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Hello Q2!

Writer's picture: SophieSophie

When I do my seasonal planning, I divide my years into Quintiles (5 seasons), inspired by SHU. In Australia, the school year runs January to December and has 4 terms with two weeks holiday between the. The terms run late Jan - late March, mid April to early June, mid June to early September, mid September to early December. Then Summer runs early December to late Jan. So my Quintiles are the 4 terms (Qs1-4) and the summer (Q5).


That makes me currently at the end of Q1 and entering Q2. Which means that over the Easter break I did both Q2 and April planning!


Q1 Recap


It was a good few months! Kids are now settled in school, I had a couple of successful work trips, and I felt like I got a lot done overall, with a good balance between work and life. A few goals I achieved were:

rearranged the living spaces (we now have an open plan lounge/kitchen and a separate toy room/dining room- so happy with this progress), started a blog (this is my 11th post- thanks to all who have read and commented so far! Still lots to learn and figure out, including setting up comments section properly, but getting there)

Create 4 writing slots per week at work As an academic, writing (publications, grants) is a big part of my role, yet my time can easily get eaten up by other things. Creating meetings with myself 4 mornings to write a week really helped to protect that time, even if some meetings had to moved or cancelled, I still got a lot of "deep work" done.


Q2 planning last week


Q2 Goals


Q2 (April - early June) has a lot in it to look forward to. I have a date night and adults dinner party over the next few days, family coming to visit in April, international travel for work in May, and a local conference in early June.


A few specific Q2 goals are:

In addition to keeping up with my blogging, kids routines, daily reading and prioritising writing at work, some key goals this quintile are:

Outline a new fiction novel. Over the last 6 years at various times I've done a lot of fiction writing as a hobby. I previously drafted a novel, but took a break over the past two years with the two kids so young and full-time work, it all got a bit too much. Now the kids are slightly older, I'm ready to start writing again, and I've got an idea for a new story I'd like to explore. So I'm going to spend Q2 exploring the characters and story, and hoping I can have a broad outline by June.

Cool Bloggers Walking Club Elisabeth came up with the idea of walking at least 10 minutes every day in April. I do walk most days, but I usually aim for 20 mins minimum. Theres probably 2 days a week, however, where I don't walk at all, and I feel it, as walking is SO good for me. Joining the cool bloggers walking club and having a 10 min minimum really help truly make this a daily habit.

Launch professional website. I've been working on this through Q1 and in Q2 I want to finish and actually make the website live.


Anyone else make seasonal goals? Anything you're excited about? Feel free to share in the comments!



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10 Comments


Guest
May 20, 2024

loev love love the planner you picked ;) I hope the Q2 goals are going well!! ~SHU

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Daria P
Daria P
Apr 14, 2024

I also plan in quintiles! Thanks to Sarah Hart-Ungher and her podcast Best laid Plans. Q2 will be on a quieter side for me since Q1 was quite intense, work-wise and family-wise. In Q2, in New Jersey, the weather in usually beautiful, with 70s and sunny, and everything is flowering, and the allergies are in full swing, and I'm wrapping up the school year! Lots of celebrations but the good kind (graduations and moving up). Some self assessment for me since I like to evaluate what I will keep doing and what I will eliminate in the new school year in September (I am a world language teacher).

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Sophie
Sophie
Apr 15, 2024
Replying to

Q2 sounds like it has lots of good things ahead for you! That weather sounds beautiful too. Great idea to do some evaluation of your own work-wise during this season, and then head into summer with a plan.

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Guest
Apr 10, 2024

This is my first time planning the year in quintiles, and it makes SO MUCH SENSE. I have a reading project for Q2, and a new workout plan I'm trying- otherwise continuing on with my usual daily and weekly goals.

I'm fascinated by your writing goals! And, getting out for a 10 minute walk on a day where you normally wouldn't do it make a lot of sense- we can do anything for 10 minutes!

Btw I'm having trouble signing in with google or my email so I'm going to comment as a guest (this is Jenny from Runnersfly.com)

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gratefulkae
gratefulkae
Apr 04, 2024

I love the idea of scheduling "meetings with yourself". That's so smart. I should really do that more often for certain tasks that I really want to do but yet, aren't necessarily a huge priority, either. Those are the easiest things to sort of push off and then nothing ever happens.


And wow on the fiction writing! That's so cool. I enjoy writing so much but can't say I have done ANY fiction writing since my school days. I'm not sure that speaks to me personally (I feel like I'm not that creative?), but I can see that being so fun.

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Sophie
Sophie
Apr 04, 2024
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Writing is the only way I am creative- don’t ask me to play music or paint- ha! Until my early 30s I hadn’t considered fiction writing since school either, but once I started to get into it, I discovered I really enjoy it. Having read your blog you are creative- telling the story of what’s happening in such an engaging way is a skill, so you might surprise yourself!

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Guest
Apr 04, 2024

I saw your comment on SHU. I’m in Aus too. Well done on starting a blog! I’m try Quintiles for this year, Q1 - Jan & Feb (Summer), Q2 - Autumn, Q3 - Winter, Q4 - Sep/Oct (Spring) & Q5- Nov/Dec (busy season). This mostly reflects how work impacts me rather than following my kids school schedule.

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Daria P
Daria P
Apr 14, 2024
Replying to

Same! I am in the US but after I switched to quintiles, life has become more manageable.

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