Summer has a rhythm all its own. The days are longer and are often unstructured. It’s the season to travel, to visit and invite visitors, and to attend to long standing projects. These disruptions make routines harder to maintain but also offer new opportunities to practice flexibility and creative problem-solving. My summer quarterly goals had to adjust to this chaotic rhythm.
In case you’re just joining me here, this blog is episode three of a four- or five-part blog series. You can read episodes one and two here if you want to catch up.
What My Summer Quarterly Goals Were
My intention was maintenance. Keeping my habits alive even when life felt like I had many parts to track. This was (and continues to be) important to me.
And the truth? Some habits held beautifully. Others slipped. The habits that hold together my daily routine and work ethic stayed strong. But overall, Q3 reminded me that consistency doesn’t mean perfection.
What Q3 Showed Me
- Maintenance is a goal all by itself. Especially during seasons that lack structure.
- Small wins count. A quick tidy-up, a 10-minute task, or using the triage method of getting things tackled kept me grounded.
- Disruption tests habits. And offers insight into which habits are truly solid.
- Letting go is sometimes the healthiest choice. Not every task deserves the importance we may assign to it initially.
How I Navigated Summer’s Chaos
I practiced “micro-maintenance”. Keeping lists for every project I was involved with and assigning firm due dates to specific tasks helped me keep my head above water. As some of you know, my biggest project (the 2025 ICD Conference) took place in mid-September. My two other big projects were not due until November and December. This let me focus my summer quarterly goals intently on the conference and slightly dial my efforts back on the other two projects. I also gave myself permission to let certain tasks pause periodically – like writing this blog. This kept frustration low and momentum steady.
What I’ll Do Differently in 2026 (Based on Q3)
I’ll set a single maintenance habit to focus on over the summer rather than trying to keep all the summer quarterly goals running at full strength. I am hopeful this will be possible in 2026.
Takeaway for You
Quarterly goals help you see progress in seasons that might otherwise feel lost.
A Question for Reflection
What is one habit you want to maintain during your busiest season?
Call to Action
Pick one, just one, habit to prioritize next summer. It will make a difference.
Send me an email (diane@dnqsolutions.com) to schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation or if you’ve already decided this is something you want to focus on, Jonda Beattie and I are teaching a 12-week course beginning on Monday, January 5 at noon ET or if you prefer evenings, Wednesday, January 7th at 6:30.
We will begin by setting our intentions for the year and then break that intention down into four quarterly goals. Please visit the Release Repurpose Reorganize website to learn more.
I’m loving this series.. Micro-maintenance is something I can appreciate. I stuck with some life-maintenance habits this year (reading, studying Italian and adding Spanish) and fell off with my longest-held health maintenance habit, walking 10K+ a day. And when I fell off, I fell ALLLLLL the way off, and that dovetails with what you wrote about disruption really testing our habits, as I never would have imagined.
I’m going to keep micro-maintenance in mind. Indeed, I think I’m going to work harder at focusing on quarterly goals *and reviewing them* so that the lessons don’t fade away so easily.
Reviewing quarterly goals is an important thing to embrace. Thanks,Julie.
‘Tis true that summer has a rhythm all of it’s own! Your suggestion to “Pick one, just one, habit to prioritize next summer.” is sage advice any time of the year! Keep on assessing, learning, tweaking, and sharing!
Thank you, Pam
One habit I’d like to maintain is daily photography. It doesn’t take a lot of time, but when I’m overwhelmed by business or personal demands, it falls by the wayside. Thank you for making me think about this!
You’re welcome, Janet!
Your series about your quarterly goals, learning, and adjustments is outstanding! Summer is one of my favorite seasons because it feels less pressured. I’m sure it also helps that I have more planned vacations and long weekends planned then. And there is also extra time with family.
This past summer, we had even more trips than typical. Knowing that, I intentionally let myself lean into enjoying these special times and lifted off the pressure to do, do, do, and go, go, go. It’s not that I didn’t work or have extra projects. But mores, that I adjusted my expectation of myself. And that was huge.
One of the takeaways from that experience was to give an overview “feel” to each quarter. Like for the summer, the focus was on relaxing and having more time with family and friends. It doesn’t mean other things won’t happen, but it will allow me to prioritize what’s most meaningful and important during those months.
I love the way you adjust expectations taking other demands into account. Thank you so much, Linda!
I am enjoying your reflections of your last year. I wondered at the time how in the world you managed to handle so much and still speak in whole sentences. You continue to amaze me.
Looking forward to using what we have learned as we move into a new year.
Thank you, Jonda. I’m thankful to have you in my corner!
What’s really standing out to me from this is how hard it can be to recover from disruptions. For me, this is often a physical illness or injury. I can be humming along on a habit–working that “maintenance”–and then something physical gets in the way. It can feel SO HARD to restart after a period where I’ve been forced to step back.
I’ve come to think that these experiences are good for me, because they help me empathize with others who are having similar struggles. We can have good intentions and even good plans, but periodically something external sabotages us. I think it is important to remember that there is no shame in having to stop and restart. And also to be patient with ourselves if we have to restart a bit “back” from where we were when we stopped. This is actually a normal life experience, so aligning our expectations to expect such setbacks can be helpful.
I completely agree, Seana.