Planning Your 4th Quarter Goal

Achieving your 4th Quarter Goal

We are headed into the last quarter of 2020. What goal do you want to hit?

Everyone ramps up for goals come January but as we learned this year, we need to continually review and refresh. As you look at the goals you set in January 2020, what do you have left to hit, that still makes sense for your business? Keep in mind that some goals we set 9 months ago may no longer make sense in this new world.

Identify the big (but realistic) goal you want to hit by the end of this quarter. Keep in mind that as a product maker you have a lot on your plate over the holidays. Usually the 4th quarter goal will be monetary or new customer centric. Your promotions over the next three months should be focused on your goal!

Now you need to truly focus on that goal alone to hit it. Keep in mind that there are really only 10 weeks left after removing time for holidays. This is not the time to set 5 big lofty goals. Pick 1 goal that you want to celebrate achieving on January 1st and focus in on the prize.

Review the image below for how you should break down your big year-end goal.

Break your goal into 3 parts you can look to achieve each month. Keep in mind that November and December are short months due to holidays. In this quarter, you should shoot to front load objectives, putting the most work in October so you can take time away with family over the holidays. These do not have to be sequential objectives but they do need to be pieces of the right puzzle.

Once you’ve identified 3 objectives, which combined, make your 4th quarter goal, you can focus in on a weekly level. Reviewing each monthly objective, what deliverable(s) do you need to produce each week to reach your objective? These mini-goals give you a destination each week and should be cause for celebration each time you finish them. One step closer to your goal!

After you’ve identified these weekly deliverables, circle back and verify that all the steps you outlined will ensure you reach your goal. We can get distracted in the weeds so it is important to circle back and make sure that the deliverables and objectives really do get you closer to the goal you’ve set.

Now, take everything else that doesn’t fall into the deliverables, off your plate. You won’t achieve your goals if you are constantly multitasking. The trick is to put your full attention into your goal. By then only focusing on the work to achieve it, you’ll reach your goal without working a million hours.

Summary

Step 1: Identify your 4th Quarter Goal

Step 2: What are 3 big things you can do to reach it? Those should be your monthly objectives.

Step 3: Break the Monthly Objectives down into weekly deliverables

Step 4: Verify all this is realistic given the time you have available to work and that all steps are related to your Q4 goal.

Step 5: Remove all other “work” from your plate. Other goals need to be set aside for 2021 if you want to achieve anything the remainder of the year. Multi-tasking does not work.