Q2 Goal Setting and April 2022 Monthly Reset - 12 Week Year - PhD, Brand, Personal, Business Goals

The quarter-two reset centers on one practical idea: use a 12-week cycle to turn long-term direction into tightly scheduled, trackable goals—then do a structured reflection so the next sprint starts with clarity instead of momentum. Ciara Feely lays out how she re-anchors her work at the end of a 13-week run (12 weeks of intense effort plus a one-week break), then restarts the next 12-week block with a fresh plan beginning April 4, 2022. The point isn’t just productivity; it’s motivation. Goals are built from a long-term vision and broken into medium-term (1–2 years) and short-term (12 weeks) targets, mapped across major life areas using a “wheel of life” approach.

Her workflow runs through a Notion-based system: a reflection and goal-setting space linked to a rolling task list (“mind sweep”) and a “year at a glance” view that she organizes in three-month chunks to match each 12-week period. She keeps upcoming dates—events, emails about future plans, and scheduling needs—outside a traditional calendar because she wants a fast, visual scan of what’s coming in the next few months. From there, she breaks each life area into projects and next actions, then sorts tasks by context (email, calls, errands, admin) so daily work can be executed rather than debated.

The business section is the most detailed and reveals the real-world constraints behind goal setting. Feely runs a speech and drama school in Ireland that has operated for 63 years. After becoming director in early 2020 and taking over following the founder’s death in summer 2020, she spent much of 2021 stabilizing growth and staffing. By early 2022, the school has reached a better equilibrium: student numbers have risen from about 50 to at least 150 in two years, and the school is earning enough to pay teachers. The medium-term target is expansion to two more locations, more workshops in schools and libraries, and a shift so Feely can focus on expansion while administrative work is handled by others. A key milestone is reaching about 200 students by the end of the year and employing a full-school manager.

For the just-finished quarter, her “wins” are concrete: a St Patrick’s Day audio performance at term end, preparation for a founders’ estate auction with major media exposure (including an RTE nationwide segment), online classes set up for children, adults, and one-on-ones, and operational upgrades like a website overhaul that enables summer course bookings and payments online for the first time. She also tracks stress as a metric—pressure from the school’s legacy and high self-expectations—and uses reflection to counter self-criticism.

Quarter two priorities for the school are driven by an event-heavy calendar: auctions, a poetry lecture, teens theater trip, student headshots, summer course bookings, exams, end-of-term performances, workshops for Carnegie Noog, and preparations for archive work tied to the founder’s anniversary/birthday. She estimates 13 business projects and roughly 30-plus actionable tasks, most of them admin-heavy.

The reset also shifts emphasis to her PhD and personal brand. She’s pushing toward finishing multiple papers in the next 12 weeks, with deadlines for ICCBR (end of April) and REXUS (early May), plus an industry collaboration paper later. On the brand side, she reports strong momentum: Instagram growth from around 4,000 followers to about 14.5k, sponsorship income near €2,500 in March, and a more consistent posting rhythm. She plans to add affiliates and possibly consulting, while improving vlogging logistics with a Sony ZV1 camera.

Across life areas—personal growth, health, relationships, fun, and environment—her reset theme is the same: reduce mental load through systems, then use the freed attention to execute. She’s also working on gratitude, self-kindness, stretching, personal care, and even considering a personal shopper to address clothing dissatisfaction as life returns to more social outings.