The moving goalposts

We’re at quarter-end which means next quarter planning. I will admit that it’s one of my least favorite things to do as we go through the painstaking process of evaluating ourselves this past quarter and then discuss how we’re going to amp things up next quarter.

This is of course very necessary and important to make sure the company is headed in the right direction. But it’s always tough to do for a couple reasons. The first being that it’s the end of the quarter and everyone is tired from the grind, specifically myself.

Secondly, it can always be a bit daunting to see the goal posts move. You just worked your ass off for the last 3 months to ensure that we hit or exceed our goals. And then next quarter the goals almost always get raised.

I go through this every quarter and it’s always stressful. The pressure starts almost right away and you’re back to the grind again with a much bigger target.

The positive side to this is that in my experience, things do snowball and build off of each other more than starting from a fresh clean slate every quarter. The momentum you build from the previous quarter usually builds upon itself and becomes exponential.

Goals are most intimidating at the beginning and get much more manageable as you chip away at it.