We have officially completed the first quarter of 2018! As of April, the first three months of 2018 have come and gone. And if you are anything like me, you most likely created a vision board, wrote out your goals, and even named your 2018 year (I named mine the year of Freedom). But like most people that sign up for a gym membership in January and never walk back into a gym again until January of the next year, we sometimes let our goals fall to the wayside.
One reason why our goals fall to the wayside is because we don't completely think our goals through. Yes, it's exciting to write down a goal like, "Buy my dream home in 2018," and post it on social media so that everyone can cheer you on, but like most goals, it's easier said than done. And once you sit down with a financial advisor and they lay out all the steps you have to complete in order to purchase your dream home, that's when it typically hits you that this isn't an easy goal to complete.
To combat that, consider quarterly goals. Quarterly goals are a perfect way to keep you on track because you're able to check in on your progress in increments, as well as detail the steps 1, 2, 3, to get you from A to B. Now that we have entered the second quarter of the year, it's the perfect time to revisit those goals that you made in the beginning of the year.
Here are three steps to assessing your progress for the quarter in the year so far:
Check In On Your Progress
You won't know how far you have to go, or how far you've already come, if you don't check in on your progress. If this year's goal was to lose 30 pounds, where are you on that scale? Even more importantly, what actionable steps have you set in place to help you leverage that goal? The same questions can be applied to virtually any type of goal you've set for yourself, from love and work, to food and finances. Check in on your progress today to see how close you are or how much more work you to have to do to compete this goal.
Get Real With Yourself
Now that you've checked in on your progress, get real with yourself. Ask yourself what you could be doing better in the pursuit of your higher self. Could you incorporate more walks during your work week? Could you create a budget and stick to it? Could you cut out frivolous spending? If you find yourself waning on this journey, hone in on your why. Your why is what will push you to complete your goal, no matter how bleak the present seems.
Write That Sh*t Down
Sometimes we make goals but don't write down all the necessary steps to complete those goals, and that can be the very thing that might have you at a standstill with the goals you set out to accomplish. For each goal, break them down to the smallest detail possible. If your goal this year is to finally get your small business off the ground, make a checklist of what seeing the fruits of that labor will require: a business plan, a business license, a social media strategy, etc. Don't be afraid to get specific. This will help you visualize the future you wish to create.
Take things goal-setting a step further by writing little notes to self to guide you on your journey and act as reminders. Whether it's the bathroom mirror, your cubicle wall at your desk at work, or the dashboard in the car - write it down and watch it happen.
Life is all about choices, and you can either choose to push through, or you can choose to give up. When you sign up for a gym membership - that part is easy. The hard part comes in when you are five minutes into your elliptical workout, hot and ready to cry because of the sensation of the burn that is moving through your inner thighs and you have about 15 more minutes before the workout is complete.
No matter how difficult the process, there is so much fulfillment when you finish a goal and see it to completion. Keep going, sis.
What dreams are you determined to manifest this year? Are there any roadblocks or obstacles standing in the way? What are you doing to work through it?
- How I'm Kicking Off 2015: My 5 Personal Quarterly Goals ›
- My Quarterly Goal System- How I Crush My Goals - Urban 20 ... ›
- The Power Of Quarterly Goals ›
- How to conduct a personal quarterly review – Orian Marx – Medium ›
- Why You Should Set SMART Professional Goals at Quarterly Reviews ›
- A Guide To Evaluate Your Priorities & Set Goals ›
- My 2016 quarterly goals - Laura VanderkamLaura Vanderkam ›
- Smart Goal Setting Examples - 37 Of 'Em For You To Steal ... ›
- The Goal Setting Template for a High-Output Life ›
RELATED
Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak