It’s another quarter packed with big changes! Before unfolding them, feel free to read my past entries here since April 2023. Here’s the quarterly planning template I use; you may adapt it however suits your season of life:
- Review your top 3 aspirations for the past 3 months. Did you achieve them? If not, why?
- What were the top 3 big wins of the past 3 months and why?
- What were the 3 biggest challenges, and what did you learn from them?
- What are the top 3 aspirations for the coming 3 months? And what’s the biggest risk they might not happen? And what are you going to do to mitigate that risk?
You don’t always have to list three things; you can change the number yourself as your life experiences differ.
To help achieve my goals, I used a 13-week year Google Sheets template (based on the 12-week year method) to set up my goals, track progress, and reflect. (I created the template, and you can purchase it here) So far, it has improved my focus and results drastically. Here’s my snapshot for this quarter.
Q3 2026 Reflections
- Vipassana 3x per week and do one thing that makes me happy 1x per week (✅7/10)
I definitely did one thing that makes me happy every week like travelling, picking up new hobby like manicure and pole dance, spending time with loved ones and so on. I was not disciplined to do vipassana. As my mental health is better now, I will reduce the frequency to 1x per week in the next quarter. - Have 100 users using my iOS apps.(✅4/10)
It grew so slow that I almost gave up until I started promoting it on social media, then it hit 40 users! That meant a lot to me as I also gained a paid customer.
If you are looking for a expense and budgeting iOS app, check out Cashgaroo! I’m continuously refining the flows and adding more features. - Workout 3x a week in the gym, with 2x cardio each week. (✅10/10)
Instead of all gym sessions, I added pole dance and pilates classes for strength training. They are more fun, helping me to stay consistent. - Reduce arm size from 32cm to 27cm. (✅1/10)
I gave up on the belief that exercises can help reduce my arms fat. Once you gain weight on the arms, it is very difficult to get rid of unless you shed a lot of fats overall.
Now, I’m on the Onda Pro treatment. Post two treatments, my arm size decreased to 31cm – very little progress I know. Is it worth the money? Not so at the moment, I will review again once I completed my 6 treatments.
Top Wins in Last Quarter and Why
- Learned to trust myself more at work
My boss left the company, and I had to quickly adjust in the last few weeks before his departure.
It was scary having to make so many big and small decisions on my own, but I did it! It reminded me not to underestimate my ability to adapt to difficult situations and figure things out along the way. - Got a first paid customer for my iOS app.
Cashgaroo is an expense and budgeting app that I’ve been building for months since March and finally I got my first paid customer in September!
I learned a lot about engineering infrastructure, testing, UI/UX and marketing in the past few months.
Top Biggest Challenges & Lessons Learned
- Keep going and try out different methods if current one is not working.
That’s the lesson I learn while marketing Cashgaroo.
Building a product with good UI/UX can help retain users, but first, how do I get users through the door? I’ve learned that building the product isn’t necessarily the hardest part. For me, distribution is harder.
When I first launched on Apple store, I got 0 users until I started sharing it with people around me to get feedback, but growth stopped again.
I finally created social media (tiktok and insta) for Cashgaroo and promoting it on my public account. I had to test out different content strategy until one Tiktok content went viral, that’s when the numbers starts growing.
My takeaway: Don’t assume something isn’t working until you’ve tried different ways of solving the problem. Sometimes you don’t need to give up on the goal. You just need to change the method.
My Aspirations for Q4 2026
- Vipassana 1x per week and do one thing that makes me happy 1x per week
- Have 150 users using my iOS apps and make first $100.
- 3x strength training and 2x cardio/walk each week.
- Make 2 products for Wondefull.
My Favorite Tool for Quarterly Planning
Inspired by 12 Week Year book, I made a 12-week goal planner Google Sheets template to help with my own time management, reflection, and motivation—and it’s been a game changer! It even comes with a 13-week version for extra flexibility. If you’re into planning and staying organized, you can check it out here or on Etsy! 😊
💌 Your Turn: Quarterly Planning
If you’re craving clarity, give this quarterly planning method a try!
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