6 Steps to Quarterly Planning for Increased Productivity

Quarterly planning is a strategic productivity hack that organizes your goals and objectives into a 90-day action. This method is designed to help you accomplish more goals in less time.

Here are eight steps to quarterly planning so you can better manage your time and increase your productivity:

Step 1: Start with A Clear Vision

Define your idea of success, dreams, and aspirations you wish to achieve for your business. Visualize what you want for your business and life. If you have already developed a business plan, then this should be pretty easy to get started.

Step 2: Set Your Dates

Choose the quarters you want to work in. Ideally, these quarters or 3-month periods should be set to make sense to 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 the quarterly schedule as follows:  

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

Step 3: Outline Your Main Objective

Now that you have determined your quarter dates, you need to develop three main objectives you wish to work on for the next three months that each can be accomplished within three to four weeks. These main objectives should get you close to your vision and idea of success that you set in step one.

Step 4: Create Action Steps, Deadlines, and Set Priority Levels

Develop three to four action steps that allow you to accomplish the main objective you set for that month. Be clear of the resources you need, what values and morals you need to instill for success, your strengths, and weakness and what obstacles may get in your way.  Then set deadlines and a priority level of high, medium, or low. This way, you know which action to take to get you where you need to be and on time.

Step 5: Be Mindful and Keep Track

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

Step 6: Stop, Evaluate and Repeat

You can’t have a successful plan if you don’t take the time to evaluate. You need to make sure it is optimized for your goals and business success. Ask yourself open-ended questions and reflect on the actions and goals you accomplished. Keep in mind your emotions and feelings while doing it too. All successful plans change and grow over time.

If you haven’t already changed to a quarterly schedule yet, then use these six steps to get started in no time and reap the benefits before it’s too late.