Every end of the quarter I reflect on everything that happened in the last 90 days and I compare progress against my annual goals. After all the chaos in 2020, I decided that it was time I sped things up. I did not take a gap year, but I knew I could not spend time like I had unlimited amount of it anymore.
Here are some of my wins in Q1 2021:
- massive improvement on guitar and vocal skills
- website major upgrade
- finished some work with my first beta client
- increased social media engagement
When it comes to achieving goals and measuring progress, you have to be mindful. You don’t just grind and do the reps. Once in a while, you have to pause, reflect and focus on what works, and double down your efforts. 80/20 rule. But here’s the thing: how do we know if we are making real progress, or even in the right direction?
You need feedbacks. Constructive ones. The more you get, the better you know what you have to improve.
All my wins in the past quarter can be boiled down to one key factor: it is about WHO, not HOW.
You don't know what you don't know
In the past 90 days, I hired a guitar and a vocal coach. I also scheduled a 60-minute consultation with a business coach to get clear of my future direction. Then I went onto Fiverr, paid someone to conduct a social media audit for me so that I knew what to change in my content strategy. And I also hired someone to upgrade my website.
As sad as it sounds, you don’t want to sprint towards the opposite direction of where you are supposed to go. A baby step towards the right direction is always better than a giant jump towards the wrong one.
It’s not about how you are going to achieve your goals, but WHO can help you achieve your goals.
It would take me years to learn how to sing and play guitar properly if I only stayed in my room and practised every day.
It would take me decades, if not, my whole life, trying to start a business when I had no idea what I’m doing.
You don’t know what you don’t know in this journey. So it’s better to ask the experts to show you what you have to do, and which areas you have to improve.
Mindful work
By getting instant, constructive feedback from people who are ahead of you, your time is spent much more efficiently and productively on things that truly matter. You improve faster, and you progress faster. This is how you achieve goals faster. It’s all about who you can get help from, and put in the work mindfully.
While you measure progress, make sure they contribute to the goals you set. Reverse engineering is my favourite method to use when it comes to goal-setting.
Have a clear goal in mind, then map out mini-checkpoints. I always start from yearly goal, then map out my quarter goals, and zoom in to monthly goals and weekly goals. That is how I always know what to work on every day. That is also why weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reflections are important – according to the Pearson’s Law, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”
Don’t get busy for the sake of being busy. You only have that much time to live.
Does your to-do list reflect your weekly goals? Does your yearly goal reflect your vision?
Extended reading: WHO NOT HOW – Dan Sullivan, Benjamin Hardy
Final Thoughts
Every time you think about “how am I going to achieve this?”, immediate rewire the question to “who can help me achieve this?”. Utilise your resources to find your team.
Ready to go after your dream life but not sure how to set goals or set yourself up for success? Take a sneak peek into my beta program FIND YOUR FORTE to see how you can upgrade your life and be your best version!