Time for a holiday wish list
Hi there,
We’re heading into the home stretch of 2022. Time to jot down what you want to do (or not do anymore) by the end of the year.
I find that 3 months is really the perfect time span for this. A year is too long—it’s easy to lose sight of your plans. And a month is too short. Just when you start making real progress, it’s time to wrap things up. What works for me is setting explicit goals for myself each quarter. Hope today’s four tips help you do the same.
The final quarter of the year is upon us, so let’s get to it.
(Want to skip straight to doing a quarterly? Go to the final section below.)
When it comes to thinking up new goals, here are four ideas that can help:
1. Decide to stop doing something for 3 months. You can free up loads of time by parking certain activities temporarily. In past quarters, I stopped watching YouTube and went cold turkey on Netflix. And lived to tell about it.
I’ve experimented with things like just stop drinking coffee—which I have to admit didn’t last long—and no checking email on your phone—which I reversed within weeks. But I’ve noticed that even the failed experiments have positive side effects.
It’s a reset of sorts, and makes me more intentional about my coffee drinking and emailing and Netflix-watching choices.
2. What new thing will you check out this quarter? In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes about the explore/exploit tradeoff: He shows it’s good to exploit the skills and habits you already have, but it’s even better to spend some of your time developing new ones.
What new thing do you want to learn how to do? What do you want to explore in the next 3 months? And here I’m talking specifically about skills that people could pay you for down the road.
3. What gets you excited? Professional skills aside, can you come up with a goal that makes you a little nervous or excited? This type of goal nudges you out of your comfort zone. And it can prove to be a source of lasting memories.
A while back, I decided to meet someone new over coffee every week, because it’s easy for me to just lock myself up at my computer. On the scarier side of the spectrum: I once went skydiving as a result of this type of brainstorm—which turned out to be more than a little nerve-wracking, but still.
Maybe you want to try singing lessons, or learn to build an A+ campfire or to tell better stories, or find a way to help your neighbors in these uncertain times. Anything goes, as long as it’s a tad scary.
4. What’s crying out for action but continually gets postponed? Consider adding one of those long-overdue chores to your list of goals. The satisfaction you get from finally doing that bookkeeping work, or visiting that great aunt, or taking care of that insurance thing, or getting your 401K in order will soon make you hungry for more.
This week: Doing your own quarterly
Want some more pointers on setting goals? Here’s the issue on making your goals actually happen. There I also walk you through how to do a quarterly review, which includes those new goals. Feel free to use my template.
So set aside an hour or so this week, grab that template and get started. It’s easy. And you’ll be reaping the benefits through Christmas and beyond.
Have a good one,
Rick
produced by the language girl