As our lives change, so do our goals, priorities, projects, and tasks. It is so easy to get off track by distractions and muddled by the details that we often forget why we started in the first place. We can easily overcome this by implementing quarterly and yearly planning routines into our life. Don’t worry, they aren’t as daunting as they might sound! Let’s dive in and see what they’re all about…
UPDATE: I’ve also created an updated guide to yearly planning. This new post includes step-by-step instructions for planning an ENTIRE year, including setting goals, filling your weekends with fun adventures, planning your vacations, setting a budget, and more.
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What is a Quarterly and Yearly Planning Routine?
Let me step back a moment and make sure we are all on the same page here. A quarterly planning routine is a short list of tasks to complete each quarter (every three months) in order to align yourself towards your current goals and make sure you stay on track the entire year. A yearly planning routine is similar, but is to be completed each year. Both lists are unique and I’ll explain how to complete each one, step-by-step in a moment.
Why are Quarterly and Yearly Planning Routines so Important?
Great questions! Having a quarterly and yearly planning routine/checklist you can turn to throughout the year will help you in so many ways. Really, the benefits are endless, but my favorites include the fact that these routines will:
- Push you to look at the big picture
- Help you reevaluate your projects and goals
- Assist you in the reorganization of your priorities
- Encourage you to reorganize your tasks
- Prompt you to remember important events and schedule any new related tasks
- Perhaps most importantly: Help you create a successful planning system that you can rely on for years to come
Top Planning Supplies
One last thing before we dive into my personal quarterly and yearly planning routines… and my favorite subject of all time: planning supplies! Everyone plans in their own unique way. Personally, I have found the most success combining both paper planning (physically using pen and paper) and digital planning (using apps and computer programs). Below, I have listed my go-to planning supplies and products. All of these I completely SWEAR by and wish I had used about them sooner!
- The Olden Chapters Ultimate Student Printable Planner: I was never able to find a paper planner that perfectly fit my needs, so I created my own! This planner includes over 50 great planning layouts, student worksheets, financial planners, project trackers, and so. much. more. Plus, because it is a printable, you can print off any page as many times as you want! Check it out!
- 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.
- The Olden Chapters Project Planning Freebie: Another great resource (and completely free, I might add!) is my Project Planning Freebie! This includes a project planner dashboard and a complete project planning checklist to help ensure each of your projects are planned to perfection.
Related: Master the Project Planning Process in 10 Easy Steps!
- A5 Filofax Binder: Hands down, my favorite binder to put my planner pages into is the Filofax A5. I prefer the Malden style, but they also offer a great Original binder and a Finsbury binder (plus more options seasonally…). Kikki K offers some great A5 options too!
- Bullet Journal: Along side a planner, many people turn to a bullet journal to jot down their everyday thoughts and ideas. Many have also created a great planning system with it as well! This system is outlined in Ryder Carroll’s bestselling book.
- Coleto Pen and Refills: Every planner needs a great pen. The Coleto Pen is my current favorite! It is a multi-pen that offers four different colors to use, all at your finger tips.
- Zebra Mildliner Highlighters: Another planning must-have is a highlighter set of course! These help ease your color coding process and allow you to highlight important events or tasks. Zebra Mildliners are, hands down, my favorite go-to highlighter, as they are much more mild than regular highlighters and offer two different sized tips!
- Colorful Page Flags: Page flags help you index important pages and easily navigate through your planner. A cheap must-have planning essential!
- Washi Tape: Finally, washi tape is my planning supply obsession. It is colorful tape that you can easily write on, allowing you to decorate your planning pages, flag multiple dates on a calendar, and more.
Check out my Ultimate Goal Printable Planner! It has everything you need to ensure you meet each of your goals this year (and for years to come)! It includes over 25 amazing goal-setting worksheets, goal trackers, goal calendars, monthly goal spreads, and so much more. Check it out today!
Project Planning Freebie
Okay I lied… one more thing! Here is a great freebie (that I honestly use ALL THE TIME) to help you get your projects in order. Project planning is such an important part of productivity. I want to make sure you start on the right foot. Grab yours to get started!
The Ultimate Quarterly Planning Routine
Here we go! Below, I have outlined my personal quarterly planning routine and system. I complete this routine at the end of every: March, June, September, and December. I am writing my routine out in the hopes that you can take inspiration from it to create your very own, unique quarterly planning routine.
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1. Complete Daily Planning Routine
First things first. Get all caught up with your planning system by completing your daily planning routine. This will make sure you check off all your completed tasks (so you don’t have to worry about them later), check in with your habit trackers and everything else you usually do on a daily basis. HERE is my daily planning routine (that I swear by!) to help you get started with yours.
Related: The Ultimate Daily Planning Routine you Absolutely need to Skyrocket your Daily Productivity!
2. Complete Weekly Planning Routine
Similarly, it is important to get caught up using your weekly planning routine as well. This will make sure you complete your weekly goal check-in, project check-ins, and everything else you usually do on a weekly basis. HERE is my weekly planning routine I complete every Sunday to stay on track. Be sure to check it out for more inspiration on planning routines!
Related: How to Plan Your Week for Success (The Secret Recipe!)
3. Complete Monthly Planning Routine
The last planning routine I highly suggest completing before you dive into your quarterly routine is your monthly planning checklist. This helps you to really get all caught up with your system and let your planning system work its magic. HERE is my monthly planning routine to help you create your own!
Related: A Complete Guide to Monthly Planning and How to Create a Successful Monthly Planning Routine
4. Review Your Previous Quarter
Now that you’re all caught up in your planning system, it is time review your previous quarter. In order to do this, answer the following questions on a page in your planner, journal, or scrapbook:
- How did this last quarter go?
- What were my successes?
- What could have gone better?
- What major tasks or projects did I complete?
- What major tasks or projects still need to be completed?
These questions will help you get a general idea of the previous quarter and help set yourself up for success the following quarter. Take note of any changes that need to be made in your planning system or any new tasks you need to add to your task list.
Related: A Complete Guide to Bullet Journaling – Everything You Need to Know!
5. Re-evaluate Master To Do List
At the end of THIS post, I discuss how to create a useful master to do list. In short, a master to do list is a detailed database of each task you need to complete (and yes I mean EVERY task). This task list can include a deadline, life category, priority, and time requirement for each item. If you haven’t created one already, I can’t recommend it enough! David Allen’s book Getting Things Done might help you get started with this, and ensure you find success in your productivity system. He organizes his master to do list in lists (which is actually really effective!).
So, the end of every quarter is the perfect time to reevaluate your master to do list. During this time, you should:
- Get rid of every task that is no longer relevant
- Make sure all completed tasks are checked off
- Update any deadline that needs to be moved
- Reevaluate the priority of each task
- Add any new tasks
Check out David Allen’s Book Today to Help Boost Your Productivity and Create better Systems for Yourself!
6. Review and Modify Calendar of Events
Next, take a look at your current calendar and complete the following tasks:
- Add any new major events, meetings, concerts, deadlines, etc.
- Remove any canceled events
- Have you received any new list of events that need to be added such as school, work, sports, or community calendars? Add them.
- Look up any events that you usually attend and add them to your calendar such as: free community events, sporting events, TV show premiers, new movie releases, etc.
- Add any associated tasks to your master to do list from your calendar (such as sending a birthday card or ordering tickets)
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7. Reevaluate Routines
Now is the perfect time to take a look at your reoccurring tasks and modify them to fit your current life. For example, perhaps you need to change the day you run errands or create a new weekly task. In addition, I highly recommend you create a new routine list for your morning, afternoon, and evening. This can help keep you on track with your goals and habits.
Related: An Ultimate Guide to Achieving Your Goals
8. Complete Full Quarterly Goal Review
In my book, a quarterly goal review is separate then a quarterly planning routine. However, a good way to make sure you complete your quarterly gaol review is to add it to your quarterly planning routine so you don’t forget about it. However, if you want, you can easily incorporate this additional checklist into your planning routine. HERE is my quarterly goal review to help you get started with yours!
Related: How to Stay on Track with your Goals with Quarterly and Yearly Goal Reviews
9. Complete Any Other Quarterly Planning Tasks
Finally, be sure to add anything else you think you should complete every quarter to your checklist. This might be related to your career, family, finances, etc.
The Ultimate Yearly Planning Routine
Now, let’s cover how to complete a yearly planning routine. This one is incredibly similar, but instead of looking at a quarter of the year, you’re looking at the full year. For that reason, I won’t go into as much detail and instead, will list out the different tasks I suggest doing:
- Get caught up in your planning process by completing your daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly planning process
- Review your previous year and brainstorm ways to improve your new year
- Reevaluate your master task list for the new year
- Create a new calendar of events for the new year; don’t forget to add: birthdays, important meetings, concerts, school events, work deadlines, etc.
- Complete a yearly goal review and write out your new year’s resolutions
- Using your new goals, create new routines
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Setting and Achieving Your New Yearly Goals
Top Books on Planning:
Books that cover productivity and planning are my favorite kind of non-fiction books. Is it just me? Am I weird? Oh well! If you’re in that same fun productivity-loving boat as me, you will adore these great planning books!
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
This is the O.G. of planning books (in my opinion…). This book is the reason I started reading other great productivity books. I can not recommend it enough! In fact, I have read it multiple times (I listen to it on Audible while I am driving to and from work). What is it about? Well, David Allen creates this unbeatable productivity technique that can be incorporated into anyone’s planning system. It is a must read. Check it out HERE!
The Getting Things Done Workbook: 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
If you loved Getting Things Done (um hello, how could you not?!), you will love this great workbook! It is pretty much a kickstarting workbook that forces you to get more productive. Check it out HERE!
The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll
Okay, The Bullet Journal Method is another must-read planning book. It is a complete guide to bullet journalling by the creator himself! What is bullet journaling, you might ask? It is a completely flexible planning system that you make up as you go! It is based in a blank dotted journal and works on a cataloging system. Want to learn more? Or, perhaps you already use a bullet journal and want to learn the top secrets of success? Don’t miss THIS book.
The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
This best selling book has been a hot topic item for quite some time now. It tells the amazing tale of how Ferriss went from working 80 hours per week, to 4 hours per week (with the same income!). This book is filled with productivity tips, goal setting hacks, and so much more to ensure your energies are spent in the right areas of your life. A must read!
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
My last favorite productivity and planning book is The Power of Habit. This book covers the importance of habit creation in our daily lives. Duhigg covers how one habit can truly change our lives and how we can control our future with small, everyday changes.
Related: Life-Changing Books on Planning and Organization
What’s Next?
It’s time to take action! Take a quick look back through this blog post and write down your quarterly and yearly planning checklist. Then, be sure to schedule time into your calendar for you to complete this list each quarter and year!
Don’t forget to modify your checklist each time to make sure it keeps working for you!
Planning Series:
This post is a part of my awesome planning series! Be sure to check out the other posts to get a full, comprehensive understanding of planning, planning routines, productivity, and more! Here are each of the posts, in the order I recommend reading them in:
- An Ultimate Guide to Daily Planning: How to Get as Much Done Each Day As You Can!
- The Perfect Weekly Planning Routine to Skyrocket Your Productivity
- This Monthly Planning Checklist will Help You Reach Each Goal This Year
- An Ultimate Guide to Completing a Personal Mid-Year Review
- Everything You Need to Know about Quarterly and Yearly Planning
- How to Plan an Entire Year in Advance
- Complete Guide to Planning – Everything You Need to Know
That about wraps it up! I hope you were able to modify or create your perfect quarterly and yearly planning routine. I also hope you were able to find some great and useful tips and tricks along the way. Have fun and happy planning!
Looking for that perfect planner to ensure each of your goals are met this year? Check out my ultimate goal planner today!
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