IN THIS EPISODE:

Why you need a quarterly reset

This week we’re discussing a simple tool that you can use to reset quarterly across three key areas: work, self and life.

This worksheet helps you unpack all of the stuff that’s happening in your life and enables you to rank the most important priorities.

This process will help you reflect on what’s working – and what is not. Consequently, allowing you figure out how much energy to allocate to each of the three areas for the next quarter.

Download the quarterly reset worksheet here 

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Please note that this episode was transcribed using an AI application and may not be 100% grammatically correct – but it will still allow you to scan the episode for key content.

Brad Giles  05:05

Today, we are talking about why you need a quarterly reset. So it’s coming up for the end of June, and the middle of the year and these kinds of events in the calendar or transition periods in the calendar, get you to think about a reset. And you actually wrote about this in your book, Kevin. So we’re going to talk a little bit about that today. Why you need a quarterly reset.

Kevin Lawrence  05:38

Yeah. And in many ways, just like celebrating, you get to think about all the good things that are going on and enjoy that. Sometimes when not-so-good things happen. You get a chance to reflect and we lost them very sadly. Think last week, you know, a guy Jerry Jagger’s name, who was a part of the race track remembers, I’ve called area 27. young guy passed away. And, you know, kind of shocked all of us in the community. And, you know, it gets you to the ones when someone that doesn’t, when someone that you really like or care about passes away, it makes you think, as well. So those there’s, there’s life events that cause reflection. But we don’t want to rely on those. We don’t want to we don’t need any more of those than that. It was a I was just I want to say that. By the way. Just a note about your shoulder what Jerry, Jerry was an amazing guy. Every time I saw the guy, he was smiling and happy and interesting, as people are posting stuff on Facebook and other places. Everyone says the same damn thing. nicest guy ever, always smiling and happy. And it was awesome. I was, you know, he left a legacy. I don’t know if he knows that he left, unfortunately. But that’s what a great way to be remembered. Right? Just Yeah. That people loved being around. That was sad. But the point is, is that we have those events and it makes you contemplate but ideally, we build a rhythm or a discipline into our contemplating and what matters most. And we normally do in companies, we have goals. And some companies only run annual goals, which I’m not a big fan of. Neither are you need quarterly because you have basically it’s more frequent accountability, and then resetting points. Yeah, so Oh,

Brad Giles  07:20

I am Yeah, so I’ve, I’ve been doing quarterly planning for literally decades. And I remember one person in particular, he said, it feels like it’s time to come back together. And this was like a week before our quarterly, there’s actually there is something inside of us, that aligns us with a quarter now my very unprofessional theory is it’s, it’s to do with the rhythm of the seasons. Okay. So we can go through a summer for long enough, before we see the transition into what we would call autumn, before 90 days, we would see the transition into winter. And these 90 day cycles are really quite deeply built into us. And therefore when we translate that into business, it feels like it’s time for a change, it feels like it’s time to move on and to have a reset into the next season. I’ve a few times in my life, I’ve spent the summer in Australia, and then sent spent some or a large part of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And it just feels like it feels like it’s a bit much. So I think interesting. Yeah, my theory is that it’s, it’s something that is, you know, a part of us as humans, that lasts 90 days that we you know, we need to change after 90 days or reset

Kevin Lawrence  08:57

that because things kind of get fragmented and frayed, you want to bring it back together. And for me, I think about it is, you know, as my kids were younger, I think it was the season of school,

Brad Giles  09:06

right? There’s

Kevin Lawrence  09:07

the there’s the summer period, there’s back to school in September, there’s a restart in January, there’s the restart after spring break, you know, similar type of rhythms, the point of it is having that that discipline. So you know, what we really recommend, and it’s not rocket science is that you do it yourself. Ideally, you do it with your partner in life. Or you could do it with your team, or your coach or advisor or somebody. But you do some work within you get someone to help you lock it in. So for example, tomorrow morning, I’m meeting with my coach, I work with myself. And I’m going to go through this process and get it locked in because that’s, you know, that’s the time that we have. And then I’ve got the team company version later in the day. And then the company version, you know, we often get people to set goals, no one around and some goals around life and around self. Not just work. But not all companies that we recommend it but not all companies do. But the point of it is there’s a deep version you would do for yourself to contemplate and then there’s probably a later version of the work and self stuff that you might do sorry, the life and self stuff you might do with your team at work. So I think the starting point is just in your oxygen aspers we break it down between work self and life, right work is your career or, or money and investments, right stuff that generates cash and ideally enjoyment, because you’re connected to a purpose. And self is about you and being happy, strong and healthy. You personally just being your best, normally the most neglected one for a lot of people. And then your life, your family, friends and your community that can be if you’re doing you know, you know, charity work, and obviously your your your family, but just reflecting and breaking it down. So you just don’t look over all because it’s too messy and kind of lumped together.

Brad Giles  10:51

Yeah, you’ve got to be able to divided into these areas, it’s fair to say that in our brain, everything is mashed together. But by segmenting it, it means that we don’t, we don’t revert to what we may intuitively go to, which is we may people like you and I, Kevin would probably intuitively go to work. But yes, you would sacrifice the self or you would sacrifice other areas. So being able to segment and focus around different areas, and you correctly kind of attribute it to three separate areas, I think is really, really important. And gives us the opportunity to, to not end up in this difficult situation where I know, like the two of us have been in our lives where we’re like, everything’s going really well in one area, but not so good in another area, or I’m getting burned out over there because of something else that I’m doing.

Kevin Lawrence  11:52

Yes. And it’s like the three plates that you’re constantly spinning for three hula hoops, that you’re constantly that you got going, or the three knives or juggling whatever metaphor you want to use, you know, work self in life, and if any one of them is in a bad place, it affects the others, particularly self, but if life is not good or neglected, and the idea is to keep reminding yourself, of what’s most important, and making sure you set goals in all three areas, not just at work, which is kind of natural for people is to have goals for work only.

Brad Giles  12:25

Could you just clarify, because I’ve read your book, and I’m a big fan, but could you just clarify, please, for the listeners? What do you mean by works often life what is your definitions there.

Kevin Lawrence  12:37

So again, working I think I covered a little bit earlier, but it’s work is it’s about your job, your career, or your company. And it’s basically and, and, and money or investments. So things that generate cash for you. Right, because you know, you might manage a bunch of investments, but that would be your work, it’s the things that generate cash and And ideally, self is you just you as a individual being strong, resilient and happy. And then like family, friends and community, that’s your, but it’s separating yourself from your life, because they get blended together. But in your life can require a lot of energy, and you can give none to yourself, and then you kind of deplete the whole system. And that’s the whole thing. If you don’t consistently increase and build your own energy and your own energy reserves, you don’t have as much to give. And the idea is to master conscious selfishness, which is where you take exceedingly good care of yourself. So you can perform and do what you want at work, and have enough energy and gas in the tank to still live a great life and be a great influence in your life. Yeah,

Brad Giles  13:47

that’s the idea. And so this quarterly reset, what we’re saying is considered work self life, and going through these different areas. So this is a tool from your book.

Kevin Lawrence  13:58

Yep. And I’ll just flash it on screen for those that are watching you. And you can go to YouTube. And I should probably put the link to this in the notes. But there’s the definitions across the top and we’ll just walk through there’s some reflection questions. We’ll walk through those. And then the second page, there’s, there’s where you lay out. Okay, how am I going to do the next quarter better in terms of works off and life?

Brad Giles  14:22

Very good. So the first one, gonna walk us through them the first

Kevin Lawrence  14:28

one biggest achievements, but breaking down under might be some overlap. And that’s okay, but what were your biggest achievements? Let’s start with the good stuff. Let’s start with the stuff you feel good about and proud about and where you won. Because the whole idea is to be able to have more things that do work out and or feel good, but you achieve it or you end up feeling good about it or proud about it, man. So it’s not rocket science. So what were your biggest achievements in those three areas

Brad Giles  14:56

and this is something that we do it annual, annual and quarterly Planning as well, we look back and we say, where do we win? Where do we lose? It’s kind of like the scoreboard for the last period. just reflecting on that before we move on.

Kevin Lawrence  15:12

Yeah, exactly. It’s not rocket science. Yeah. And then the second thing is, is, you know, what were the biggest challenges or disappointments, right? Like, what, what didn’t work or didn’t get done? Like, you know what? And you’re acknowledging this stuff, and then looking at it, and then you can sort of go in some way. Why? Like, what was the deal there? Why was that? And there’s, there’s learning that comes from that. And whether it’s about recalibrating your goals, or what not to do next time, whatever it happens to be, but you know, what, you know, where Didn’t you win?

Brad Giles  15:44

Yeah, and there’s always some way and that’s okay. You know, I think it was Bill Gates that said, success is a lousy teacher. Exactly. And so the disappointments, the failures, that’s the opportunity to learn and grow and, and acknowledging that thinking about that

Kevin Lawrence  16:04

is important. It is. So next is passion ratios. And when I look at, it’s like, if we have 100 units of our best energy every week, how do we allocate our best energy, not just our time, because, look, you know, I remember times when I would use up and be cooked from work, I could show up and spend time with my kids. But they were getting, you know, a C grade quality, they weren’t getting the a grade, Kevin, they were getting what was leftover, and there was not much left in the tank or when I was jet lagged. So it’s about your best energy and how much of it you dedicate. And there may or may not be a relationship of time on this, but you know, how much your energy Did you invest each quarter your best energy and work self in life. And then in hindsight, hindsight, always easier, you know, what would have been ideal? Like, you know, if you, you know, if you did 80 to work and 10 to self intend to life, you know, maybe you go well, you know, truly, probably 65 to work, you know, 15 to self and 22 life, right? I’m making up numbers. Yeah, yeah, but it or, or maybe it was perfect, but it’s, it helps you to recalibrate your location. And this is where a lot of us get messed up. And the magic, and then we talk about this a lot with executives is, is to still be able to dedicate a lot of time and energy to work, and have more time and more energy somehow. And by freeing up unproductive stuff, which we’ll talk about in a future episode. But you know, to be able to still have so dedicated lot to work and a lot to life and a lot to yourself, you get a clear bandwidth out of the system we’ll talk about later,

Brad Giles  17:44

you got to clear bandwidth out of the system. And a great analogy that someone said to me, many, many years ago is think about an Olympic swimmer, they just glide through the water, there’s very little splash, and then going at such a fast pace. Whereas when I swim, it’s more like question of is the person drowning? is a person moving? And what kind of a stroke? Is that? Are they doing any type of stroke? Or is it more splashing? Now? lets you know I can swim several kilometers in laps, so there’s a bit of facetiousness in that, but yeah, the point that I make is in as a metaphor in terms of our work by distilling the time or or or putting a constraint on the time, it forces us to be more effective.

Kevin Lawrence  18:39

Yep, it does. That’s the idea. And then the final thing is, is what do you need to start or stop doing to be on track for your annual goals? because ideally, you’re recalibrating back to what you wanted to achieve this year, which would be in the other document called the master plan, where you have your long term goals. And then and then right down to your annual so just recalibrate with what you’ve decided you want to do this year is a reflection. So I’ll throw the page back up on screen for those that want to see it. Pretty straightforward. So achievements, challenges or disappointments, passion ratios, what did you invest? What would have been ideal so you can kind of prep your thinking for next quarter? And then what do you have to start or stop doing to deliver on your annual goals?

Brad Giles  19:19

And so for each of those questions you’ve just mentioned for clarity, you need to answer three points your work yourself. The other one I can’t remember your life. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. So so your biggest disappointments, your answering three questions if you have the video? Yeah,

Kevin Lawrence  19:38

exactly. There’s a call. It’s just three columns. Yeah, a bunch of questions going across three columns. Great way to describe it. So that is the okay. I’ve done a bit now you can think about other things. But that is a basic reflection. And you go back and look at your goals and then very simply throw us back on screen again for a second. You’re trying to fill these top two boxes, which is for work, self and life how, what is those passion ratios? How much of your best passion? Do you? What are your passion, your best energy? Do you want to allocate this quarter? You know, for me, I’m coming into summer, where I take a bunch of time off. So there’s much more for self and life coming up in this coming quarter for me. And then your number one and only your number one project or goal in each area, one for work, one for self, and one for life. And then I’m below there’s a spot for other projects, right, other things that you might want to do. But the idea is, what’s the number one that must be delivered no matter what? bless it, pardon me?

Brad Giles  20:44

No problem. And so that, so that’s really thinking, What’s the most it’s a prioritization exercise. And it’s a prioritization tool that should become a habit or is good to become a habit. And that’s why we’re saying now at the end of June, because if you could go through that simple tool, it’s probably going to significantly positively impact your next quarter. Ken, can you just tell us about toads? Quickly?

Kevin Lawrence  21:17

Yes. And there’s a whole chapter on it in the book, it’s loose ends. And there’s a whole story you can read in a book, I will not do it right now. But it’s basically irritating little things that you try to ignore, but they haven’t got done. And they distract you. And they burden you. And so it’s basically lingering things that may have a low financial value, but they have a mental drain on you. So for example, I worked with a guy in the automotive business, his name was art. And every day after work, he was a mechanic, he would come over to the air pump and he would pump up the air in his tire. I’m like, art, you know, I you got a flat tire. Why don’t you fix it? He goes, it’s only flat on the bottom. Like, and he was like he laughed, he put the earnest irony went on. And on the point of it is he spent a lot of energy putting air into the tire every single day and maybe thinking about it, or maybe he didn’t care. I don’t know. But it puts a mental toll on you and wastes energy. And sometimes it’ll be like updating a will or returning a book or saying thank you. Oh, shoot, I gotta send a thank you one second here. I’m just I’m remembering it as I’m speaking. I got to thank some people from stuff this weekend. But it’s these things that weigh on your mind. And you keep thinking about it. And you’re just not getting to it. Because there’s an internal tension in it. And your spirit is fried when you get them done.

Brad Giles  22:53

Yeah, yeah. Okay. And then,

Kevin Lawrence  22:57

and then we have a habit to start having to stop if you were going to do that. And then finally, the last piece is what are you okay, this is great to have some goals for the quarter. How are you gonna? What are you going to do about it this week to get a jump started? And to get it going? Like, what are some little steps you can take to get the ball rolling?

Brad Giles  23:13

Yeah, 92% of plans fail due to poor execution. So it’s good to have the plan. But then you got to start acting on it. And so then what can you do in the next week to get something moving?

Kevin Lawrence  23:25

Exactly. And it’s very straightforward. So the essences in three different columns for work self in life reflect, hey, what went well? What didn’t? How to allocate my energy? How would allocate it differently? What do I got to start or stop doing to hit my annual goals? Nice. Okay. Now let’s what’s the thing that matters most next quarter, and ideally getting that number one in each, and to be able to do it within the energy you’ve allocated to that category. And if you say that you’re going to run an Iron Man, and learn to guitar and take 14 weeks off, and there’s only 13 weeks of the quarter and, and the Iron Man is going to take 10 hours a week and a guitar is going to take four and a half three kids, it’s like you got to really think about Anyway, you know, you’re gonna need 90% of your energy if that was your goal. Yeah. But if you got to dedicate 90 to work, you just, it’s just a it’s a test to make sure you’re setting it up, right. Yeah, setting yourself up to win and make progress.

Brad Giles  24:30

Very good. So as it’s your book, do you want to give us a summary of these key points again, in terms of reset?

Kevin Lawrence  24:37

Yeah, exactly. So number one, very straightforward, you know, is the essence you got to reflect on how you did personally, professionally and in your life. And you shouldn’t be looking at all three because that’s the only way you win. The only way you win in the world is if you achieve in all of those areas sustainably. reflection on the achievements, challenges or disappointments, energy allocation, how to do what we do. better start or stop to hit your annual goals? And then going forward, how much energy Do you allocate each of those three categories works off in life. single most important thing in each and ideally stop there. That’s the high level of what you need. You might have a couple of other things you want to do in each and then totes clear up the loose ends get the stuff that you’ve been procrastinating and putting off just get it out of the way. And then Okay, what are a whole bunch of little steps we can take this week, really straightforward. The key, you got to carve out half an hour to do the process that’s really about it. And ideally with some sort of a thought partner. That’s what I recommend.

Brad Giles  25:41

Awesome. Okay. Good, quick, impactful episode. Hopefully, identifying it’s time to reset. It’s the end of the quarter. Here’s a simple tool that you can use. Okay, do you want to take us out Kevin? Yeah. Thanks

Kevin Lawrence  25:56

for listening, everyone. This has been the growth whispers podcast with Brad Giles and Kevin Lawrence. I’m Kevin. My partner. Here’s Brad. For the video version. Go to youtube.com search the growth whispers for Brad evolution. partners.com.au and for myself, Lawrence and co.com. Have a great week.