Own the Work You Want: A Better Approach to Reviewing Professional Goals
Goal setting is for you and your career, find a cadence that works for you
You probably rolled your eyes a little when you saw the word “goals.” That’s fair. Most companies have turned goal-setting into a performative ritual, a checkbox exercise for HR software, tied to reviews that may or may not impact your career. The process can feel hollow, and over time, many smart, ambitious people learn to tune it out.
But tuning out goals means tuning out something much more important: your own agency.
Done right, goal-setting isn’t about performance reviews. It’s about clarifying what matters to you, deciding where to invest your energy, and making sure your future unfolds the way you want, instead of leaving it to chance.
This is true whether you’re just starting out, a mid-career professional navigating big decisions, or a business owner trying to steer your company in a sea of competing demands. If you don’t stop to think seriously about what you want to accomplish, it’s easy to get caught in the day-to-day and lose sight of the bigger picture.
Used well, goals are one of the few tools we have to steer our careers, to choose the kind of work we want, build the skills we’ll need, and make ourselves visible for the opportunities that matter. But that only works if we review our efforts honestly and regularly.
As we come to the end of the first third of the year, it’s a good moment to step back and do just that. And if you’ve missed your Q1 review? That’s not failure. It’s a sign that maybe quarterly isn’t the right cadence for you. Let’s talk about how to do this better.
Why Regular Goal Reviews Actually Matter
Let’s take the “professional development” fluff out of it for a second. Your goals are how you shape the trajectory of your work. Left unchecked, you end up chasing targets that stopped being meaningful months ago. You lose time, energy, and momentum. Worse, you miss your shot at the kinds of projects and roles that would challenge you and keep your work interesting.
The world shifts fast, new priorities, new bosses, reorganizations, and life changes. Regular reviews help you reorient before you’re too far down the wrong path.
Done well, a review doesn’t just measure what you’ve done. It reconnects you with why you’re doing it.
If You Missed Your Quarterly Review, Don’t Sweat It
The quarter ended, life got busy, and you never circled back. Join the club.
The good news: reviews don’t have to happen four times a year. In fact, I’d argue that for most professionals, reviewing your goals three times a year—say, April, August, and December—is more natural. It gives you enough runway between reviews to make real progress, while still giving you regular touchpoints to adjust course.
And unlike the quarterly process that feels like it was designed for someone else's spreadsheet, a triannual review is yours. You set the terms. You decide what matters.
If you’re catching up now, block out an hour. Grab whatever notes or tools you use (even if it’s just your calendar and a legal pad). Ask yourself: what’s changed since I set these goals? What still matters? What’s shifted in me, in my role, or in the world around me?
Then make the edits. No apologies necessary.
Triannual vs. Quarterly Reviews: A Better Rhythm
Most corporate goal systems use a quarterly cadence. It sounds reasonable—check in every three months, but in many cases, it’s too fast. By the time you ramp up for the quarter, fight a few fires, and get into flow, the review is already looming. You’re always reacting.
Triannual reviews—three times a year—offer more space. Enough time to build and measure progress, not just check whether something’s “on track.” They also tend to sync better with how companies really operate: mid-year strategy resets, end-of-year performance reviews, and summer lulls that invite reflection.
If you’ve struggled to make quarterly reviews stick, try this cadence instead:
April: Reflect on Q1’s momentum and align for the rest of the year.
August: Mid-late year recalibration, with a focus on closing strong.
December: Big-picture reflection and early thinking for the next year.
Try it for a year. You might find it fits better than you expected.
Not All Goals Are the Same—And That’s a Good Thing
You’ll hear people talk about “SMART goals” and “KPIs” and “OKRs.” That’s fine for corporate planning. But for your own development, it helps to split goals into two types:
Accomplishment Goals are outcomes—things like “get promoted,” “increase revenue by 20%,” or “sign 5 new clients.”
Action Goals are about process—things like “attend one industry event per month” or “do 20 customer interviews.”
You need both. Accomplishment goals give you direction. Action goals keep you moving.
When you review your goals, check: are you clear on which is which? Do your action goals support your accomplishment goals? Are you spending time on work that takes you where you want to go, or just staying busy?
Map them. Make a table. You’d be surprised how many action goals are floating loose, unattached to anything real.
How to Tell If Your Actions Are Working
Even when your goals are relevant and aligned, you can still feel stuck. That’s often a measurement problem. You’re doing the work, but not seeing the results, and it’s not clear why.
Use a three-step framework to check:
Did you complete the action goal? If not, figure out what got in the way and adjust.
Did the action lead to the expected result? If not, was the target realistic?
Do you need to refine your strategy? If the work isn’t producing outcomes, try new approaches—better scripts, clearer metrics, skill-building tasks.
Don’t get lost in minutia. Focus on diagnosing what’s working, what’s not, and what to try next.
Are Your Goals Still Relevant?
Here’s a question most people don’t ask often enough: Does this goal still make sense?
Not in theory, but for you, here and now.
Maybe you set a goal to work toward a relocation or a new title. But your life changed, or your family needs shifted, or you’ve come to value flexibility more than prestige. Maybe the job changed, or the industry did. That’s not failure. That’s adaptation.
Relevance isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between motivation and burnout.
When you do your review, write a one-sentence “why” for each of your top goals. If you can’t answer it quickly and honestly, the goal may not belong on your list anymore.
How to Run a Review That Actually Helps You
Here’s a basic framework for a review session:
Set aside 1–2 quiet hours. No email, no Slack.
Gather your tools. Goals, notes, calendar, past reviews—whatever gives you perspective.
Reflect.
What progress have you made?
Which goals still matter?
Where are you misaligned?
Update.
Edit, replace, or retire goals as needed.
Add new action goals to support current outcomes.
Plan next steps.
What do you want to work on between now and August?
What support, skills, or resources do you need?
Document.
Use a tracker, app, or even a simple notebook to capture insights and keep yourself accountable.
If this still feels overwhelming, the linked checklist in the adendum includes a process to review your goals in a few minutes a day spread across a week that can be used for whichever cadence works for you.
If You’re Struggling, You’re Not Alone
Most people don’t review their goals regularly, not because they don’t care, but because the process hasn’t felt useful. It’s performative. It’s unclear. It’s disconnected from the real decisions they face at work.
That’s fixable.
Start by reclaiming goal-setting as a tool for yourself, not for someone else’s system. Use it to advocate for the work you want, develop the skills you’ll need, and stay aligned with your own evolving values.
Nobody else will do this work for you, not your manager, not HR. But it’s worth doing. Your future self will thank you.
A Quiet Ask: If this resonates with you, take an hour this week to sit with your goals. Don’t worry if it’s messy. Just begin.
And if you’d like a simple template or want to share how your review goes, reply to this post. I’m always happy to hear how people are finding their own rhythm.
Let’s make goal-setting something that works for us again.
📚 Addendum: Concepts Recap & Further Reading
✅ Key Concepts Covered
Why Regular Goal Reviews Matter: Avoid misalignment and maintain momentum.
Missed a Quarterly Review? The past is irrelevant; focus on the future.
Triannual vs. Quarterly Reviews: Structure your reflection around what serves you, not the calendar.
Accomplishment vs. Action Goals: Balance long-term outcomes with process-driven steps.
Relevance Check: Ensure your goals reflect who you are now, not who you were in January.
Alignment Check: Confirm that action goals support the outcomes you care about.
Measurement: Track what matters, and use your data to refine strategy, not punish yourself.
Review Process: A clear step-by-step framework for reflection, adjustment, and planning.
Daily Progress Addendum: A manageable way to chip away at reviews, one goal at a time.
📘 Further Reading & Tools
Books:
The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran – Rethink timeframes for goal execution.
Atomic Habits by James Clear – Create better systems for hitting your effort goals.
Essentialism by Greg McKeown – Filter what really matters when setting or revising goals.
Deep Work by Cal Newport – Understand how effort and focus drive long-term outcomes.
Drive by Daniel H. Pink – Learn what truly motivates us (hint: it’s not annual performance reviews).
Tools & Templates:
SMART Goals Template (free) – For clarifying goals.
PDF Goal Review Worksheet(free) – Download from this article.
🧭 Final Note
You don’t need to do everything at once. You just need a way to return to what matters, periodically, with honesty and humility.