Turn Pandemic Misses Into Your Third Quarter Wins: The 5 Step System To Master Your Next 3 Months (FREE Goal Sheets)
Are you as surprised as I am by how fast this year has gone? Even my bookkeeper was blindsided when the month of June came and went!
You most likely had business and personal goals you planned to meet this quarter, that fell flat.
I did, too. (I guess it’s just that way with a pandemic.)
There once was a time in my life when I would have beaten myself up with negative self-talk over those missed deadlines. I would have played the “game of comparisons”; measuring myself up to those who appear to have it all together.
But, recently, it’s been a different story for me. I’m rarely disappointed when I fall short of my goals. And I don’t have any anxiety about not accomplishing them.
For those of you who are wondering, no, it’s not because I’ve gone soft and cut myself too much slack.
I actually feel in control of my goals because I finally accepted the truth.
The truth is,
Even the most focused among us, get knocked off course.
The key to my guilt-free acceptance and ease in moving forward, is in the fact that I expected to get off track. And I planned for it.
I now have a system and a routine in place that allows me to trust that it’ll all get done.
Here’s what I did to create that for myself and you can do it, too.
Back in January I expected to NOT be quite on track at this time of the year.
Because I accepted this, I went ahead, planned my re-entry point and scheduled time in my planner to do my quarterly review. ( I do this at the end of March, August and December, too.)
Unlike resolutions that are often set and forgotten,
When you use a system with a built in pause,
You’re assured your goals will be achieved.
The problem is, most of us don’t even recognize that we’ve gotten off track!
With our lives on autopilot, we mindlessly tick off our daily list of to-do’s, rarely aware of how far we've gotten from our original goals.
I get it. We’re busy. Really busy.
Today’s culture views the act of pausing as a waste of time.
Yet, I’m asking you to challenge that belief.
Science shows us that the most productive people take regular breaks to think and create.
It’s been reported that Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity while riding his bicycle!
As science writer Ferris Jabor summarizes, “Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieve our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life.”
Learning to pause, in the moment, is the key to a productive life.
When we take the time to pause and assess what we’ve experienced, (whether it’s a meeting at work, a conversation gone rouge, or Q2) we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and recognize our wins.
So, this morning, even though I was taken by surprise by how fast the year’s progressing, I was also optimistic. I had confidence that my regular quarterly review was planned. There was comfort in relying on that system to stop any potential slides, and continue to create momentum.
The system I use is the Living Fully Balanced Process™. I developed it with a simple, cyclical rhythm in mind. (I also created it out of necessity, during a time in my life where everything was upside down, and I needed to reclaim some sense of control. Click to hear my story.)
It worked so well for me, that others wanted to know what I did. And now I teach it to my clients.
This simple process can be incorporated into a daily routine, taking no more than 5 minutes.
And, as I implemented today, the process can be expanded, offering a review of the entire past quarter and a plan for the upcoming one.
Here are the exact planning sheets I use for my own Quarterly Review. Click to grab your free Goal Sheets here.
However, before you grab them, here’s an overview of the Living Fully Balanced™ Process and Quarterly Review, so you can begin to reclaim your calendar and design a life you love.
ASSESS
Look back and record what made you proud.
List what didn’t go as well as you’d hoped.
Recall what you learned through those challenges.
Identify what you want/need to let go of.
ENVISION
Look back on the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year.
Be agile and willing to tweak them, if needed.
Recognize that you may need to drop an original goal, for something better.
CLARIFY
Choose the most important goals you will focus on during this quarter.
Identify why these are essential for you now.
ENERGIZE
Plan for things that energize and renew you.
Schedule them now.
FOCUS
Identify resources you already have in place that will help you rise after a fall.
List additional resources you may need to keep the momentum going. (enrolling in additional classes, hiring a mentor or coach, adjusting your physical environment to support your new goals)
Schedule regular breaks in the action for thinking and creating.
We can easily acknowledge the ebb and flow of the ocean. And rightly, we don’t think any less of its power during low tide.
Our lives have a similar rhythm, and yet culturally, we view an ebb in productivity as a failure.
I encourage you to ignore that external message of failure, when you feel the familiar tug to push through and white knuckle it.
With the abundance of messages we hear (internal and external), it’s not easy. I remember how very hard it was for me to slow down the pace of my life to actually create the life I wanted. And, now that my daily work is in helping high achieving women feel fulfilled and free from burnout, I am even more convinced that learning to pause is the key.
If you’re feeling as though you’re running on empty, and yet you don’t feel as though you’ve got the time to think or the space to breathe, then I want to invite you to retreat with me. Join me on the upcoming Practice The Pause Retreat.
I know it’s not easy to give yourself permission to slow down. It might even feel lazy and unproductive, at first.
But, I want you to know that it’s possible to be even more productive when you take the time to pause.
Maybe Aesop DID know what he was talking about.
Slow and steady can win your race.
Lisa Bobyak, Life Balance Consultant, Personal Leadership Coach and founder of Living Fully Balanced, has been elevating the performance, perspective and peace of mind of high-achieving professionals on the brink of burnout for nearly a decade. Through her Living Fully Balanced™ methodology, she equips her clients with both the self-awareness and planning tools to thrive in our fast-paced, work-driven society. Her inspiring and educational presentations challenge the current hustle culture and offer strategies to prevent burnout and create balance. Lisa is the mastermind behind the transformative Love Your Life Again program. She’s also the author of 7 Days to Loving Your Life Again and the creator of the Living Fully Balanced Life Planner™.