159. 2 Tips to Hack Your Quarterly Preview

Episode Transcript

Courtney Baker:
Before we get into today’s episode, I want to tell you about our free guided quarterly preview. You can get it at FullFocusPlanner.com/GuidedQuarterlyPreview. This is really going to help set you up to win this next quarter in just about one hour. In this audio experience, Blake Stratton is going to guide you through reflecting on the past quarter and plan for the one ahead. So you’re not going to want to miss it. And again, you can get access at FullFocusPlanner.com/GuidedQuarterlyPreview.

Verbs Boyer:
Courtney, Blake, it is hard to believe that we are now at the end of quarter three, and we’re heading in to the final stretch. Cue the music. That would be the final countdown song, which is always the theme song for quarter four.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah, we didn’t probably buy the rights to that. But we’re all hearing it in our heads and in our hearts. It is clutch time.

Verbs Boyer:
You’re right about the rights.

Courtney Baker:
But are we? How does it go? I actually can’t think of it in this moment.

Verbs Boyer:
We can’t even sing it due to the copyright infringement on that.

Blake Stratton:
I can’t even sing it. Yeah.

Courtney Baker:
Okay.

Blake Stratton:
I could sing it poorly enough that we don’t infringe on the copyright.

Courtney Baker:
Okay. Well-

Verbs Boyer:
All you have to do is say the final countdown, and that automatically triggers the people’s minds to start that.

Courtney Baker:
I’m just got it. Yes, thank you. That helped me. It is true. I do think Q4 is usually, for me, both personally and professionally, the busiest time of the year, the time that I have to be on top of it. I’ve got to be A-game Courtney. A-game Courtney? A-player Courtney. Whatever the version of-

Verbs Boyer:
A-game Courtney.

Courtney Baker:
Yeah, whatever my Avenger’s name is, that Courtney. That’s the one that has to come to Q4. Otherwise, the likelihood of everything imploding is it’s possible. That’s the season it’s going to happen, if it’s going to happen.

Blake Stratton:
That’s why, Courtney, it’s so important to go into the telephone booth. Do that costume change.

Courtney Baker:
Yes.

Blake Stratton:
But the telephone booth in this instance is what we call the quarterly preview. All right. That’s where you get to put on your cape, become the superhero you need to be. Yeah, you like how I connected those dots, don’t you? Yeah.

Verbs Boyer:
That was brilliant. I’m going to hand it to you on that one. That was brilliant.

Courtney Baker:
I thought you were just going to lay it down and let us just be impressed. But you had to call it out.

Blake Stratton:
No. No, but I had to call it out and, therefore, revoke any respect I had gotten for connecting the dots. That’s my style.
So this phone booth that you’re going into, you got to do a costume change. It’s the quarterly preview, and the quarterly preview is a tool that’s in the back of your planner. If you are new to using the Full Focus Planner, or maybe you don’t even use the Full Focus Planner, in which case Courtney has a link for you, I’m sure she’d be willing to share.
But this tool is hugely important when you’re heading into a new quarter, because it allows you to stop the busyness for a second, reflect on the past, and plan for the future, so that you don’t just react and hustle your way through, just trying to grin and bear it through the busiest time of the year. But you can actually look ahead, be proactive, be intentional, and accomplish what’s most important to you. That’s what the quarterly preview’s all about. If you’ve never done one, this is the episode for you, because we’re going to make it more approachable and give you a couple tips to help you execute.

Verbs Boyer:
Today we’re going to talk about two tips that will help you have the best quarterly preview yet.
Welcome to another episode of Focus On This, the most important and productive podcast on the internet, so you can banish distractions, get the right stuff done, and finally, start loving Mondays. I’m Verbs, here with Courtney Baker and Blake Stratton.

Blake Stratton:
Verbs, I’m glad you went out and just said it. It is the most important podcast on the internet. I know-

Verbs Boyer:
I’ve been holding back.

Blake Stratton:
Some people are trying to solve world hunger, some people are trying to save the economy, some people are trying to fix global warming. But you know what you have to be in order to do any of those things is productive. So yes, you got to listen to Focus on This.

Verbs Boyer:
It’s a must.
All right. Blake, you did a great job at the top, just explaining the elements or what the quarterly preview can do for us. But where would you say is a good place to begin on the whole quarterly preview process?

Blake Stratton:
Thanks. The first tip is to carve out extended quiet time, to carve out extended quiet time. This is the kicker about the quarterly preview as opposed to other tools in your planner. You can remember to set a daily big three at 8:54 and, off the cuff, jot down a few things.
The quarterly preview does not work that way. In fact, if you’ve been using the planner for a while and haven’t done the quarterly preview, my guess is we don’t have to explain to you just how valuable that would be. My guess is you know it would be so valuable. It’s just, “Ah, I just didn’t make the time.” I didn’t make the time, and then before you know it, your new quarter is off to the races, and it starts to feel useless to go back and take time to reflect and set new goals and all that good stuff.
The first tip is simply this. Take out your calendar right now and look for a block, some white space. We recommend at least two hours. Does that sound about right to you guys, Courtney and Verbs, when you do a quarterly preview?

Courtney Baker:
Yeah, that sounds right for me, although I tend to try to make it a whole day. I try to pair it with things that are really exciting or fun for me so that I make sure there’s no way I’m not going to do it, because I’ve paired it with these really exciting things. But usually, two hours works well for me.
I will say if you work with an executive assistant that it works well to also have an hour with them as well so you can sync up on things like your ideal week or just calendaring for the next quarter. Depending on if you want to do that or not, you may add an additional hour to that time. I usually do that, and it works really well.

Verbs Boyer:
Yeah, I agree with Courtney said. Yeah, two hours would be the minimum, because again, even in this process, you want to give yourself some time to just think and dream a little bit and then figure out how that shapes into the next quarter. But yeah, two hours minimum for sure, especially if it’s your first time doing it, and you’re getting used to that process.

Blake Stratton:
A lot of you listening are looking at your calendar and the timing of the next quarter and going, “Yeah, there’s no three-hour blocks just begging to be used up right now.” So ask yourself this question: What would need to be true in order for you to find that time? What would have to be true? Does it require getting out of bed really early one day? Does it require requesting off of a meeting or arranging childcare?
To be honest, this is worth, if there’s not a super important or urgent requirement for you to be at your job, what I used to do is I would just talk to my boss. Most recently, my boss happened to be employed at a company called Full Focus, so they kind of understood it. But I said, “Hey, I’m going to take a half day on Friday to do my quarterly preview.” And you know what my boss said? “Thank goodness. You super need it, Blake. Please go and do that.”
But your boss may not know what a quarterly preview is. But if you say, “Hey, I’m finishing up this quarter, and it’s so important to me that I do whatever I can to help us hit our big goals this next quarter, and I know it’s going to be a big one, so I want to give some dedicated strategy time to that. Can you help me find a two-hour block where it would be fine for me to unplug?” Or whatever. Get creative with it if you are having trouble arranging the time. And I would say as a last-ditch effort, break it up. Still do the quarterly preview, but take an hour early there, take an hour early there, and work your way through it. But you can do it. Just carve out the time.

Nick Jaworski:
Can I just say that the more that I have done quarterly previews, I actually feel like it takes longer, because I am able to understand what it is that I need to do, the work of it. The first few times I did it, it was like, “Great. Write my things, do this.” And I wanted to do it. It felt good. But over time, I’m going, “Oh, I really need a little bit more time because I see how this fits into the larger picture.”
If you’ve done it once or twice before, and we’re like, “It takes me an hour,” or however long, perhaps give yourself some more time, and it’ll start to make more sense.

Courtney Baker:
Well, I definitely think it’s one of those tools that can grow tentacles if you want to. For example, you could spend, again, like I said, you may want to extend it and meet with your executive assistant and true up some of those things. You may want to spend more time project planning. It lends itself, you’re in that head space, thinking about the next quarter. Certainly, you can make it work for you. But I think as you’re getting started…
Matter of fact, later on in the episode, I’ll just go ahead and say this. But we actually have a guided quarterly preview with our very own Blake Stratton at FullFocusPlanner.com/ GuidedQuarterlyPreview. Do you have that? You got it. Okay, good. Blake, do you remember how long that is?

Blake Stratton:
It’s only about 17 or 18 hours long, the unabridged version, just because I really want stuff to sink in. Plus there’s about three hours worth of guided meditation within that, where I have people imagining themselves scuba diving towards their goals.
No, I genuinely – Nick, you can help me – I think it’s 30 minutes maybe, because I’m simply going through the step. It’s probably less than 30 minutes. But I’m simply going through the steps and then encouraging you to hit pause, to take as much time as you need, but explaining some rationale. We’ve heard it all in terms of objections, sticking points with the different steps. So I try to walk through that as best I can in that recording. So check it out.

Courtney Baker:
Our second tip is to make a packing list, and this is actually really important, because what you don’t want to happen is you planned this really great day. You’ve figured out a way to get two hours off work or away for the day, and then you get all set up, and then you’re like, “Wait, I’m missing all these things.” Tip number two is to make a packing list.
Some things that you’re going to want to bring is your previous planner. You’re going to want to bring a new planner, because you’re going to want to get that set up. You may want to bring a journal or something to capture reflections. You certainly could use the notes in the back of your Full Focus Planner if you haven’t filled those up. But if you have, bring a journal or somewhere that you can spend some time journaling through any thoughts or lessons that you’ve learned in the last quarter. And then, you’re going to want to bring your laptop or whatever you can view your calendar and upcoming projects. And really, there may be more things to this and I’ll be curious to hear from Verbs and Blake if there’s anything else. But really, what you’re trying to do is anything that’s going to help you reflect on the past or plan for the future, you want to make sure that you bring that to your quarterly preview, wherever you’re doing that at. Verbs, Blake, any other items? Any other must-have items on the list?

Verbs Boyer:
No, I mean I would say, again, just underscoring what you mentioned at first, is just the critical importance of bringing both of those planners, because you do want to look at what happened in the past, and you’ll need to go as far back as the previous quarter just to find out what adjustments you want to make going forward. But you definitely want to have both of those on hand, because I might know somebody who forgot one of those, and then the whole quarterly previous time wasn’t productive at all. It would be the most unproductive time.

Blake Stratton:
I like that you called it a packing list, Courtney, because my most fun and successful quarterly previews have always been when I change the normal context of my environment.
What my wife and I started to do… Nick, you had mentioned the more you do it, the more time you want to take with the quarterly preview. What my wife and I normally do is towards the end of the quarter, we will take a day and we go, we get a hotel. Half the time we’re here in Nashville. We don’t even… Maybe we should take a trip. That would be more fun probably. But sometimes, when we can’t take a trip, we’ll get a hotel here in town.
But just the context change is so helpful because it triggers the thinking change as well and allows you to elevate out of the urgent day-to-day mood and interruptions and distractions to elevate your thinking. That would be one thing. So when you say packing list, I’m like, “Yeah, literally.” Pack it and leave. Go somewhere else. It may help your process.

Courtney Baker:
Hey, guys, I am being joined by one of my favorite people to talk about the Full Focus Planner with. Actually, I don’t know your title. What is your title?

Adam Hill:
I am now the Product Development Design… No, Product Design and Development and Supply Chain Director.

Courtney Baker:
Product Design. I’m just going to say Product Design Director. Is that okay?

Nick Jaworski:
I’m leaving it in. Don’t worry.

Courtney Baker:
You’re leaving all that in?

Nick Jaworski:
Yeah.

Courtney Baker:
Oh, so keep going?

Nick Jaworski:
Yeah.

Courtney Baker:
Okay. Right. So all of that is what you do, which makes you one of my favorite people to talk about, because you always come into the office, and you’ll be like, “Hey Courtney, Courtney. Do you have one minute?” And I’ll be like, “Yeah.” And then you will usually spread out some really fun colors or a new material, or you’ve got a sample of something. It’s honestly, some of my all time favorite things to talk about. And you are always the one bringing those. I think you and I may have talked about the planner more than I’ve talked about the planner with anyone else outside of this podcast. So everybody, welcome to the show my friend Adam.

Adam Hill:
Thank you. Thank you. Glad to be here.

Courtney Baker:
I said that you were also my co-worker, and my co-worker Adam Hill.

Adam Hill:
Right on. I work here. This is it.

Courtney Baker:
That’s right. Adam, will you share a little bit about who you are and give us a little more about what you do? Because that title, there was a lot there.

Adam Hill:
Yeah. Basically, if an idea comes from inside the company or outside the company on our content team or our marketing team or even the coaching team, the big idea was the planner. At one point, Joel and Michael and Megan had this planner they had developed, and they wanted to figure out how to take it to the next step. So I was brought in. Since then, we’ve done things like add new colors, add new formats. There’s a wide variety of different things that we’re looking at doing in the coming year, where we add new formats or concepts or ways to take the existing teaching of the planner and put it in the new ways for customers and clients to interact with it.
And besides that, you have to, when you’re making something, you have to make sure it’s affordable. You have to make sure you can do it for the long haul. You have to make sure it’s something that’s not going to break the bank to fulfill. You have to also make sure it stays in stock. You have to make sure it behaves well once you do get it in stock. So I keep my finger on the pulse of all those things, basically, just keeping it from the cradle to the grave. If it’s real, and it’s Full Focus, I keep my eyes on it. That’s kind of it in a nutshell.

Courtney Baker:
That’s a really good description. And I will say, for anybody that has joined us over on the Full Focus Planner community on Facebook, usually, if y’all give us an idea, and we are like, “Hey, this is a good idea,” usually it makes its way to Adam in some form. And he’ll tally those up or keep mental record of those over time. That’s how, eventually, you see things in a new rollout of format is because that’s Adam, that’s Adam at work.
Adam, I am curious, because over the years, after the planner launched, we’ve added other little tools, accessories, all those kind of things. I’m curious, out of all the things that we’ve launched, outside of the planner, what would you say is your favorite?

Adam Hill:
Oh, man. I really like the little black notebooks that we make right now, because they are handcrafted in Mexico by a small company. It’s a mom-and-pop company in Mexico City, and they do beautiful, excellent, elegant work with little notebooks. And they also make our desk tools. That’s one of my faves. The other ones are just… There’s some exciting things we have coming up next year that I would probably use now, but we want to keep that under our hat. It’s been very, very fun to learn about some manufacturing of some things that are a little outside of what we’ve done in the past.

Courtney Baker:
Now, Adam, I don’t know if you would say this is… I think you would say this is true about yourself. You’re kind of a creative at heart really, even though you got your pulse on all these inventory and making sure we get the right order… At your heart. I feel like you’re a creative, right? Am I accurate there?

Adam Hill:
Yeah, I’m a very odd person. I started school as an art major. I ended school as a history, with a history degree. And that is sort of indicative of my entire journey. I’m super throw-the-paint-at-the-wall kind of person, but at the end of the day, I’m also like, “Well, I want you to fiscally, responsibly, throw paint at the wall, and I want you to make good decisions for yourself.” I don’t know what’s…
It’s either an answered prayer to a group like ours, where you’ve got a lot of really quick-start creative people who need somebody to come in and go, “Well” and “Well, wait.” And I’m kind of that voice, but at the same time, I’m not just a bean counting, telling you what you can’t do all the time. I also try to realize, “Well, we’ve got to have fun and be creative, or we aren’t going to grow or find new ways to do things.” So not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I encompass both sides of that equation really.

Courtney Baker:
Yeah. Well, that’s what I… I love that explanation, because I think for people listening to this podcast, sometimes it’s helpful to identify with certain elements of a personality. And I feel like you’ve definitely got that creative spirit and your workflows. You definitely leave room for creativity.
With that in mind, I’m curious for you to share, what part of the planner is your favorite? How does it help you do your job? Just share a little bit of where you find, in light of that creative spirit, how does the planner help you actually achieve what you want to achieve?

Adam Hill:
Yeah. My favorite aspect of the planner or tool is the big three, either the weekly big three or the daily big three. I think it’s really useful to sit down and think about… I have a friend who has a phrase called, “Shoot the closest snake,” and I always apply that to picking my big three. There’s always that one thing out there that if you don’t do that, that’s really going to end up biting you. If you don’t take care of that one thing, or it could domino and cost lots of money later. So those are always the things that I put to the top of my list. And then, constant rolling in and out of what needs to be done. But I think that’s a great tool, just to help you prioritize yourself.

Courtney Baker:
Adam, one thing that we love to talk about here is obviously, we’re the most productive podcast on the internet. Obviously, we love the Full Focus Planner. It’s a great tool for that. But also, sometimes you just need a hack on how to make your dishwasher work better. Thank you, Nick, for that. At home, I’m curious, what is your favorite productivity hack in, really, any realm of the universe?

Adam Hill:
Oh, gosh. Okay. This will sound funny. Sometimes… We may not use this. Sometimes if I get stumped, I will go out and shoot hoops in my driveway.

Courtney Baker:
It’s a solid hack. Yes, I did not even know that you played basketball. So that’s good for me to learn.

Adam Hill:
Yeah, and that gets into all that. You’re moving your body, you’re getting up, you’re getting away from your desk. And then, I think just adding that extra element of trying to put the ball in the hoop, that little concentration, you think about something different, and you make your mind do something physical and concentrate on that. Sometimes the answer will come to you.

Courtney Baker:
I love that. It’s a great hack. Now, do you also have a hack for how you keep that basketball clean? No? No?

Adam Hill:
No, they just sit there in the garage.

Nick Jaworski:
Okay. Well, Adam, I’ve been talking on the show, at least two shows recently, about an idea I have for a Full Focus product. It comes out of a discussion about the value of a check mark, and you should check things off as you go. You can kind of hack the feelings of check and how that feels good. So I went online, and I ordered a stamp, a little check mark stamp, that I only use when I complete a big three. No, it’s not for any of the other tasks. Those don’t get a stamp. But if I complete a big three item, I go cha-chung, and I can feel it. And it feels very good. I’ve already done one today. There it was. I did. I’ve already done it.

Courtney Baker:
For sure. And we really want that, how it goes down on that sound. We want that little endorphin kick that we’re going to get from that.

Nick Jaworski:
In my head, it sounds like the Law and Order chunk chung for some reason.

Adam Hill:
Okay.

Courtney Baker:
But we do like this idea of a stamp. And Nick, I don’t know if you’re leaving this in the actual podcast, but I think this is a good example of how we actually make products. We come up to Adam with this crazy idea, and he’s like, “Okay, well, you would need to do this, and you would need to do that.” And then, Adam goes and works is magic.

Nick Jaworski:
There you go, just throwing it out there.

Adam Hill:
If we want to make one, I think I know a way to do it. But we’ll have to revisit.

Nick Jaworski:
Okay, great. That’s enough for me.

Courtney Baker:
Well, Adam, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s so helpful to just hear about different people’s roles, how they do their work, and how they leverage the Full Focus Planner and shooting basketball in their lives. So thanks again for being with us today.

Adam Hill:
You got it. So glad to be here. Good to see you both, and have a great day, you all out there listening.

Courtney Baker:
Like I said earlier, we have a free download for you that’s going to walk you through how to do your quarterly preview with our very own Blake. And you can get that at FullFocusPlanner.com/GuidedQuarterlyPreview. We’ll also add links to this in our show notes.
Also, if you’re not part of our Full Focus Planner community, make sure you join, because Blake has a very special thing coming up with quarterly previews that you’ll want to find out over in our Full Focus Planner community.

Verbs Boyer:
Thank you for joining us on Focus on This. This is the most productive podcast on the internet, so share it with your friends. And don’t forget to join our Full Focus community right there on Facebook. We’ll be back next Monday with another great episode, but until then, stay focused.

Courtney Baker:
Stay focused.

Blake Stratton:
Stay focused.