♟️ MY TURN:
If you've been following Life's a Game for a while you know that goal setting and intention are the foundation of the game.
But so many fail at goals because they don't pause to
- Celebrate wins
- Acknowledge setbacks
- Recognize patterns
- Make adjustments based on new information.
As many of you know I approach my yearly planning the same way I approach building a marketing calendar as a CMO. I slice the calendar in 4 ways:
- Annual tentpoles & events
- Quarterly launches
- Monthly beats
- Weekly non-negotiables
Reminder: Use this link to get your 🧩 Life's a Game Planning calendar.
You can read about my full planning process here.
Today we are going to perform a 1H Retro.
At the end of every quarter I review what's working, what's not and what changes I need to make to win.
And we find ourselves halfway through the year.
PS if you are reading this and realize you didn't make the progress you wanted to in the first half, I'm running an offer to join my Office Hours community of builders, side hustlers and solopreneurs for just $83 a month. Click here to join.
Ready to take a closer look at your 1H and Q2 2024? Let's dive in.
Step 1: Review your burners
I like to picture life as a stove top.
Some quarters I bring career and ambitious goals to the front burner……with relationships, travel, fun and fitness to the back.
Other quarters I move fitness goals, parenting or fun to the front and career to the back. Everything is still cooking but this quarterly retro is an intentional moment to move things around so nothing gets too cold or too burnt (out).
- What was on your front burner in Q2?
- What was on your back burner in Q2?
- What will remain for Q3?
- What will change for Q3?
I’m gearing up for fun, family and travel for the rest of the summer.
Work is still there but I’m not taking on new projects, I am minimizing my time on social media and embracing summer Fridays.
Step 2: Review the 3 Ls
On a sheet of paper or in an excel doc, make 4 columns. In the first column list your main burner categories. In the remaining three columns, write the 3Ls: liked, learned, and lacked.
Take 15 mins to make notes of what worked, what didn't and what you learned about yourself in those categories during the first 3 months of the year.
Step 3: A Deeper look at Your Big Business Goals
Next I look at my business OKRs and see how the data lines up. If you need a primer on OKRs, you can read that here.
So many fail to grow because they don't know what's working or where the benchmark is.
If you don't look at the data, you won't know if you actually achieved your goals and which tactics to shift for the next month.
Here were my Q2:24 Goals
Objective 1: I want to add $10k MRR to my creator business.
KR 1: Go / No decision on second course for Q3 - Decision Made
KR2: Add 50 course purchases a month - Missed
Objective 2: I want to Make Office Hours extremely valuable
KR 1: 80% M4 Retention Rate (actual 76%)
KR2: Add 20 new members in Q2 (actual 24)
KR3: Launch Library of all content - complete
KR4: Begin ideating a January 2025 retreat (survey sent)
Ps - we are opening up 10 spots for Office Hours this month.
Objective 3: Write a book.
KR1: Turn in final manuscript by June 1 - COMPLETE
You will see that growing on social and any other projects were not goals for Q2.
A reminder: if everything is important, nothing is.
Step 4: Dive deeper.
Since awareness is the greatest agent of change, we need to pause and reflect. Take 20 mins to write down the answers to the following questions:
- What am I most proud of this quarter?
- What am I most grateful for this quarter?
- What energized me this quarter?
- What could have gone better?
- What challenges did I overcome?
- What lessons did I learn? How did I grow?
- What did I say I was going to do but never did?
- Where did I put my focus that did not serve me?
- What do I want more of in my life?
- What do I want less of in my life?
Step 5: Make changes.
Now it's time to shift things around.
- What's on your burners for Q3?
- What's your big business goals for the quarter?
- What are you shifting in your week to make space for these new goals?
- What other changes need to be made?
- What are your anti-goals for Q3?
Hope this helps! Excited to see you push for what you want in Q3 and the second half of the year!!
PS if you want to learn more about goal setting and taking your life to the next level, don't forget to check out my masterclass - 7 modules to help you level up your ambition, time and energy. For just $243. Ready to level up? Check it out.