Thirty Years of Setting Goals the Same Way

A quarterly goal review is a deliberate look back at the goals you set, what you achieved, and where your focus actually went. Its value is not in tallying wins. It is in being honest about the gap between the plan and the lived reality, then carrying the learning forward.

I had to laugh yesterday, looking back at photos from university. There was one with a picture stuck to my cupboard door, the word “objectives” written on it and a plan underneath. Thirty years on, clearly not much has changed about how I set goals.

Looking back over the last twelve weeks, my LinkedIn posts have been a bit of a journal, tracking my progress, or otherwise, towards my quarterly goals. Goals which, as you will know if you have followed along, are aligned with my life goals.

The quarter I set myself in April

• One LinkedIn post a week, to get me out of my comfort zone, not because I think it is fun.
• Do the gym challenge, with the intention of shifting the scan, especially after ChatGPT cheerfully told me that, like most middle-aged women, I was going backwards. More fat, less muscle. Umm.
• Finish my current NLP studies.
• Step into my role as director at ANZCAL.
• Do a speaking event, Breakthrough Leadership with Recruitment Studio.
• Learn a new hobby, sourdough baking.
• Get my book ready for the 14th July launch.

There were challenges, and some epic fails

My trip overseas to finish my studies was cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East. There was real fear at getting up to talk in front of a room, as opposed to leading a workshop. There were also plenty of mornings when I just did not want to do anything, because it all felt too hard.

There were some epic fails too. A day on the water with no winning fish and a decent dose of seasickness. Blowing the fuse in the oven, more than once, because I wandered off and forgot the bread.

Yet the challenges, the getting out of my comfort zone, reminded me to trust the process. To know discipline would pay off. To treat my failures as feedback rather than proof I should stop. That distinction is not just a mindset trick. Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School, writing in HBR, makes the case that not all failure is equal. The most useful kind, what she calls intelligent failure, happens quickly and on a small scale, and it hands you the most valuable information you will get. A blown oven fuse is about as small-scale and intelligent as failure comes.

The results

Every goal achieved. Posts done, whether anyone reads them or not. Third out of sixty-five in the gym challenge, and the best part, a bio age now seven years younger than my actual one. Studies completed. At ANZCAL we have launched multiple new initiatives for our coaches. The speaking event was exhilarating and has led to more opportunities. The weekly sourdough is now consistently edible. And the book is on track.

Looking in the rear-view mirror lets us, in life and in business, reflect on the plan, check the strategy, and be honest about where the focus actually went. This is not sentimental. Executive coach Jennifer Porter, again in Harvard Business Review, points to research showing that those who reflect on what they have learned outperform those who simply push on, by twenty-three per cent. The review is not the soft bit at the end of the quarter. It is part of the business growth strategy itself.

So, when you reflect on this quarter’s goals, how did you get on? What are the learnings you carry into the next one? For me, I have a new set of goals. Which, again, take me towards my