5 Reasons to Love Goal Planning in 90-Day Windows

Whether or not you think of yourself as a 90-day goal setter, your PowerSheets® are built for it! They start with getting clear on a big-picture vision (through the Prep Work) then use the potency, or power, of short, 90-day windows to maximize progress. Instead of setting and forgetting big goals at the beginning of the year, the built-in refreshes each quarter help you reset and make a new plan, allowing you to pivot as needed. We all know pivots are sometimes needed :)

With the debut of 90-Day PowerSheets (!!!), we're excited for Cultivators to glean even more from quarterly goal planning. Here are a few reasons we love 90-day goal planning, and know you will, too!

1. It feels attainable.

It can feel overwhelming to plan for a whole year at a time, and that paralysis can leave you stuck and taking no action at all. Planning just three months at a time feels more doable.


2. You can make a more realistic plan.

Yes, your circumstances might change over the next three months, but probably less so than over a whole year. When you have a better handle on what your life is going to look like, you can be more realistic about the time you have available to work on your goals and make plans you’re more likely to follow through on.


3. It helps combat hesitation around goal setting.

Many people struggle with the feelings of permanence from goal setting. They worry about setting the wrong goals or how things will work out right at the start. Knowing you’re only planning for the next three months makes it easier to dive in, knowing you’ll have a chance to regroup soon.


4. It puts greater emphasis on the process—and, by extension, progress. And that leads to happiness.

Goal setting in 90-day chunks naturally brings more urgency to the process—a shorter time horizon always does. Because of this, it requires you to be more thoughtful and proactive about planning the execution of your goals—you can’t just sit back and wait to see how things go.

With a more hands-on approach, you get to really examine and tinker with the process—or how you’re going about achieving each of your goals. Something not working one week? You’ll know it, and can pivot the next. This is good news not only for getting things done, but because research has shown that progress, not meeting a goal, is what brings happiness.

The end state of a goal is subjective and in some cases arbitrary (i.e. saving a certain amount of money or losing a certain amount of weight). But progress is clear and concrete (I have more in my savings account this week than last week or I weigh less now than I did then). 

It’s the little-by-little progress that pushes us forward. The end goal sometimes can feel unfulfilling, but looking at the growing progress brings us joy. 




5. You have goals that feel urgent.

We are all about grace, and in some seasons, for some users, moving at a slower pace of progress is perfect. Sometimes, though, there are reasons you need or want to see progress more quickly, and a shorter time horizon and keeping a closer eye on execution day by day and week by week will help you get there. It’s a lot harder to put things off when you only have 90 days!


What would you add? How have you seen the power of planning in 90 days in your goal setting?