The Power of Quarter Turns: Your Action Plan for Simpler, Achievable Goals
Have you ever thought about your relationship with goals? When you hear the word, does it feel heavy, messy, or complicated? If so, you're not alone. When I recently hosted a session on procrastination and goals, the words that came up were things like haphazard, complicated, chaos, overwhelmed, and flip-flop. Even I would say my own relationship with goals is complicated. I can be on fire and into it, and then I just want to be present and live my life, not look at a spreadsheet.
The reality is that for many of us, the problem isn’t the goal itself, but the systems behind it. We might set too many goals, or we're great at the dreaming and planning, but struggle with the actual execution. I want to share a concept that has been truly shifting things for me lately: the power of quarter turns.
Step 1: Define Your Quarter Turn (It's Not Perfection)
The idea of a quarter turn was introduced to me during a focus lab, and it really stuck. Think about a cycling class: you turn up the intensity on a hill with a quarter turn. You can apply that to your goals, too. Quarter turns are just about taking small steps, like one bite of the elephant, toward the life we want.
I’m the kind of person who would rather just blow things up and make them big, shiny, and high-energy. Consistent, slow, steady progress—the very thing a quarter turn represents—has not always been my strong suit. But I am learning that consistency and discipline don't need to mean perfection. They just mean a quarter turn in the right direction.
💡 Take Action:
Identify One Area for Improvement: What part of your life or business feels chaotic, messy, or overwhelming right now?
Find the Smallest Tweak: Instead of planning a major overhaul, define the single smallest adjustment you can make that moves you in the right direction. This is your quarter turn.
Step 2: Implement "The Nightly Three" (Applying Turns to Routine)
This concept is practical, even in the messiest parts of life, like family transitions. In my house, evening transitions can be a little rough. We were talking about how to divide and conquer the bedtime hour.
We came up with "the nightly three," which is a great example of a quarter turn. The kids focus on three small tasks before bed: checking the school menu, checking the weather for the next day's outfit, and looking at the calendar for anything special. It's a small adjustment. Instead of blowing it all up—like sending them to bed an hour early—we implemented this small turn to give them a focus.
💡 Take Action:
Audit a Hard Transition: Choose a time of day that usually involves friction, like mornings, evenings, or post-lunch slump.
Design a "Three-Point Focus": Introduce three very specific, easy-to-do steps that bring order to that transition. For example, a morning "three" might be: make coffee, write down three to-dos, and clear your desk. Make it simple and repeatable.
Step 3: Focus on Effort, Not Just the Scale (Measuring What You Control)
I saw the success of a quarter turn earlier this year with my nutrition. After getting a blood test, I learned what ingredients inflame my body. One was in many packaged things in our house.
My quarter turn was simple: stop buying foods with that ingredient in it. When I’m home, I just stopped consuming foods that had it. That's it. I wasn't tracking anything, but after a couple of months, I stepped on the scale and was back to the weight I was when we moved from Honolulu. I realized I was focusing more on the efforts instead of the results. I just kept focusing entirely on my efforts and kept going. I told myself: "Just keep going. Just make the next right choice."
💡 Take Action:
Name Your Effort: Choose one goal (e.g., better health, more writing, consistent marketing) and then define the consistent, simple effort you will put in.
Remove the Focus on the Result: Stop looking at the scale, the follower count, or the bank account right now. Instead, check in only on your effort: Did I execute my quarter turn today?
Step 4: Swap 'Goal' for 'Result' (The Powerful Word Tweak)
Here's one final tweak I want to share. Instead of saying, "My goal is to write a book," which is a big, bold statement, I find it so helpful to replace the word goal with the word result.
The result I might want is to have a published book. But my goal is not to have a published book; my goal is something I can control and measure. For example, my goal is to start writing on Substack five days a week for 45 minutes a time, and to publish twice a week. Getting published is out of my control, but building my writing muscle is what I can make a goal around.
💡 Take Action:
Write Down Your Desired Result: State the big, bold outcome you want (e.g., Get a promotion, Launch a new service, Be healthy).
Define Your Controllable Goal: Ask, "What is the small, daily action I can take that is 100% in my control, which will move me toward that result?" That is your new, achievable goal.
Final Thoughts on Ending the Year Strong
If goals feel overwhelming, complicated, or haphazard to you, remember this: you are not alone. Focus on the goal you can set for yourself—the small, consistent quarter turns—not necessarily the big result. As we're ending the year, instead of just throwing in the towel and calling it a day, I really think there’s a lot of power in this quarter to work hard and make these little mindset and perspective adjustments. Doing this helps you build a strong foundation so you can be satisfied with where you land and where you are going to start the new year in.