Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Start Quarterly Life Planning.
By: Suelyn Yu
Tags: Design Thinking, Design Process, Goals, New Year Resolution, New Year

If writing New Year’s resolutions feels futile during the pandemic, you are not alone. With the rollercoaster of 2020 behind us, it can feel strange to set goals for the next 12 months, when you can’t even predict what will happen next month. As someone who finds value in self-reflection and setting intentions, there’s a happy medium that has served me well: Quarterly Life Planning.

I started Quarterly Life Planning when a close friend introduced me to “The Wheel of Life” exercise, created by Paul Meyer. We used it to create New Year’s resolutions for 2016. Little did I know that 2016 would be one of those years where nothing goes according to plan; it included the breakup of an important romantic relationship, the end of my dream job, and the gut-wrenching experience of working on Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Life was changing too quickly. To take stock and ground myself through all these ups and downs, I started doing the Wheel of Life exercise every three months.

Five years later, I have completed this exercise twenty times. I prefer the shorter time period because I have a clearer picture of the next three months than the whole year, and it allows me to set smaller, more realistic goals. In addition to the Wheel of Life, I’ve added some “behavioral hacks” to help turn my intentions into actions.

For those in the tech industry, this may sound like OKRs for your personal life. I’ll be the first to admit there are similarities in setting goals within a set timeframe. Unlike OKRS, the primary purpose for me is not achieving goals. Rather, the value comes from the process of trying things out (prototyping) and evaluating how they affect my overall wellbeing. Quarterly Life Planning also shares similarities with retrospectives — reflecting on what worked, what didn’t, and why, in order to highlight opportunities for change. Ultimately, these incremental changes allow me to make larger improvements in my life.

For me, the purpose for Quarterly Life Planning is to:

1. Reflect on each area of my life to identify what needs more focus, and what needs less. 2. Develop habits and start new projects. 3. Repeat to continue “prototyping” my life.

So if that appeals to you and you have 2 hours, let’s get started!

0. Get yourself ready

Find an accountabilibuddy.

You can do this alone, but I like doing it with 1–2 people. This can be a vulnerable activity, so I recommend doing it people you feel safe opening up to. I’ve done this with roommates, close friends, and my romantic partner. Block off 2 hours.

I like to do this in the morning or early afternoon on a day off. Print out a copy for each person.

If you don’t have a printer, feel free to draw it out yourself. Here is a template you can download. Find a comfortable, quiet place to write and talk.

It can be nice to do this outside of your home so you are free from distractions, and get some distance from your daily life. Make a cup of tea, bring snacks, and put on some relaxing music. You are going to be here for 1–2 hours. Make yourself comfortable. Pick categories for your Wheel of Life.

You will be reflecting on and setting intentions around these areas of your life. Here are the eight I use, but feel free to adapt them to your values. There are more examples here.