I am aware that when this post goes live, it’s almost the end of July, and one whole month of the quarter is done. But I still wanted to go ahead and publish this post, and not get out of the cycle of setting and reviewing quarterly goals, as this system has been working extremely well for me.
In case, you are new to my blog or this segment, here’s a quick summary of what this post is about – Every quarter, I set 10-20 goals for myself, which span several areas of my life, and then I give myself 3 months to achieve them. After the quarter is over, I go over the goals, and review the wins and losses of the past quarter, and set goals for the upcoming one.
If I manage to accomplish more than 75% of my goals, the quarter is considered a win, if not, I am doomed forever and ever. Just kidding! I lose, but since there’s always a next time, I pick myself up and get cracking on my new goals, because as the very cliched saying goes, the show must go on.
If you are interested in knowing why I decided to follow this system of quarterly goals, you can read this post.
Now without further ado, let’s get started on setting goals for the 3rd quarter of 2017.
Blogging Goals
For the New Food Blog
I know that tasks relating to the new food blog have made their way into my past quarters goals as well, but if all goes as planned, this will be the quarter that the food blog goes live, as I am finally at the stage where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So the following goals are essentially a list of tasks for the final lap. Of-course there are several small things that I have left out. These are essentially the bigger items on my to-do list.
1. Ensure the Food Blog goes live – The food blog has been in the project stage for the past 3 years (no kidding!) and thanks to my effective procrastination techniques, combined with my obsessive need for perfection, it stayed in the distant dream land all these years.
But now that I have let go of the need to figure out everything before I begin, and have decided to learn as I go, it’s time to finally raise the curtains on my one true blogging dream. So that’s my first goal for this quarter, and I hope (and pray) that it will be accomplished without any further roadblocks.
2. Food Blog Logo – I know technically I can get this done later as well, but I would like to have it at the start, within the Blog Header, which happens to be my next task.
3. Food Blog Website Header – I would like to launch the site with a Blog Header that I love, because I know that once the blog is live, I will get wrapped up in the recipes and content in general, and procrastinate the design tasks.
4. Post 2 Recipes on the Blog – This seems like an easily achievable goal, right? Especially when there are 3 months to do it. But if you consider the things on my to-do list, like reading books, posting on another blog (this current one), ensuring all the back-end technical aspects of the new blog are in place, not to mention finalizing the design aspects of the new blog, outside of a full time job, and trying to be an active member of my family, this task does pose a challenge, but I shall conquer it.
5. Post 1 Video on YouTube – This is a whole other ball game. One I hope to conquer, but I am not entirely sure I will be able to, as me and the hubby are only now figuring out how to take a decent (note I said decent, not good) food photograph, and am sure video shooting and editing will have its own learning curve. But what is life without a little challenge, right?
For Shanaya Tales
Since I have so many tasks for the other blog, I am keeping it simple for Shanaya Tales. I only have one main goal here – to catch up on Book Reviews. I mean I am definitely going to keep up with the Chatty Blogs Monthly Linky, and publish other posts as well, but it’s the pending book reviews that come back to haunt me all the time, and so I am trying to focus and get through them.
6. Catch up on at-least 4 Review Commitments – These are the books that I have accepted for review, and they’ve been on my task list for months. High time I prioritize and get to them. But I don’t want to be overly ambitious, so the goal is to get through at-least 4 of 8 books I have pending.
So essentially I would have to read and review any 4 of the following books – Nasty Women, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, Seven Days of You, Cooking for Ghosts, Lanka’s Princess, Part Star Part Dust, His Christmas Delight & His Christmas Surprise.
7. Catch up on at-least 3 Pending Reviews – Unlike the books I mentioned above, these are the books that I have read, but haven’t reviewed, so here I only need to get my thoughts together and review them.
Again, as much as I want to get to all of them, I am trying to keep a check on my ambition, and only committing to reviewing any 3 of these following 6 books/series –The Lunar Chronicles, Lean In, Yes Please, The Book Thief, Twilight Series, Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight.
Bookish & Reading Goals
8. Read 2 Books that I Own – If you have been following my blog for a while, you may recollect that when I set my reading goals for 2017, one of the goals was to read through the books I own (before I buy more books that is), and that’s why I had participated in the Read My Own Damn Books challenge. But this is one challenge I am doing terribly at.
The goal was to get through 14 of my owned books in 2017 (ha! I blame the new year optimism for this goal). Anyway, we’ve been through 7 months of the year, and I have only read 1 book. Which is why, during my mid-year reading goal update, I revised this goal to get through only 5 books, which means I still have to get through 4 more. And since there are 2 quarters remaining, I am trying to spread it out, by breaking up this goal to 2 books each quarter.
9. Do NOT request a book from NetGalley – Yes, this is an official goal now. If I ever hope to get through my review backlog, and reclaim my sanity, I will have to hold off on accepting (or in this case requesting) new books from NetGalley.
I am not banning myself from accepting books for review from the authors/publishers directly, as I am pretty good at only accepting the ones I am genuinely interested in. However, with NetGalley, I am like a kid in a candy store, and I need to rein myself in.
Health & Fitness Goals
10. 10,000 Steps 3 times a week – I am not going to have any weight loss goals this quarter, so this is the only fitness goal this time. Also, I have kept past step-count victories and challenges in mind while devising this goal of 10K steps 3 times a week.
So this should be simple, and hopefully more doable. Oh and for those who have been asking how I track these steps, it’s through my Fitbit. I can do a more complete review of all the ways I use it, if you guys want me to.
Home & Family Goals
11. Sort & Organize Old Photos & Videos – I know that this has become a staple in my quarterly goals now. And every single time I fail at it, and push it to the next quarter. I don’t even want to say that I am more optimistic this time, because I am always optimistic, and yet time just passes me by. So I am just going to leave it here, and hope for the best.
12. Finish Kitchen Back-splash – Okay this is something I wanted to do in the early part of this quarter, and as I write this, this is already underway. All the selections have been made, all materials bought, and the contracter booked. So this is one goal that will definitely be a win.
That’s all from my end folks. Those were my 12 goals for the Summer Quarter. I have already started working towards some of them (especially since this post is so very delayed), so I am hoping for a win this time too. But honestly, if I fail all the other goals and am able to launch the Food Blog, and sort those damn photos and videos, I will be a very happy woman.
Anyway, if you guys set goals (monthly/ quarterly/ yearly), and choose to write about them and track them, please do share them with me in the comments. I would love to read them.
Obsessivemom
I think I must have said this scores of times – I love how organised you are. This goal setting is a great idea. Do do get started on the food blog.
Don’t even get me started on book reviews – I’ve got so many pending and so little time to do them.
Obsessivemom recently posted…The heart of a festival
Shanaya Tales
I know, right? The review backlog is a constant in my life these days. This quarter I am making a real effort to get ahead of them, but I always give in to the temptation of buying/checking out more books from the library, and then we are back to square one. Sigh.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…Indian Authors in American Libraries | #ChattyBlogs August Linky
Resh
Good luck for your food blog. Hoping to see it soon as well as see the Youtube channel. You have done your goals quite well. I like that not requesting new books from Netgalley is an actual goal in the list. Wishing you a great August
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Resh. And yes, the Netgalley thing had to be a goal. So that there is something between me and temptation. 😛
Shanaya Tales recently posted…Indian Authors in American Libraries | #ChattyBlogs August Linky
Samantha
I also have quarterly goals review that I do, I started it this year and I haven’t blogged about it. But this is a great idea, a very comprehensive list too.
Shanaya Tales
Thank you, Samantha. I am glad you enjoyed the post. Wishing you the best with your goals as well.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…Indian Authors in American Libraries | #ChattyBlogs August Linky
Shalini
I’m dying to say ‘Welcome to the Food Bloggers Club’ 🙂 Go for it, girl. It has been long pending! I love your quarterly posts. Makes me want to do one. But na! I’m bad in ticking off goals. All the best, Shantala. May you tick them all off this quarter!
Shalini recently posted…It was a Mistake!
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Shalini. I truly appreciate it. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
SHALINI BAISIWALA
Whoa 10k steps is huge; I am doing 5k and I know how pooped i am at the end of it!! I am impressed.
Cheers to all your goals and I hope you get to doing them all!!!
SHALINI BAISIWALA recently posted…Gratitude Post – July 2017
Shanaya Tales
Oh 10 K is a challenge for me too. Which is why I have specified the number of days/week. 3/7 days should be doable. Hopefully. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Soumya
Way to go, Shantala, you are doing pretty good and I’m looking forward to your food blog 🙂
I make personal goals too but in my diary. Maybe I should do this from now on. This would help commit to it too.
All the best for all your pending goals.
Soumya recently posted…Action Replay: July 2017
Shanaya Tales
Yes, this definitely makes me more accountable and committed to achieving my goals, or at-least making a real effort, as the goals are shared/tracked publicly.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Sheethal
Awe. Such an inspiring idea. I wish you all the best to conquer all your goals. I loved how specify you were about the goals you want to achieve in each area of your life. 🙂
Sheethal recently posted…Moving Away …
Shanaya Tales
Thank you. I am glad you liked it. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Lata Sunil
I hear you about Netgalley. I restrain myself to not request for more than two books. But, browsing inevitably gets me to ask for a book.
Lata Sunil recently posted…Romancing the phone #FridayFictioneers
Shanaya Tales
Yes, I am trying to avoid the site altogether, unless I have to give feedback about a book. Because once I start to browse, I have zero self control.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Nabanita Dhar
I wish you all the best for all your goals and I really hope you get the pictures sorted 🙂
And about not requesting another book for review, I hope you can do that though as a fellow reader, I don’t think you can control because books make us crazy :)!
Nabanita Dhar recently posted…#MommyTalks | Fellow Moms
Shanaya Tales
Exactly. Right after I published this post, along with my goal of not requesting books from NetGalley, I got an email from them, about a book I am pre-approved for, and I was doing some mental gymnastics trying to figure out whether that counts as requesting books or not. Though finally I decided against requesting it, as it would totally count. But yes, the temptation is everywhere.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Rachna
How organized are you, Shantala. But the best part is that you don’t stress too much if the goals are not fulfilled completely. Wishing you luck with them.
Rachna recently posted…#Gratitude This July
Shanaya Tales
Oh yes. The whole point of this is to make my life simpler by organizing my goals, tasks, and priorities. If I let it become a source of stress then it kinda defeats its purpose.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Bhavya
This is such a cool idea. Creates more responsibility in us to reach our goals I guess. Good luck reaching your targets 🙂
Shanaya Tales
Thank you so much, Bhavya. And yes, it definitely leads to higher accountability.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Suja aka Sindhuja Kumar
The idea of the quarterly goal and tracking it is really inspiring. Never heard from anyone. Getting organized when works piles up are absolutely a challenge and I am still managing to get on track. I wish I could spend some time to write down my goals and track it occasionally.
Suja aka Sindhuja Kumar recently posted…DIY Dinosaur- Paper Plate Craft Idea
Shanaya Tales
I am planning to do a linky the next quarter, so you could possibly join in. We could all cheer each other on. 🙂
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Rajlakshmi
As I have said before, you are very organized. I am so inpsired and I definitely need to do that ‘Read you own book’ challenge. I got so many unread books on my shelf… it makes me feel so guilty. Good luck on your posts and Youtube video. Looking forward to watch it.
Rajlakshmi recently posted…7 Things to do in Narooma
Shanaya Tales
Thank you, Raj. And yeah, I believe it’s a very common problem – ignoring older owned books for the newer releases or library books. At-least that seems to have become a habit with me. A habit I need to break.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)
Alice Gerard
Looks as if you are doing well with your goals. Maybe I should try doing the same!
Shanaya Tales
These are the goals for the third quarter, so it’s still a work-in-progress, but I’m hoping I’ll do well.
Shanaya Tales recently posted…My Quarterly Goals for Summer Quarter (Jul– Sep 2017)