It’s March. That means we’re a quarter of the way through the year. I know – it is a terrifying thought but don’t worry, most of us are in the same boat! At this point, we’ve probably realised which of our new year’s resolutions are going to work out, and which aren’t. So, what do we do? Maybe you’ll decide to pretend you never had them, or you’ll beat yourself up about not doing them. Or you could do what I do: the “Quarter Year Check-in”.
I love doing this every few months. It’s a time to remind myself that it’s not too late to make some changes in my life. It’s also a time of reflection on what worked and what didn’t, and the perfect opportunity find inspiration for new ideas in the flood of resolutions on TikTok and Instagram. There are three quick steps to this check-in:
Step 1: Reflection
Sit down and go over your resolutions, goals, and even hopes you had for the new year. Maybe you wanted to read a book per month or have a better morning routine. Think about what has been working and what hasn’t. Then figure out why it’s not working. Are you too busy with uni work, or are you scrolling on TikTok too much? Maybe you’re not getting enough sleep, so you don’t have energy in the morning. Write these reflections down. Having everything set out in front of you helps you clarify what you want. Let yourself drop resolutions you find you’re not interested in anymore and let yourself pick up ones that seem fun. Doing things for your health should be enjoyable!
Step 2: Re-Make Goals
Now you need to figure out where you want to go from here. Do you really want to go to the gym more or did you just think you did? Have you seen something new you want to try, like journaling? Store these ideas somewhere, like Pinterest or a vision board. Again, you want to have everything in front of you. If you have some resolutions from January, include those too. You may look at your ideas and think you have too many so limit is to a few achievable ones. You can always do this reset again in another three months and add something new in the future.
Step 3: Action Plan
Now that you can see everything in front of you, pick one of your goals and write down everything you can do to achieve it. Then do this for the rest of your goals. Make sure your steps are small. Also, don’t try to “make up for lost progress”. If you’re behind on your reading goal, don’t try to read an entire book in one day. Make little goals that you can probably accomplish weekly, and don’t be too hard on yourself. Again, your life should be fun, so don’t put too much pressure on this!
So there you have it, my quarter-year check-in. This is an extremely useful tool to constantly reflect on what you’ve been doing in your life, and if it’s effective. It also gives you an opportunity to introduce new goals and see if your old ones were working. The check-in offers flexibility in your life and resolutions, so everything isn’t hinging on a choice you made on 1st January. I’ve already done my check-in for March and found it really helpful. So why don’t you give it a try?