⏱️ Why Focusing on Monthly Goals Is Getting You Nowhere Fast

If you want real growth, stop thinking in 30 days and start thinking in 90.

Picture this.

You’re standing at the free-throw line. Ball in your hands. Crowd watching. And instead of focusing on the shot you’re about to take, your brain is everywhere else — the last five shots you missed, the shot you need to make next week, and whether you should change your form mid-game.

That’s exactly what happens when you try to run your martial arts school on monthly goals alone.

You’re so busy chasing the next 30 days that you never build anything that lasts. You fix one problem, another pops up. You hit one goal, then immediately scramble to figure out what’s next. Months pass. Stress rises. Nothing sticks.

You’re reacting instead of building.

After helping schools scale from $19K months to $84K months, here’s the truth:

If you want to build a business that doesn’t own you, you need to think in quarters, not months.

The Real Problem With Monthly Thinking

Most school owners try to fix everything at once.

Retention.
Enrollments.
Staff performance.
Facility upgrades.
Curriculum improvements.
All in the same month.

It’s like trying to play every position on the court instead of the one position your team actually needs from you this season.

The result?

You fix nothing.
You stay overwhelmed.
Your team burns out.
A year passes and you realize… you’re in the same spot you started.

Monthly goals matter, but they are tactics, not strategy.
They are the individual shots — not the game plan.

The game plan happens quarterly.

Why Quarterly Planning Changes Everything

Real progress happens in 90-day sprints, not 30-day scrambles.

Quarterly thinking gives you:

• Time to build systems that stick

• Clear alignment across your team

• Space to execute instead of constantly pivot

• Focus on one meaningful objective instead of 30 distractions

But here’s the mistake most people make:
They take their monthly goals, multiply by three, and call it a quarter.

That’s not quarterly planning.
That’s just three months of the same chaos.

Here’s how to do it properly.

Step 1: Create a Quarterly Sprint With a Single Rallying Cry

One month before the quarter starts, gather your leadership team — managers, owners, head coaches — and set ONE rallying cry.

Not five. Not ten.
One theme. One target. One mission.

It should fit on a t-shirt.
It should be something your entire team can recite without thinking.

Example Rallying Cry: Under 3% Attrition

North Star Metrics:

• Current attrition

• Students leaving per month

• Reasons for cancellations

• Satisfaction scores

Three Initiatives:

1. Improve student communication

2. Upgrade the testing experience

3. Strengthen your community connection

Campaigns & Events:

• Student Appreciation Week

• Family Fun Day

• Testing Excellence Staff Training

• Weekly outreach to at-risk students

• Monthly parent surveys

Everything points back to one outcome: retention.

That’s alignment.
That’s clarity.
That’s how you actually move the needle.

Another Example: Break Through $50K/Month

North Star Metrics:

• Current revenue

• Enrollment numbers

• ARPU

• Program mix

Three Initiatives:

1. Launch Leadership Program

2. Upgrade existing students

3. Increase front-end enrollments

Campaigns & Events:

• Leadership Launch Event

• Spring Enrollment Blitz

• Upgrade Campaign

• Weekly intro training

• Community events to drive trials

Again — one rallying cry, one direction, one team.

Step 2: Quarterly Scorecards With Your Team

At the end of each quarter, sit down with every team member.

They fill out a scorecard on themselves.
You fill out a scorecard on them.
Then you compare.

This isn’t punishment.
This is alignment.
This is coaching.
This is clarity.

Scorecard Includes:

• Key responsibilities

• Did they meet expectations

• Wins

• Opportunities for improvement

• Their next 90-day goals

• What support they need

This creates two things:

1. Visibility: Nobody hides for six months hoping you forget.

2. Accountability: Everyone knows exactly what matters next quarter.

Your culture changes the moment this becomes a rhythm.

Step 3: Owner’s Quarterly KPI Deep Dive

Most owners check KPIs monthly — or worse, only when things feel off.

Quarterly deep dives force you to zoom out:

Questions to ask:

• What’s our year-over-year growth?

• What’s trending up?

• What’s trending down?

• What changes if nothing changes?

• What changes if we execute our initiatives?

• Where are students quitting?

• What’s our LTV?

• CAC?

• Profit margin by program?

• What patterns do we keep missing?

This is where business stops being emotional and becomes mathematical.

This is the difference between reacting… and leading.

Why This Works (And Why Most Won’t Do It)

Quarterly planning takes discipline.
Focus.
Clarity.
Saying “no” to good ideas so you can say “yes” to great execution.

Most owners won’t do it.
They’ll keep chasing monthly hacks and putting out fires instead of building systems.

But here’s the truth: Mental toughness is survival, not optional.

Quarterly planning is where that toughness becomes strategy.

Owners who commit to long-term thinking build businesses that run without them.
Owners who cling to monthly chaos stay stuck in the day-to-day forever.

Start With Your Next Quarter

You don’t need to rebuild everything today.
Just start with your next quarter.

• Choose one rallying cry

• Build three initiatives

• Create your campaigns

• Set team scorecards

• Schedule your KPI deep dive

Then watch what happens when your whole team rows in the same direction for 90 days straight.

That’s how you build a business you own — not one that owns you.
That’s how you stop spinning your wheels.
That’s how you win.

Adam Kifer
Founder, Battle Tested
“I help growth-minded founders build businesses that run without them.”

From mastering your mindset to rethinking sales, leadership, and personal impact, this week’s lineup is packed with lessons that cut through noise and get to what really works.

🔥 Naval Ravikant – Think Less About Yourself

Naval drops a deceptively simple idea that changes how you move through life: stop obsessing over yourself. Less self focus means less anxiety, less comparison, and way more clarity. When you’re not constantly narrating your own story, you make better decisions, create better work, and stay calm under pressure.

Happiness, according to Naval, isn’t about adding more wins or status. It’s about subtracting the ego. The quieter the mind, the freer you become. Think less about yourself, and life starts to feel lighter.
Watch here

🔥 Mike Arce – The End of Traditional Sales

Mike shares a bold take most people aren’t ready to hear: in many industries, salespeople are becoming irrelevant fast. Within the next 18 months, entire sales roles will disappear. Late adopters may hang on for a few more years, but the shift is already happening. Many companies, including Mike’s, have eliminated the role altogether. And here’s the upside. Sales is often one of the most expensive positions on the payroll. Removing it cuts costs dramatically. Those savings get passed directly to the customer. Lower barriers. Zero upfront sales acquisition costs. And a smoother, easier way for people to join.

This is what disruption actually looks like.
Watch here

🔥 Kelly Murray – Lead Yourself First

Kelly calls out a hard truth most businesses learn too late: they don’t fail because of strategy, systems, or talent. They fail because of leadership gaps.

If you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead others. Discipline, accountability, emotional control, and self awareness come first. Before you manage teams, you have to manage your own habits, standards, and reactions. Strong businesses are built by leaders who hold themselves to a higher bar first. Lead yourself well, and everything else follows.
Watch here

🔥 Jhana Li – Escape the Zone of Excellence

Jhana reframes a trap many high performers live in: your Zone of Excellence can become a comfortable, well decorated cage. It’s full of things you’re good at, respected for, and paid to do, yet they quietly drain your energy. Your real power lives in your Zone of Genius. That’s where work feels like play and results are unmatched because no one else can replicate how you do it. The goal isn’t to be competent everywhere. It’s to be irreplaceable in the one area that’s uniquely you.

And if creating world class content sits outside that zone, the move is simple. Delegate it to a team whose genius is content.
Watch here

🔥 Dan Martell – Marketing vs Brand

Dan makes a sharp distinction most people miss: good marketing gets attention, but it has a ceiling. You can buy clicks, optimize funnels, and run campaigns all day, yet that alone won’t build something enduring. Real wealth is built through brand. Brand creates trust before the pitch, loyalty beyond the transaction, and demand that doesn’t need constant selling. It compounds when ads stop and competitors copy.

Marketing helps you get seen.
Brand is how you become unforgettable.
Watch here

💥 Apply what hits, share it with your team, and keep raising the standard in your school. 

😂 Martial Memes

These memes hit home for all of us martial artists and gave us a good chuckle. Click on the image to view the original account that posted each meme. Enjoy!

Have a MEME that you want featured? Send them to us at [email protected] or tag our instagram account @thekicknewsletter.