A Complete Guide to Yearly and Quarterly Reviews – The Olden Chapters

Maintaining goal progress and success can be incredibly difficult. Why? Well, progress tracking, motivation, and a clear plan of attack can all be hard to maintain. If you find yourself struggling with these things, you’re in the right place! Today, I am going to give you the secret to successfully follow through with each of your goals this year by completing yearly and quarterly reviews. These are, hands down, the most powerful tool you can have in your goal-toolbox. Ready to learn more? Let’s do it!

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Well, simply put, a quarterly review is a short planning process where you review your previous three months, evaluate your goal progress, and create a concrete plan of attack to finish each goal. A quarterly review is done every three months (or once a quarter) and is quick, easy, and has so many amazing benefits!

Personally, I have found the best success in splitting my goal review process into three categories: weekly goal tracking, monthly reviews, and quarterly reviews. Today we are going to focus on the quarterly review process. To learn more about weekly goal tracking and monthly reviews, check out THIS POST.

Note: The last quarterly review of the year is a yearly review, but the same process still applies!

I am so glad you asked! There are countless benefits to completing quarterly reviews. My favorites include the fact that quarterly reviews:

Allow you to realistically modify your short- and long-term goals as your life changes
Gives you time to reflect on your year, which is crucial for personal growth
Construct an individual attack plan for each goal you may have
Easily help you track your goal progress throughout the year
Consistently inspire and motivate you to follow through with each of your goals

A goal review can be done… whenever you like! The key is to add it to your calendar and to do list! Here is the goal review calendar I personally follow and can be a great starting place for you!

January 1: Yearly, Quarterly and Monthly Review (of previous year, quarter, and month)
February 1: Monthly Review
March 1: Monthly Review
April 1: Quarterly and Monthly Review
May 1: Monthly Review
June 1: Monthly Review
July 1: Quarterly and Monthly Review
August 1: Monthly Review
September 1: Monthly Review
October 1: Quarterly and Monthly Review
November 1: Monthly Review
December 1: Monthly Review

Many people choose to complete goal reviews inside their planner or journal. Personally, I complete all goal reviews in a goal binder with my printable planner. Whichever way you choose, here are some great supplies to help you along the way:

The Olden Chapters Goal Printable Planner: This is the ultimate goal printable planner! With over 25 different workbooks, calendars, trackers, goal worksheets, and more, this planner includes everything you might need to reach each and every goal this year.
Bullet Journal: Many people use a bullet journal as a planner, list holder, or personal journal. I personally use it as the latter two paired with my printable planner. Bullet journals make amazing notebooks because they have dot-grid pages and a specific index area. If you want to learn more about how to use a bullet journal efficiently, check out Rider Carol’s fabulous book The Bullet Journal Method.
Project Planning Free Printable: This is my free project planning printable that is perfect for starting your goals of on the right foot! It helps you create an attack plan for any large goal, with space for notes, a task list, reward, and more!

Coletto Pen and Refill: These pens are absolutely my favorite to use when color coding tasks and notes. They are fantastic multi-pens that don’t feel too bulky and have amazing ink quality! Be warned, the pen itself doesn’t come with ink (because they are so customizable) so you have to purchase them separately.
Tombow Duel Brush Pens: These fantastic brush pens are great for goal setting, journaling, and project planning. The lighter colors are great to use as highlighters and the darker colors are perfect for sketching out ideas. They are super popular to use with the bullet journal!
Poster Board: When you’re working on your goals, it is important to print them out and post them somewhere (even better to create a vision board!). Poster board is one of the cheap essentials needed in this process!
Glitter Glue: Another great craft supply to always have on hand is glitter glue. It just adds that extra bit of flare to any project, don’t you think?
Command Strips: Command strips are perfect for hanging up your goals and poster board onto your wall. I use these ALL THE TIME to hang up my vision board and goals (which I keep in a picture frame on the wall near my desk). Command strips make it so easy to hang anything you need and ensure you don’t damage you walls!
Mod-Podge: Finally, mod-podge is great when creating your goals, especially if you are going to hang up a list of your goals or create a vision board on your wall. Just add a layer of mod-podge and it will last forever!

This freebie is perfect to kickstart your goals on the right track! It helps you turn your goals into actionable steps, with space to add a task list, notes, ideas, rewards, and so much more! Download it today to get started!

Like I mentioned before, I have found great success in completing a three-part goal review using 1. weekly goal tracking, 2. monthly goal reviews, and 3. quarterly reviews. Today we will focus on the third step in this process. Check out THIS POST to learn more about the first two. Alright, let’s dive into how to successfully complete a quarterly review!

First, in order to get a realistic view of your current goal progress, you will need to complete the first half of the monthly review process. For this, I recommend completing steps 1-6 on the monthly review checklist.

Next, you will want to revisit your personal mission statement. Does it still embody your current situation, values, priorities, goals, and life’s mission? If not, switch it up! Then, be sure to keep this statement in mind throughout the rest of your quarterly review.

Next, take a quick look at your bucket list. Are any of these items still on your current short-term goal lists? If not, how can you make this happen? Even if it is just a small step, such as “research nearest skydiving location,” or “enter into Grand Canyon lottery system.” Also, be sure to add any new and remove any unwanted bucket list items.

Next, look at your long-term goals. This is a great reminder to help you remember where you want to end up. Again, have you made some good progress on any of these goals? If not, how can you change your system to do so? Also, be sure to add any new and remove any unwanted goals from this list.

Yearly Review Addition: Ask yourself: do these long-term goals still apply? If not, how can I change them to be more relevant?

Now, take a look at the goals you’ve set for the year and compare them to your current progress. Have you checked off any major projects or goals you’ve wanted to accomplish? If not, how can you change up your current goals, habits, projects, and tasks in order to see this happen?

Yearly Review Addition: If it is the end of the year, be sure to create a fresh new yearly goals list! For directions, check out THIS post.

Next, take your yearly goals, divide each goal by four, and there you have it! Your quarterly goals. Pretty easy. This turns your yearly goals into much more realistic and bite-sized pieces. You can even add a great reward to these quarterly goals!

Now is the perfect time to take a look at your vision board to get re-inspired. Remind yourself why you want to complete these goals and get pumped to make some new progress!

Finally, finish up the monthly review process you began in step one. This includes steps 7-11 of the monthly review process, which focuses on creating monthly goals, goal habit trackers, and turning your goals into projects. For more instructions, check out this post.

At the end of every year (or the beginning of every January, like me), be sure to complete a “yearly” review (and complete your yearly planning checklist!). For this, I modify my quarterly review to include the following:

Complete weekly, monthly, and quarterly goal review
Reflect and review the last year (not just the quarter)
Reward yourself for a YEAR well done (so a bigger reward, of course!)
Revisit and revise personal mission statement
Check in with bucket list, add new items if necessary
Revisit long-term goals
Create a fresh new yearly goals list
Create new routines and reoccurring tasks based off of yearly goals
Create a new vision board
Write a letter to yourself to open in one year

The entire goal setting and achieving process can be overwhelming and difficult. There are absolutely right and wrong ways of going about it and these books have helped me achieve my biggest dreams (and continue to lead me in the right direction today!). I am sure they will lead you on the path to achieving your largest goals in life and will help you complete quarterly reviews.

First, if you haven’t read this book you are seriously missing out. It is a complete game changer and should be sitting on everyone’s shelf. This Wall Street Journal and New York Times Bestseller covers the powerful yet surprisingly simple principle that little everyday decisions will either help you achieve greatness or end up in disaster naturally, and how to steer them in the right direction. It covers how to win at everything, abolish bad habits, maintain motivation and more. It is an absolute must read!

Next, as the title suggests, this is book covers a phenomenal 5-step plan that guarantees you set and reach the most important goals in your life. It covers tips that help you when you get stuck, how to quit-proof your goals, and so much more. As an added bonus, it is a quick and easy read!

Also, this New York Times Bestseller explores the secrets of the famous and wildly successful goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) that has been proven time and time again to be effective. This system ensures you maintain focus and stay on track until your goals are being met!

Finally, this is a fantastic book that helps distinguish the people who reach their goals from those that just dream of having a better life. It then dives into a simple yet powerful goal setting method that is incredibly effective. Tracy also focuses on specific goals in different areas in life, such as finances, health, and family. A fantastic read!

Finally, if you found this post helpful and are interested in some more goal-related content, check out these great, related blog posts:

Well, there you have it! My ultimate guide to successful quarterly reviews. I truly hope you have found some useful bits of information and will be able to adapt my process into one that fits your life. I have found great success in both quarterly and yearly goal reviews, and hope you do as well! Good luck, have fun, and happy planning!