Lifestyle Designers: Create Quarterly Reports For Your Life

If you are new to lifestyle design, or are experienced, you are probably focused/focusing on designing the life of your dreams. What does that designed life look like? A life that is line with your values, your desires, your dreams – and upping your overall quality of life. At Hipster, we fully embrace lifestyle design: we believe not only in investing in properties but in yourself, too.

When you start designing your life around your values, goals, dreams and overall satisfaction – it’s no small task. You probably have a lot of things you want to do, contribute, achieve and accomplish. Guess what? We think that’s awesome – and you should too. When you take your life into your own hands, you empower yourself, and those around you. Amazing, right? Take a moment and really appreciate what a large – and transformative – process lifestyle design is. Really….

Lifestyle design, in its most true form, is a process. Why? As humans, we are constantly evolving, changing, re-focusing and re-evaluating. In many ways, we are like companies. We have the potential to achieve greatness – and we also have the potential to fail. Quarterly reports, in business, are one way to measure progress, keep goals on track and to achieve real results. If you’re serious about lifestyle design (and if you’re reading this, we bet you are), consider holding yourself accountable for the goals, dreams and values you hold dearest – by creating quarterly reports for your life.

What The Quarterly Report Is All About

In the business world, the year is divided up into quarters – so that would mean writing 4 quarterly reports a year. Of course, you could write one yearly report – or two – or one a month (go crazy, whose stopping you?)… They look at successes achieved and difficulties experienced along the way: they are meant to help you keep on track, refine, eliminate what’s not working – and re-focus on what is….

How Lifestyle Designers Can Write Quarterly Reports:

Statement of Purpose
You don’t have to write a paragraph or really – even more than a sentence. Just write a simple statement of why you are writing your quarterly report (and really, it’s to keep your dreams chugging along on the right track, right?).

List Out Goals You Had/ Have
Make a list – as long or as short as you want – and then take an honest look at how you did in the past three months achieving them.

Focus On What Really Rocked
What did you do in the last few months to achieve your goals that really rocked? Did you actually go rock climbing? Reconnect with an old buddy? Join a meet-up group? Invest in real estate? Finally finish that book that was collecting dust? Start therapy? Get a life coach? Watch the entire Alfred Hitchcock collection? Recognize what you accomplished. Put gold stars (if you are visual like that) to really bring the point home.

Evaluate Where You Fell Short
We all want to be successful but sometimes – things go array. Evaluate what stopped you or which obstacles you encountered along the way to achieving your goals.  Be honest. Was it fear? Circumstance? A mix? Remember to keep your spirits up – nobody is perfect, right?

Look at What Rocked & Where You Fell Short
Now that you’ve taken stock of the past three months, you can plan the next three: can we say WOOOOOT enough? It’s exciting to design your life, isn’t it?  What do you want more of? What do you want to improve upon? What do you want to just ditch…? It’s your life: you design the rules (all of them, as long as they’re legal of course)…

Revisit Again & Again
Stay on track. Refine. Revisit your report at least once a month to stay on track. If you’ve nixed a goal, cross it off. If something has become more important, highlight it. Three months later, use this report to help you write the next one. Sounds simple, right? It is – it’s as simple as you want it to be (depending upon how detail-oriented you are). Tip: set yourself up in Google calendars or a smartphone app to remind you to keep your eyes on the prize.

Key Takeaway for Everyone
Lifestyle design is empowering. Holding yourself accountable for the life your create – that too is empowering. A quarterly, monthly or annual report can help you kick things up a notch and celebrate your accomplishments, know when it’s time to order up a fine bottle of champagne and know when it’s time to hustle a little bit harder!

Key Takeaway for Real Estate Investors
When you work for yourself, or you invest on the side, you have a lot of balls up in the air. In fact, you could probably be a master juggling artist if you put your mind up to it. Keeping tabs on your goals – whether personal or business – can transform both your business and your life.
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