March Madness: The 4 Step Process I Use to Recalibrate Quarterly
We are about halfway through March and I realized, this means we are almost at the end of the first quarter of the year! I love being able to separate my timelines into months, quarters, years, etc. because it allows me the opportunity to check in and see how things are going, what things I need to refocus on, and how I want to gain momentum in the next quarter. Here is the process I use at the end of every quarter to “recalibrate”!
Revisit my word for the year and see what I’ve done to make progress in that area
My words for this year were TRUST & EXPLORATION. Here are the ways that I allowed those to unfold in the past 3 months:
1)I spent the majority of the first month exploring Australia with my friends and meeting new friends. I trusted that, despite it taking me away from income for 3 weeks, I would find clues to help me in this next iteration of my life. What I found in that process was a rekindling of my love for guiding, educating, and helping others take action in places they feel stuck. I was reminded that I am great at asking the questions to get people to do the inner work they desire to get out of their own way and I am also great at seeing the next steps for people. In addition to that, I was open to whatever would happen during that trip and I had no expectations and in doing so, I had an incredible time full of memories, laughs, tears, conversations, and new tattoos.
2)I applied to be a TedX speaker after interviewing my first guest of the year Liz Hanson, who had done her own talk. It reminded me that at one point that had been a goal of mine and even though I did a workshop as part of the Ted brand, it wasn’t a TedX talk. So, I sent in my application and it would be after I had booked a trip to Greece that I would find out that I had been selected as one of the finalists! However, it still wasn’t a go so I didn’t cancel my trip - I had to show up and “audition”/do a live pitch in front of the other finalists + the TedX hosts. I decided then that I would let the universe decide for me - I would give the pitch everything I had and if they still didn’t choose me, then I would get to go to Greece! If they would choose me, then I would cancel my trip, let go of the $500 deposit and trust that the universe has other things in store for me. Well, I was selected and will be speaking June (yay!), so I had to bid adieu to the Greece trip and start prepping for the TedX talk!
3)I truly followed my energy and enthusiasm for all things: food choices, education/books I purchased, clothing purchases, and trusting that doing the things that didn’t make much sense (like a taking a course to learn the ins and outs of Pinterest) will pay off in the long run! I also decided to take a hiatus from Instagram for about a month - giving myself space to breathe, think, percolate, and create without fear and anxiety clouding every post. My anxiety had gotten so intense that I had to start looking at what was causing those things and paying attention to where my energy and excitement is best served was part of removing those things and adding in more calm inducing things like: tapping, moving my body daily through a restorative walking program, meditation, and getting a cat!
4)As I prepared my talk for WPPI, I trusted the process of allowing myself to be a conduit for the bigger plan - changing my slides and topics and activities at the last minute, trusting that it would be what my audience needed in that moment. This is something I started to explore a lot more back in Body Image Bootcamp in 2023, but to intentionally trust that process for a talk at a well established conference is a different thing. Wouldn’t ya know it, it paid off!
5)I’ve been trusting myself on my income and money - reminding myself daily that I am safe, I am supported, and I am supplied. I launched my merch line in february and so far it’s been great and I love the amount of support that has been coming through (particularly on the “Vulgar” items where we turned water into wine when I had a naysayer say something negative about the Confidence Catwalk we did in Vegas!) I’ve been allowing money to flow to me from different sources and becoming more aware of it coming in, it just looks different than it did before. So I trust that I will be supported and supplied and explore multiple ways in which I can allow others to do that for me - whether that’s clothing, courses, speaking, or services!
2. Look at areas of opportunity
This is a very important step and one that’s easy for me to jump over. As someone who is future focused, it’s easy for me to keep on keepin’ on, but I need to reflect on areas of opportunity so I can know how to show up better in the next quarter instead of continuing the behaviors that seek to sabotage my growth! Here are some areas of opportunity I noticed for me:
1) Spending my money in ways that are not beneficial to my overall goal - I noticed a familiar behavior pop up when I spent almost $1000 this quarter on clothing that I thought would make me a “better version” of myself for the different events that I was speaking at. While I don’t regret the outfit choices, I realize that I didn’t NEED those things to help me show and do what I do best. I was able to recognize that a lot of my purchases were fueled by the underlying anxiety that I was mentioning earlier and the dopamine hit that shopping provides relaxes that a little bit. Unfortunately, that does not help me fulfill my goals - so moving forward we will be diligent in our expenses, purchases, and feelings that motivate them.
2) Spending a lot of time on social media - this is what led me to withdraw from Instagram a bit. I noticed I was whittling away hours and hours of my time, again probably fueled by the anxiety and further contributing to it. Doom scrolling became a daily habit, starting first thing in the morning and it began to take over my rituals of journaling and meditation. Once I removed the app from my phone, I realized that I was much more focused and I even got back to doing my Duolingo!
3)Fretting about things I can’t control - obviously this is a side effect of anxiety and thankfully, I had the tools to move myself through it, but there were a lot of moments where I indulged in the thoughts that scrolled through my brain causing me to freak out, adopt old coping behaviors, and panic. Moving forward, I will use the ol’ dump it out and grid it technique that helps me see what I control and what action I can take!
4)Not having any plan - While I did go into this year with trust and explore as a theme, I realized within a month and a half that if I have NO plan, then I will…well, do nothing for my business. I found time to do a lot of things that brought me joy - like sewing, creating, art, self portraits, etc. but I wasn’t working on a marketing plan, my book, my book tour, etc. because it all seemed so overwhelming. As such, I had to have a come to Jesus moment with myself and put myself on the calendar. I told myself that I didn’t have to do it all at once, but instead, show up daily with tasks to do. I assigned myself hours to work on my book, my presentations, and the upcoming tour and then essentially made my availability for coachings mixed in with those. This helped me feel productive, build my confidence back up, and help me feel like I was making progress on my goals
The important thing with this step is not to blame, shame, or feel bad about the areas of opportunity - if you feel those voices popping up, I encourage you to explore who’s voice it really is! For me, my Dad’s relationship to hard work and money tends to come up the most frequently!
3. Brainstorm like a mad woman
This phase is probably my favorite. I love to grab a big piece of posterboard or flip chart paper and go nuts brainstorming my hopes and dreams for the next quarter. I get out all the content that I want to focus on in the next quarter and let myself imagine and dream of possibilities. I dump out any ideas, any concerns, and any fears onto the paper and get to work sorting it all out. It’s more fun when I involve a friend or two in the process so that we can bounce ideas off of each other, so I highly encourage it. There is no right or wrong way to do this process - some people like to use bullet point lists in their notebook, but personally I’m a Sharpie to the flipchart kinda gal.
4. Recognize that the end of one quarter is the beginning of another
Everything that ends must begin again and that is no difference for our quarters. This is a good time to re-evaluate our budgets, our expenses, our subscriptions, our time investments, and decide how we want to move forward. We can’t go back and do things in the past, but we can move forward with more momentum by recalibrating our goals! For me this looks like:
1) Taking a look at my finances and setting a more realistic goal for myself for the next quarter
2)Taking a look at where I spent money that was not helpful
3)Taking a look at where I spent money that was helpful
4)Taking a look at what experiences filled my cup
5)Taking a look at what experiences emptied my cup
6)Asking myself what do I want to carry forward into the next quarter
7)Asking myself what do I want to leave behind in the past quarter
8)Taking a look at my marketing efforts and honing in on my messaging for the next quarter
9)Taking a look at my in person marketing efforts and making plans to do in person things
10) Looking at where I can push my comfort zone
11) Asking myself how I can utilize my yearly words in the next quarter
12)Assigning myself deadlines for different tasks (I don’t have a boss or “clients” in the traditional sense, so there is no one to hold my feet to the fire except for me)
13) Looking at what appointments I rescheduled and need to put back on the schedule
14)Looking at the relationships that poured into me as much as I poured into them (I tend to be an over giver on the friendship front, so I’m learning to establish better boundaries)
15)Getting back to a routine that lights me up and keeps me focused
