Quarterly Planning: The Missing Link Between Vision and Results

No matter where you want to go, you need a plan.  

Your destination determines your route. If you’re driving somewhere, you enter the address into your GPS. It tells you exactly what turn to take and when. If you take a wrong turn, you end up farther away from where you want to be. If you ignore traffic laws, you create risk and possible delays.

Goals work the same way.

If your destination is a specific result in your life, business, health, or relationships, you need a system that tells you what to do, and when to do it. Random action isn’t going to get you to your goal any more than random driving gets you to your destination. Activity is not progress.

In the Happiful system, everything begins with clarity.

First, you define your Vision of your Ideal Future Life. That’s your destination.

Second, you clarify your Values. Those are the guardrails, like the traffic laws. They define how you operate while you pursue that destination.

But while most people may have some goals, and a few even have a written Vision, their daily actions are often disconnected from them.

Without a structured, consistent planning system that connects your daily behavior to your long-term Vision, it’s like you’re taking random turns while driving.

This is why I created The Ultimate Planning System.

At a high level, the structure looks like this:

• You define your 5-Year Vision and Values (in writing)

• You translate that Vision into specific written 5-Year Goals

• You break those into written 1-Year Goals

• Each quarter, you establish written Quarterly Rocks, which are initiatives and measurable targets that move you toward your 1-Year Goals

• Each weekend, you write your Weekly Plan with your MVPs (Most Vital Priorities) based on those Quarterly Rocks

• Each evening, you write your Daily Plan, including the day’s MVPs, based on your Weekly MVPs

This creates alignment from Vision to year, year to quarter, quarter to week, and from week to day.

Quarterly Planning is the transition from long-term goals to daily actions. Everyone agrees that the only way to reach your goals is through your actions, right? So it is critical that you are taking the most impactful actions each day to make progress toward your goals. Quarterly Planning is when you decide the most important key results and initiatives you need to achieve your long-term goals. Since your Weekly Plan comes directly from your Quarterly Plan, and your Daily Plan comes from your Weekly Plan, there is a direct line from your Quarterly Plan to what you do each day. This is how you get traction and make progress toward your long-term goals. 

So every 90 days, you reset priorities and decide what truly matters for the next quarter.

We also perform what we call an Alignment Check. This process involves examining your calendar, habits, affirmations, and daily behaviors. Are they consistent with the life you say you want? Are they in line with your Vision and Values? What changes do you have to make to keep everything in your life in alignment?

If you want to make real progress this year, every quarter matters.

On March 25th, I’m hosting a free live Quarterly Planning Workshop. I’ll walk you through the whole Happiful Planning System, and dive deep into the Quarterly Planning framework. I’ll show you exactly how to set meaningful Quarterly Rocks, and explain how to ensure your daily execution supports your long-term vision.

This isn’t theory; it’s a practical, repeatable system.

If you’re serious about designing your life rather than reacting to it, you’ll want to attend the free workshop. Register here.

The Ultimate Planning System course goes much deeper, but this session will give you the structure to implement immediately.

The quarter is going to pass either way. The question is whether or not you’ll make progress toward your ideal life.