Checking-in on Goals
New Year’s Resolutions, part 3
At the end of last year, I wrote about my experiment with setting New Year’s Resolutions in a two part ritual this year. In part 1, I wrote about how you can create more time in your day to bulletproof you against times when things get busy, so that you don’t have to sacrifice your resolution. In part 2, I wrote about how to set better resolutions that lead to action.
Now that we’re at the end of Q1, it’s time to check-in on how we are doing so far this year. Have you stuck to your New Year’s Resolutions… or have things changed? Consider this a time delayed part 3 to the series, where we will focus on how to check-in on your resolutions, make adjustments to them, and get geared up for Q2.
Tons has been written about setting resolutions, but surprisingly, there are few articles about self assessment of them. Perhaps it’s because so few people follow through on their resolutions. According to a survey, 68% of Americans give up on their goals by February 1st each year. So if you haven’t given up on your resolutions yet, then give yourself a pat on the back. You’re in rare company. And if you’re part of the 68%, all’s not lost. The new year is an arbitrary date anyways, so just pick another date to reset and restart.
Here’s what to do each quarter:
Step 1: Refresh and Remember
Start by jotting down the highs and lows for each resolution. What has gone well? Where do you feel like you’ve hit roadblocks? If you’ve been following along each week with The Productive Product Manager journal, then you can easily jog your memory by reading through your weekly reviews.
Step 2: Self-Assess
Then, grade yourself. You are probably familiar with doing this for your OKRs at work, but grading New Year’s Resolutions feels more personal and maybe even uncomfortable. You can use whatever scale works for you. OKR enthusiasts might prefer a 0–1 rating, where 0.0–0.3 means you failed to make real progress, 0.4–0.6 means you made some progress but fell short of completion, and 0.7–1.0 means you delivered on the goal. I typically stick to a more qualitative 5 point scale of Below Expectations, Somewhat Meets Expectations, Meets Expectations, Exceeds Expectations, and Far Exceeds Expectations. Don’t beat yourself up too hard, but don’t make excuses either. Try to grade yourself as fairly as you can so that you have a true picture of what you accomplished.
Step 3: Re-evaluate
Now that you’ve closed out on what you accomplished in Q1, you should decide if you need to keep this resolution for Q2. Ask yourself: Does this resolution still serve you? If you feel like you’ve completed your goal, then drop it and move onto another goal. If you didn’t complete the goal but it’s no longer aligned with your vision, then drop it and move onto another goal. This could be due to internal factors (such as if your priorities have changed) or external factors (such as if your family situation has changed). The point is, there’s no need to stay attached to a goal if it no longer helps get you to where you want to be. If the resolution no longer serves you, then bid it farewell. You should not have more than a handful of resolutions at a time, so with a spot freed up, you can consider adding a new resolution in its place.
Step 4: Adjust
If the resolution is still relevant, then think about whether it needs to be tweaked. If you’re a YouTube creator, then perhaps your goal in Q1 looks something like this:
Q1 Objective:
-Add 1,000 new subscribers to my YouTube channel
Q1 Key Results:
-Post 1 new video every week
-Share new posts on Twitter
-Reach out to 1 creator every month about a cross-promotional partnership
Let’s say that you hit your subscriber growth goal and you have even higher goals for yourself in Q2. Great! You can adjust your Objective to reflect a higher growth goal.
Q2 Objective:
-Add 2,000 new subscribers to my YouTube channel
But you should also assess and tweak your Key Results. In your highs and lows, perhaps you found that 1 new video a week wasn’t enough content to keep your subscribers from churning off and that Twitter wasn’t an efficient channel to increase your reach. Your Q2 goals should adjust for those learnings and might look like this:
Q2 Key Results:
-Post 3 new videos every week
-Pitch to journalists
-Reach out to 1 creator every month about a cross-promotional partnership
Step 5: Balance
Once you’ve evaluated each of your resolutions, you’re almost done! Compile all of your resolutions together and read through them to make sure it has a good balance of what you want to work on. If Career, Health & Fitness, and Family are all important to you, make sure that your resolutions reflect that balance.
Step 6: Act
Finally, start working on your resolutions. It’s Day 1 again. Ask yourself: What single action could you take that would have the greatest impact on your goals? If you want some guiding questions to aid in this reflection, check out my quick two minute Friday Flashes video from last week.
>> Don’t just set New Year’s Resolutions that never happen. Create accountability for yourself by checking in on them each quarter and re-evaluating the areas that you need to develop in. By following this approach, you will operate with intentionality towards your dreams.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. That means that I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links (at absolutely no extra cost for you). These funds help me buy my next cup of Philz which, in turn, fuels me to write more blog posts.
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