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The Secret Sauce to Reaching Big Goals: Mastering Monthly and Quarterly Plans in 5 steps
In this episode of Productivity Hacks, we’re diving into the secret sauce that turns big, ambitious dreams into real, tangible progress: medium-term planning. If you’ve ever felt stuck between your long-term vision and the daily grind, this episode is for you. I share why quarterly and monthly planning is essential for staying focused and motivated, introduce the psychology behind its effectiveness (Goal Gradient Effect!), and reveal common blockers that can derail your plans – plus practical tips for overcoming them.
With this 5-step process, you’ll learn how to break down your big goals into quarterly sprints and monthly milestones, creating a clear roadmap toward success. Whether you’re overwhelmed by too many goals, battling the all-or-nothing mindset, or just struggling to find time to plan, this episode will help you build a system that works for you.
You will learn……. • The importance of medium-term planning for achieving long-term goals • The goal gradient effect and its impact on motivation • The benefits of regularly reviewing progress and adjusting goals • Common blockers to medium-term planning and how to overcome them • Strategies for maintaining momentum and avoiding an all-or-nothing mindset • A step-by-step framework for creating effective quarterly and monthly plans
Ready to make 2025 your most productive year yet? Grab your pen, hit play, and start mastering your monthly and quarterly plans today!
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Medium-Term Planning: How to Turn Big Goals into Actionable Steps
Long-term dreams are exciting, but without a solid plan, they can feel distant and out of reach. That’s where medium-term planning comes in. It’s the crucial bridge between your big vision and your daily tasks, ensuring that every step you take moves you closer to your goals.
In this blog, we’ll explore why medium-term planning is so powerful, the psychology behind it, common blockers that hold us back, and a step-by-step guide to creating effective quarterly and monthly plans. Ready to turn those dreams into reality? Let’s go!
Why Medium-Term Planning Matters
Many of us plan at two extremes:
We set big long-term goals (like a five-year vision or annual resolutions).
We manage daily and weekly tasks (like to-do lists and schedules).
But without a medium-term plan, our daily tasks might keep us busy without actually moving us closer to our dreams. Quarterly and monthly planning ensures that our day-to-day efforts align with our long-term goals.
The Goal Gradient Effect: Your Secret Productivity Booster
One of the biggest benefits of medium-term planning is how it boosts motivation. This taps into the Goal Gradient Effect, which suggests that as we get closer to completing a goal, our effort increases.
Think about it: if you were running a marathon, wouldn’t you push harder in the last stretch? By setting quarterly and monthly milestones, you create frequent “finish lines” that keep you engaged and driven.
Why Medium-Term Planning Helps You Stay on Track
It keeps your long-term vision in focus. Without quarterly and monthly check-ins, it’s easy to drift away from what truly matters.
It helps you adapt. Life happens. If your goals shift, quarterly reviews let you pivot rather than waste months going in the wrong direction.
It prevents overwhelm. Breaking big goals into manageable steps keeps you from feeling stuck or intimidated.
Common Blockers & How to Overcome Them
Even with the best intentions, there are common obstacles that stop us from planning effectively. Let’s tackle them head-on.
Blocker 1: Overwhelm from Too Many Goals
Problem: You have a long list of goals, but they feel paralyzing rather than motivating.
Solution:
Prioritise ruthlessly. Choose 1-3 “must-win” goals per quarter. Ask yourself: If I could only achieve one thing in the next 90 days, what would make the biggest impact?
Use a parking lot. Write down other great ideas so you don’t forget them, but don’t let them distract you from your current priorities.
Blocker 2: The All-or-Nothing Mindset
Problem: You create a perfect plan, but when things don’t go exactly as expected, you feel like it’s ruined and give up.
Solution:
Build in flexibility. Expect plans to change and set aside buffer time in your schedule.
Focus on progress, not perfection. If 80% of your plan works out, that’s still a huge success!
Blocker 3: Losing Momentum Mid-Quarter
Problem:Â You start strong, but a few weeks in, motivation fades.
Solution:
Schedule mid-quarter reviews. Take 20-30 minutes at the halfway mark to adjust and re-energize your focus.
Break goals into mini-milestones. Instead of one big 12-week goal, create three smaller 4-week goals to maintain motivation.
Blocker 4: Feeling Too Busy to Plan
Problem: You’re stuck in daily tasks and feel like there’s no time for planning.
Solution:
Schedule planning like a non-negotiable meeting. Treat it as important as any work deadline.
Start small. A 20-minute planning session is better than none!
How to Create a Medium-Term Plan That Works
Now that we’ve covered the blockers, let’s get practical with a step-by-step guide to quarterly and monthly planning.
Step 1: Review the Big Picture
Start by revisiting your long-term goals. Ask yourself:
What’s my 3-5 year vision?
What’s my main goal for the year?
Step 2: Set Quarterly Goals
Based on your annual goal, set 1-3 key objectives for the next 90 days.
Define what success looks like so you know exactly when you’ve achieved your goal.
Step 3: Break Goals into Monthly Milestones
Divide each quarterly goal into three smaller monthly milestones.
Example: If your goal is to write an online course in one quarter, your monthly breakdown might be:
Month 1: Research & outline
Month 2: Create content
Month 3: Edit & launch
Step 4: Schedule Monthly Review Sessions
Block 20-30 minutes at the end of each month to reflect and adjust your plan.
Ask yourself:
What worked well?
What didn’t go as planned?
What do I need to shift for next month?
Step 5: Weekly Check-Ins
At the start of each week, review your monthly goals and pull out tasks for the week.
This keeps your daily actions aligned with your big vision.
Your Action Step: Make Medium-Term Planning a Habit
Planning isn’t a one-time task—it’s a habit.
If you’ve been avoiding medium-term planning because it felt overwhelming, I encourage you to start small:
Pick one goal for the next month.
Break it into weekly tasks.
Schedule a 20-minute review session at the end of the month.
You’ll be amazed at how much clarity and control this gives you!
Final Thoughts: The Champagne Fountain of Planning
Think of planning like a champagne fountain at a wedding. Your big dreams are at the top, and each level flows down into the next. Your quarterly and monthly plans are the tiers that turn dreams into action.
When you have medium-term plans, the whole system flows seamlessly, making your daily tasks more purposeful and aligned with your long-term vision.
What’s Your Next Step?
Drop me a message and let me know what you’re planning for the next quarter or month! And if you found this useful, share it with a friend who might need help turning their big dreams into achievable steps.
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Speaker 1:Â
Hey there and welcome to Productivity Hacks, your go-to podcast for quick hacks to help you to get things done and to do them well. I’m Jasmine, your host, productivity coach and consultant, and my mission is to help people increase their productivity so that they have time for what really matters. Each week, I’ll bring you a short episode packed with tips that you can implement right away to boost your output. So let’s dive in. Hey everyone, welcome back to Productivity Hacks. If you’ve been following along, you know that we recently explored long-term planning, which is the big three to five year vision stuff. We talked about the importance of dreaming, then creating the longer term goals from your dreams. We’re following on from that today and zooming in on something a little more tangible, which is medium term planning. Medium term planning is where the magic happens. It transforms your big, dreamlike goals into manageable, achievable steps. Without it, your long term dreams might feel too distant to motivate you. But with quarterly and long-term dreams might feel too distant to motivate you. But with quarterly and monthly goals, you have those tangible milestones to energize you along the way. In this episode, we’re going to look at why medium-term planning matters, the psychology behind why it’s so effective and some common blockers that can get in the way. Of course, I’ll be sharing some practical tips for overcoming those blockers and then, finally, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process for creating quarterly and monthly plans that set you up for success. But first, my lovely husband Si had the idea to list some of the new locations that I’ve spotted people have been listening from. He notices me googling all these amazing locations and showing him like someone’s listened from here, so I thought I would share a couple of new locations. So recently we’ve had and sorry for any pronunciation, we’ve had Maumelle, or Maumelle in Arkansas, greater Sudbury in Ontario, somewhere in South Carolina, hull, but not UK in Quebec, hereford in the UK, bonny Lake in Washington and Dudley in the UK. I am so glad you’re listening and I would love to give you a shout out of where you’re listening from, so please get in touch. The links are in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Â
So let’s dive in to today. Why do we need to plan quarterly or monthly? Why not just plan for the year and leave it at that? It is something that we often miss. We may have those big long-term goals for the year or five-year vision or a dream of where we want our lives to be. We also plan our days and weeks, even if that’s loosely, but we generally have that idea of the things on our to-do lists. But without this bridge between them, this medium-term planning, our weekly and daily tasks while keeping us busy, may not be the things that we need to do to achieve those long-term plans. Doing quarterly and monthly planning refocuses on our long-term plans. Doing quarterly and monthly planning refocuses on our long-term plan and it brings them into our thinking for that day.
Speaker 1:Â
I want to introduce you to the goal gradient effect. This is a psychological principle and it shows that as people get closer to a goal, their effort and motivation increases. So quarterly and monthly planning lets you see that finish line more frequently, which keeps you engaged and motivated. Think about how much harder that you would push in the final stretch of a race. That is the goal gradient effect in action. Having that long-term goal can feel way off, out of reach and it doesn’t really affect our day-to-day, or we feel like our day-to-day doesn’t affect it, and reminding your brain of your plans brings that long-term goal back into your focus and it reminds you that the steps you’re making now, today, are just as important as those final ones. Think about a time when you were nearing the finish line of a big project. How did your motivation shift as you got closer? What helped you keep going? This is the goal gradient effect in action, and it’s something that’s really useful when you’re breaking your long-term goals into more manageable chunks.
Speaker 1:Â
Another benefit of medium-term planning is that it helps you adjust for reality, because life changes and if you’re only reviewing your goals once a year, it’s really easy to get off track. So checking in every quarter or month helps you pivot, adjust and keep moving forward. Sometimes our goals change. They don’t seem as important anymore and we may be forced to change our goals due to circumstance. Medium term planning allows us to reassess Is that goal still important to me? If it is, what do I want to be doing this month or this quarter to get me closer to that goal? If it isn’t, what’s changed and what’s my new or adjusted goal? And the final thing that medium term planning does for us is all about focus, as I alluded to at the start. Without medium term planning, it’s easy to fall into reaction mode and responding to whatever’s urgent but not necessarily important. Quarterly and monthly planning keeps you anchored to what matters most to you.
Speaker 1:Â
So there are some common blockers to medium term planning, which I’m going to explore with you now. So if quarterly and monthly planning is so powerful, why don’t we all do it? I think initially it may be that we just didn’t understand how helpful it could be, because it’s that bridge between our long-term vision and goals and those daily tasks. But even if you did know this and you decided to do that medium-term planning, there are still things that can get in your way. Here are some common blockers that we all experience and, more importantly, some tips for how to overcome them.
Speaker 1:Â
The forming blockers that I see are that you may have overwhelmed from too many goals, which causes you to stall, having the all or nothing mindset or losing momentum and not having the time to plan. So blocker one overwhelmed from too many goals. The problem is you’ve got a long list of goals for the next three months and it is paralyzing. You don’t know where to start, so you do nothing. This is a classic case of choice overload, where having too many options leads to decision paralysis. I have been there. I frequently try to do too much and then I get overwhelmed and don’t even do a fraction of what I’ve told myself to do. When I am disciplined and I focus on doing less and focus on the most important things, I actually end up doing more. It feels like it shouldn’t work, but it does.
Speaker 1:Â
If this is you, then to overcome it, try to prioritise ruthlessly. Choose one to three must win goals per quarter rather than a long list of goals and tasks. Ask yourself honestly if I could only accomplish one thing in the next 90 days, what would make the biggest difference? You can always write all the other tasks, actions, goals on a different list, like a parking spot for them. You’re acknowledging that those things are important and you do want to do them, but they’re not the most important thing right now. Each time you do monthly or quarterly planning, revisit this parking spot list and see if it is time to move things to the main list. Delete what no longer is on your radar and add in any more great ideas that are simply for not now. Another way to overcome this is to chunk down your goals, so break each goal into small actionable steps. Seeing smaller tasks on your plan feels less overwhelming than that big abstract goal.
Speaker 1:Â
Blocker two is the all or nothing mindset. And gosh, this is me all over. I am such an all or nothing person I’m all in or I’m all out. I am the kind of person who is either all in and learning the piano and practicing every minute of the day, or doesn’t touch it and packs away the keyboard in the attic. True story, or one of my most recent, was an obsession with Duolingo, imagining myself to be fluent in Spanish, and I spent so much time on that app, wanting to go up the rankings, getting to different leagues. Then I realised I didn’t really want to dedicate all my spare time to learning and since then I haven’t touched the app. Now I’m definitely not saying this is the best way to learn, because I know that small and consistent is the way, but small and consistent is not very natural to me. I am very explosive and I power through things.
Speaker 1:Â
So the problem with this all or nothing mindset when it comes to medium term planning is you’ve planned the perfect quarter, but then something unexpected happens and you feel like the whole plan’s ruined and you throw it out. You don’t refresh your plans and keep going. You draw a line under that quarter or that month and write it off, and this loses valuable time. Gosh, this is definitely like looking into a mirror. This is known as cognitive rigidity, and it’s the belief that if things don’t go exactly as planned, the plan is a failure. So you stop. So how can we overcome this? Firstly, plan for change. Life happens. Build flexibility into your plan with buffer weeks or catch-up days each month. This has been a godsend for me. I plan for my Fridays to be flexible and fluid. I don’t generally book in meetings or coaching or have a huge plan. Sometimes I see my lovely friend Sarah and my goddaughter Annie. Sometimes I watch TV, sometimes I work on my podcast, sometimes I catch up on coaching notes or do some learning, some reading. It is a buffer in my busy week to then use in the best way for me.
Speaker 1:Â
Another thing you could do is focus on progress, not perfection, which lots that I’ve coached can attest to is one of my favourite phrases, and I even have a little post-it on my wall to remind me of it. I am much better at cheerleading others to focus on progress, not perfection than myself. If you are also part of this club, remind yourself that progress beats perfection every day. It really really does, and if 80% of your plan goes well, that is a win. It really is, and I’m telling myself that as well.
Speaker 1:Â
Blocker three is losing momentum mid-quarter, and the problem is you are really motivated at the start of the quarter, but by week six you are struggling to keep at the same level. And this relates to hedonic adaptation, which is the idea that our excitement about new things fades over time. This is definitely me hello, duolingo and learning piano. So to overcome it, schedule some mid-quarter reviews, a halfway check-in at the six-week mark to re-energize yourself, reflect on your wins, identify what needs to shift, and I would literally schedule this in your diary like a meeting. Block out the time or it won’t happen. Another thing you can do is break it down further. Instead of one 12-week goal, create three four-week mini goals. That way you’re always close to a finish line.
Speaker 1:Â
Block of four is I just simply don’t have time to plan. The problem is you’re so busy with day-to-day tasks that planning feels like a luxury that you can’t afford. The psychology behind this is a classic case of time scarcity, bias, the feeling that there’s never enough time, which makes us avoid planning If you feel just too busy to plan, too busy fighting the fires that occur daily. Here are a couple of things that you can do, and I promise you that if you make time and do this planning work, you will see the incredible benefits to your daily work and the reduction of the daily fires you need to fight. After that, planning will become a non-negotiable for you too.
Speaker 1:Â
So a couple of things you can do are time block your planning sessions. Treat it as a non-negotiable appointment. Put it in your calendar like a meeting, like a meeting with the king, something you wouldn’t dream of cancelling. If you need to move it because of another commitment, do just that move it, but do not delete it and don’t move it to further away in your calendar, or you may end up just constantly pushing it forward and forward. If you need to move it, move it to the same day or even in the days before you originally scheduled it, and if you can’t find space to move it, move something else. Prioritise this stuff.
Speaker 1:Â
And secondly, you can start small. So, instead of an all-day planning marathon or two hour or even an hour, start with a 20 minute review each month. A small session is better than none and in fact, sometimes a small session is better than a big one. Plan it in, set time for your 20 minutes, turn off your distractions and focus. Okay. So hopefully I have convinced you about the importance of medium term planning and helped you overcome some potential blockers.
Speaker 1:Â
So now we move to the practical, the how to, and I’ve got a simple framework for you to help you create quarterly and monthly plans that work. So there’s five steps. Number one start with reviewing the big picture. So revisit your long-term goals. What’s your three to five vision? What’s your goal for the year? These big picture plans will inform your quarterly goals.
Speaker 1:Â
Number two set quarterly goals. Take your longer-term goals, your goal for the year, and set a goal for that quarter. So if you have a goal for the year, then 25% of the time you have to work on that is in the next quarter. So you could think simply, what would being 25% or a quarter of the way to that big goal look like? Or if you are already in quarter two, quarter three, like. Or if you are already in quarter two, quarter three, what is 25% further along towards that goal? You can pick one to three must win goals for the next 90 days and ask yourself the question if nothing else gets done, what will make the biggest impact? Also, define success for those goals. What does done look like for each of them. How will you measure it? How will you know that it’s done? How will you tick it off the list?
Speaker 1:Â
Number three break your goals into monthly milestones. So the quarterly goals divide that into three. So if your goal is to write a course in a quarter month, one might be research and outline, month two might be create content and month three might be edit and launch. Number four have a monthly review and planning session, and this is really important to keep going. So, at the end of each month, review what worked, what didn’t and what’s next, and use this insight to adjust your next month’s plan. Remember this can be just 20 minutes. Make sure you schedule it. And finally, number five are weekly check-ins. Each week, review your monthly plan and pull out the tasks for that week. This keeps you aligned with your bigger goals and more on this next week. So when is a good time to do this medium-term planning? And the simple answer is any time that works for you. You can do it at the start of a period of time or in the time running up to it.
Speaker 1:Â
For me, I tend to have a basic overview for the year, for each quarter, but then I like to take a bit of time, a few weeks before the start of a new quarter, to look at my long-term goals and decide my most important things to do, limiting myself to that one, to three main goals. I pop this somewhere visually that I can refer back to and I do different things whichever takes my fancy. Sometimes I have a simple piece of paper stuck to my wall with the priorities. Sometimes I use the relevant sections of my planner, if it has them. I have used a whiteboard in the past. You could use a spreadsheet or a document that’s digital, a note on your phone. It honestly doesn’t matter where you do this, but it does matter that you see it and refer back to it. As with your long-term goals, I then take some time at the start of each month to decide my most important things that month, drawing down from my quarterly overview. Similarly, I make this visible as I refer to this for my weekly and daily planning. More on this next time.
Speaker 1:Â
So I want you to think of your planning a bit like a champagne fountain at a wedding. So your big dreams are at the top and each quarter and each month, each week, trickles down to the next, creating a smooth flow towards your goals. So the big dreams at the top flow into your medium, which flow into your short term planning. When you’ve got the medium term plans, the whole cascade is unstoppable and delicious. They feed into each other. Medium term planning is where that clarity of your long-term goals starts to meet the action. It’s about zooming in from the big picture to create something that you can act on and it’s that really important bridge between the long term and the daily. So, to sum up, remember medium term planning is the bridge that turns big dreams into actionable steps. You can overcome overwhelm by narrowing your focus to one to three goals. Fight the all or nothing mindset by building flexibility into your plans and celebrate progress. Keep the momentum going with regular check-ins and by breaking goals into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
Speaker 1:Â
So what are you going to do as a result of this episode? What is your one action you’re going to take? Are you going to plan quarter one of 2025 if you’re listening to this when it goes live, or the quarter that you’re in? What is your action point? If you’ve been avoiding planning because it feels overwhelming, I would encourage you to start small, just plan for the next month. You’ll be amazed at how much clarity and control it gives you. I would love to know if you’re going to try this. Do drop me a message, tag me on social media to let me know how you’re making this work for you. If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone who might benefit. If you’d like help creating your own quarterly or monthly plan, I’d love to hear from you. Sometimes, a one-off session with a coach can bring you the clarity you desire in your long-term dreams and goals and what that means practically for you in the coming weeks. Seeing people each week achieve the important things in their life and know what the important things to them are is such a wonderful privilege to be a part of, and I would love to work with you if that is something that you’re interested in. So that’s it for now.
Speaker 1:Â
Next time we’re going to dive deeper into the magic of weekly and daily planning. We’re going to talk about how to structure your weeks so that you feel fully in control and productive every day. You won’t want to miss that. See you then. That’s it for today. Thank you for tuning into the Productivity Hacks podcast with me, jasmine. What is your action point today? Write it down and make time to do it. If you like what you’ve heard. Follow this podcast to get notifications of the weekly episodes and please, please, share it with your friends.
