Use these goal-setting tips to review goals and make steady progress toward achieving the goals that you set for yourself.
If you want to reach the goals you set out to accomplish and make continued steady progress toward achieving them, it is best to commit to a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual goal review. Why should you review goals? Because reviewing goals keeps us informed of what we are doing, when we need to do it, where we are going, why we are doing it, and how we plan to get there.
In other words, a regular goal review helps us know where we are on our path so we can take each of the small steps we need to take to accomplish the goals we set out to achieve. When you review your goals and take stock of what is working and what’s not, adjusting your goal action plan and moving forward becomes much more manageable.
But first, you need to define your goals and make them SMART! Learn the start of the goal-setting process and how to set goals HERE–>How to Set Goals. Once you know what your goals are, make an action plan to achieve them with the step-by-step instructions HERE–>How to Make a Goal Action Plan. If you already have at least one goal in mind and have created a goal action plan to achieve it. Please scroll down for the step-by-step instructions for a regular goal review.
[Please note: These step-by-step instructions for reviewing goals were first published on December 28, 2014, as “How to Complete a Monthly and Annual Goal Review.” On June 23, 2021, this post was updated and republished under its current name, “How to Review Goals: Weekly, Quarterly, and Annual Tips.”]
Why is a goal review important?
Why is it important to review your plan regularly? Reviewing and revisiting goals is important because it is a critical component of successful goal management. As mentioned above, a goal review can keep us informed of what, where, when, why, and how. Doing a goal review can help with time management and provide a framework to focus on. It can also lead to adaptation, problem-solving, and continuous improvement toward accomplishing goals. Committing to a regular goal review to evaluate goals is important for several reasons:
1. Track Progress:
- Reviewing goals can help you monitor your progress toward achieving the goals and new skills you set out to achieve.
- By regularly reviewing your goals, you can see how far you’ve come and what still needs to be done.
2. Maintain Focus:
- Doing a regular goal review keeps your objectives at the forefront of your mind, which helps maintain focus on what is important and what you need to do.
3. Adapt and Adjust:
- Circumstances change, and so might the relevance or feasibility of your goals.
- Reviewing your plan regularly allows for adaptability because it provides the opportunity to make necessary adjustments to stay aligned with your current situation and priorities.
- Regularly reviewing goals can also help determine if any technical skills need to be developed or adjusted.
4. Identify Challenges and Barriers:
- Regularly reviewing your goals helps you identify any challenges, barriers, or trends that are hindering your progress, and allows you to address them promptly, so you continue to make progress.
5. Reinforce Commitment:
- Every time you review your goals, you reinforce your commitment to achieving them.
- This repeated focus on the attainment of your goals can boost motivation and commitment.
6. Celebrate Achievements:
- Goal reviews allow you to recognize and celebrate the achievements and milestones you have reached along the way, which can provide a significant boost of motivation to reach your end goal.
7. Learning and Growth:
- By reflecting on the journey you’ve made towards your goals, you can learn from your successes and failures, and this can lead to personal and professional growth.
- Reviewing goals can help you develop emotional intelligence as you continue to work through roadblocks and learn from wins.
8. Resource Allocation:
- Doing a goal review can help assess whether the resources at your disposal are being utilized effectively or if there needs to be a reallocation of resources to achieve your goals more efficiently.
How to do a Goal Review
Goal review sessions require one to evaluate their goal progress. In other words, a goal review entails taking stock of the goal (or goals) you set out to achieve and where you are in the process of attaining them. If you have a prior goal-setting worksheet, now is the time to get it out for review. If not, you may want to invest in our Dream Life Tool Kit.
Grab the resources you need to get started HERE—> Dream Life Tool Kit.
The Dream Life Tool Kit includes a wealth of printable worksheets, including a weekly goal review, goal action plan template, daily and weekly checklists, and habit trackers, that make accomplishing your goals much easier. Use the valuable resources inside the Dream Life Tool Kit for your weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goal review.
I like to review goals each week. Reviewing goals weekly, quarterly, and annually keeps me motivated and moving consistently toward achieving them step by step. It also allows me to see what’s working and what’s not, so I can pat myself on the back and keep plugging ahead or make a new plan, depending on what I discover in my weekly goal review.
Ready to get started? It’s time to review your goals!
How to Review Goals Step-by-Step Instructions:
Here’s a quick overview of the steps in the goal review process. Details about each of the steps to review goals are provided in more detail in the following sections.
- Do a brain dump to clear your head.
- Review and reevaluate prior goals, if any.
- Define new goals and/or update prior goals.
- Create a “Goal Action Plan” for each new goal.
- Add a new positive habit to your daily rhythm each month or quarter if needed.
- Hone and refine habits and goal action plan(s) every week.
- Repeat and review goals weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
1. Conduct a brainstorming session or brain dump:
- Spend ten to thirty minutes doing a brain dump by writing down anything and everything occupying space in your mind.
- Use a blank piece of paper, or use the FREE Brain Dump Worksheet in our QuickStart Weekly Planning Guide to get started! Get yours HERE–> QuickStart Weekly Planning Guide.
- Get everything buzzing around in your head down on paper.
- Don’t forget any new goals or habits you would like to include or new tasks that need to be completed.
2. Review and reevaluate prior goals and habits:
- Use the Goal Review Worksheet included in the Dream Life Tool Kit and the questions below to review and reassess any prior goals.
- Ask yourself: did you reach your weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual goals? Why or why not?
- Use the information you discover to plan for success in the coming week, month, quarter, or year.
Ask yourself the following questions to review prior goals:
- Are there any goals or habits you are currently working to accomplish or implement in your life?
- Do you have any prior goals or habits you would like to delete or amend? If yes, do so now.
- Did you make a plan to accomplish your goal or establish this habit? In other words, have you written your goals and habits down and created an action plan to complete them? If not, get started now!
- What, if anything, can you do to improve your “Goal Action Plan?”
- Have you made any progress towards reaching this goal or establishing a new positive habit? Why, or why not?
- Are you progressing toward any of your goals in the way you would like? Why or why not?
- What, if anything, can you do to move forward or improve your results?
- Is there anyone you can ask for support, help, or hire to move forward and get results?
3. Define new goals and delete or amend prior goals:
- Use the information you discover as a result of your goal review to re-energize any goals you are currently working towards, amend and update any goals or habits that need updating, and remove or delete any goals or habits from your list that you have accomplished or no longer desire to achieve at this time.
- If you are deleting any goals, it is important to create closure by doing the following:
- Tell yourself that you are done with this for now (or forever) to close the action loop. Otherwise, some of your much-needed energy will unconsciously go towards the attainment of this goal.
- If you don’t do this, the desire to reach that goal will drain your energy, even if you are not working towards it, and make it harder to reach the goal you are striving for in real-time.
- Close the action loop by telling yourself that you are not working on this goal at the moment, or that you are done with it forever.
- Clapping your hands together while telling yourself you are done with it is a great way to do this.
- Then put the worksheet away to get out another day in the future, or crumble it up and throw it away if you no longer desire to work towards this goal.
- Tell yourself that you are done with this for now (or forever) to close the action loop. Otherwise, some of your much-needed energy will unconsciously go towards the attainment of this goal.
- Write down a total of 3-5 goals you would like to accomplish or determine the goals or habits you will update and continue working towards achieving.
- Make sure all your goals are SMART goals.
4. Create a goal action plan for each of your new goals:
- The Rhythms of Play Dream Life Tool Kit has valuable worksheets and printable resources that you can use to achieve goals and track habits, including our “Goal Worksheet,” “Goal Action Plan,” “Weekly Action Plan,” and “Monthly Habit Tracker.”
- Print the worksheets that work best for your needs and outline the steps to accomplish each goal or establish each habit.
- Follow the steps below to create an action plan for each new or updated goal!
How To Create An Action Plan For New or Updated Goals:
- Use the “Weekly Action Plan printable worksheet included in the Dream Life Tool Kit to make a plan of action for the next week, month, quarter, or year.
- The amount of time you choose (week, month, quarter, year) will depend on the length of time you think it will take to accomplish each particular goal.
- Break down monthly goals into the smallest action steps possible.
- Each step should have only one action associated with it. Learn more HERE–> How to Create an Action Plan to Accomplish Goals.
- Next, write your plan down to make it happen.
- Write your goals and the associated action steps in the appropriate place in your daily rhythm or weekly planner.
- Learn how to plan your daily routine HERE–> How to Plan Your Daily Rhythm.
- Finally, make the space in your daily rhythm to complete the action steps outlined.
- In other words, break down the steps necessary to accomplish the goal, place each action item needed to achieve the goal into your calendar, and make a plan of action to get it done!
- FREE daily and weekly planners are included in our start-up guide–> QuickStart Weekly Planning Guide.)
5. Add a new positive habit to your daily rhythm:
- If you want to improve your life, I recommend adding a new habit to your daily routine each month, quarter, or year with a promise to work diligently towards establishing it.
- It’s best if the habit you choose is something you do at the same time daily or weekly.
- Daily habits are easiest to implement because they can quickly become habituated or automatic over time.
- When a habit is performed daily, you will not need to think about executing it once it becomes habituated.
- In other words, once any action becomes an established habit, it will occur without thinking about making it happen, in a similar way that you will drive home from work automatically instead of stopping by the store or a friend’s house.
Examples of Positive Habits to Implement or Establish:
Here are a few positive habits you might choose to implement:
- Reciting a morning prayer, poem, verse, or affirmation.
- Drinking water and limiting sugary or alcoholic beverages.
- Brushing and flossing teeth every morning and evening.
- Taking a multivitamin or supplement.
- Regular exercise or workout; such as going for a daily walk, run, swim, bike ride, gym class, etc.
- Spending time outside or in nature.
- Bringing your email inbox to zero daily or weekly.
- Reduced daily or weekly screen time.
- A daily Yoga or meditation practice.
- Spending quality time with loved ones.
- Planting and nurturing a garden.
- Preparing healthy meals and eating healthy foods.
- Caring for a pet or elderly (or disabled) friend or relative.
- Writing in a gratitude journal.
- Volunteering or serving a community.
- Getting a healthy sleep every night.
- A positive habit that will help support the achievement of a particular goal, etc.
How to add a New Positive Habit to your Daily Routine:
- Take out your master goal list and look at the places in your life that you would like to improve.
- Take a few minutes to review “How to Create Positive Habits.”
- Brainstorm and write it down.
- Make a list of positive habits that would help you achieve the goals that you have outlined.
- Choose a positive habit that you can bring into your life to help you accomplish the goals you have set for yourself or choose a habit that will help support your efforts to achieve your goals, or live the life of your dreams.
6. Hone and refine habits and goals:
- Goal setting, habit creation, and rhythm all go hand in hand. Some habits are goals, some goals need good habits to accomplish, and following a daily rhythm is one long daily habit.
- If writing down your goals is the true elixir of success it’s touted to be, then creating positive habits is the key to living the life you’ve always dreamed of!
- Because these elements support and assist each other, I use them to help me reach my highest potential. Slowly, goal by goal, one habit (or rhythm), at a time!
- Use the habit trackers included in the Dream Life Tool Kit to monitor your progress toward your goals!
What’s the difference between a Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual Goal Review?
Completing a monthly or quarterly goal review is similar to completing an annual goal review, with a few small differences.
How to do a Monthly or Quarterly Goal Review:
- For a monthly or quarterly goal review, focus on six primary actions;
- 1) Do a brain dump and write everything down.
- 2) Review and reevaluate prior goals.
- 3) Define new goals and update any prior goals.
- 4) Make a goal action plan to accomplish new goals.
- 5) Add a new positive habit or habits (optional)
- 6) Hone and refine any habits or goal action plan(s) that you are currently working towards implementing or achieving.
How to do an Annual Goal Review:
- For an annual goal review, first, complete the same steps you do for a monthly or quarterly goal review in the section above.
- Pay particular attention to the goals you set each quarter in the prior year, and the goals you plan to achieve in the next quarter and next year.
- Then create a new Master Goal List (Photo below. This printable is included in the Dream Life Tool Kit).
- Once you are finished with your annual goal review, you will have a new Master Goal List that you can work with and update during your weekly, monthly, and quarterly goal reviews for the remainder of the year.
How To Do A Weekly Goal Review:
A weekly goal review follows a similar format to an annual or quarterly review but focuses more on reviewing, updating, and refining your plan to accomplish the goals defined during your annual or 90-day goal review, as opposed to setting goals. Follow the steps below to do a weekly goal review:
- Take stock of the progress (or lack of progress) you are making toward accomplishing the goals you set out to achieve.
- Consider what working and not working, what you can do better, change, or amend, and most importantly, what you learn about what’s working and what’s not working.
- It’s also a great time to take a look at how well you’re developing the habits you add to your day to help achieve your goals and adjust them accordingly.
In other words, for a 90-day or annual goal-setting review, take a bird’s eye view of your progress toward achieving the goals you have set for yourself. In contrast, during a weekly or monthly goal review, focus on reviewing and amending the goals you have set so you can work effectively toward achieving them.
Reviewing Goals
Use the simple goal review tips outlined above to review your goals monthly, quarterly, or annually. Then, commit to reviewing goals every week for even better results!
Don’t forget to grab our Dream Life Tool Kit. It is filled with printable planning resources to help you develop powerful routines to increase productivity, achieve goals, and create a life you LOVE one rhythm at a time! Get yours HERE—>Dream Life Tool Kit.
Learn how to create a positive goal affirmation statement for each goal or habit you would like to implement or are working toward achieving.
Learn more about us HERE—> Rhythms of Play.
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