Download the Quarterly Summits PDF complete with all our questions for both the quarterly and annual reviews.

Our summits have evolved significantly over the years. If a question doesn’t work for you or if something feels like it’s missing, feel free modify the process for yourself – it is meant as a starting point – take what works and leave the rest!

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I mentioned how valuable I find the power of routine and having daily & weekly rhythms in my life. I talk more about leveraging the power of routine and how it can help you to be more productive with less effort.

Before doing these quarterly summits, I had also spent a fair amount of time defining a clear vision of where I wanted to go in life. A very effective tool to help with this can be to create a vision board or vision story to help you visualize where it is you are going and what you want most in life.

For those who are struggling to take action toward their goals, I wrote a post all about how to get out of your own way and start creating the work that lights you up: The Art of Showing up and Doing the Work