It is March 29th, 2026.
End of the first quarter.
And I keep asking myself: How is it already over?
I wrote in December about how time seems to move faster now. How weeks blur into months.
But Q1 2026 did not just blur. It vanished.
Iran, Israel, and the USA at war. Venezuela’s president captured. Africa Cup champions crowned. Then stripped. Then re-crowned. Zambia’s elections now just four months away.
The world moved. Fast.
And somewhere in the middle of all that movement, three months disappeared.
I started journaling again in November. Launched the blog in January. Wrote every week.
And now it is the end of March.
Where did the time go?
The Forcing Function
At work, our financial year starts in December.
So end of February was Q1. And in March, we had quarterly reviews.
Every department. Every manager. Plans pulled out. Progress measured.
What did you say you would do?
What actually happened?
Are you progressing or regressing?
Because here is what I have noticed: Without a forcing function, you forget.
The day-to-day takes over. Emails. Meetings. Urgent things that feel important but are not part of the plan.
And before you know it, three months are gone.
Then December comes, and you are scrambling to remember what you said mattered in January.
The quarterly review forces you to step back. Pull out the plan. Look at what you said. Compare it to what you did.
Am I actually moving toward what I said mattered? Or am I just busy?
Progressing or Regressing
Here is the uncomfortable part.
You are either progressing or regressing. There is no standing still.
Even if you do nothing, time moves forward. The goal that felt achievable in January feels harder in March.
Not because it changed. But because you did not move toward it.
This is what the quarterly review exposes. Not to shame you. Just to show you the truth.
You said this mattered. Did you act like it mattered?
We are good at making plans. We are terrible at following through.
Not because we lack discipline. But because we do not check in.
Progress does not happen automatically. It happens when you measure. When you notice. When you adjust.
And here is something else the work review reminded me: Plans can change.
At work, our revenue budgets were adjusted mid-quarter. Not because the original plan failed. But because new information emerged. Circumstances shifted.
The review does not demand you stick rigidly to what you said in January.
It just asks: Given where you are now, what needs to adjust?
Sometimes you push forward. Sometimes you pivot. Sometimes you scrap the plan entirely and restart.
The point is not perfection. The point is awareness.
When Was the Last Time You Did Something for the First Time?
Seth Godin asked that question. It haunts people who hear it.
Because the honest answer for most of us is: I cannot remember.
I felt this tension in Q1.
For years, I had been running the blog on Blogspot. At the start of the year, I migrated to WordPress. Better tools. More options. A platform to share ideas differently.
It opened up possibilities I had not considered before. Different ways to present thoughts. New formats to explore.
Not a complete transformation. Just more options.
And it made me ask: What else have I been avoiding just because it is unfamiliar?
What other platforms could I explore? What other ways could I share what I am learning?
Because as I wrote in January, life is not just the passing of time. It is the collection of experiences and their intensity.
And you cannot collect experiences if you only repeat what you already know.
Why Your Life Deserves This
Here is what I want you to hear.
Your life is not background noise.
It is happening now. Today. This quarter.
And if you do not treat it like it matters—if you do not pause to check in, to notice, to adjust—it will pass.
Not because you failed. But because you did not pay attention.
The people whose lives look intentional? They just check in more often.
They pause quarterly and ask: Am I moving toward what I said mattered?
And when the answer is no, they adjust.
Small shifts. One-degree changes. But consistent.
And over time, those small course corrections compound into completely different destinations.
A one-degree shift does not look like much in the moment.
But travel for 100 kilometres with that one-degree adjustment? You end up in a completely different place.
The Questions Worth Asking
Easter this week presents a moment. Not necessarily quiet. Not necessarily a holiday break. But a moment nonetheless.
A moment to pause and ask questions worth asking.
Not just about work. About your life.
At work, we have dashboards. Graphs. Charts. Revenue numbers. Performance metrics.
We can see exactly where we are versus where we planned to be.
But in life? We do not have dashboards.
No graph showing how close you are to the relationship you want. No chart tracking whether you are building the life you said mattered.
So you have to create your own review. Your own check-in.
And it does not need to be complicated.
Just sit down and ask:
What did Q1 teach me?
Not what you accomplished. But what actually happened when you were not performing.
Where did I show up for what I said mattered?
Maybe it was small. Maybe nobody noticed. But you know.
Where did I disappear?
The goals you said you cared about but did not act on. The priorities you claimed but did not protect.
Am I progressing or regressing?
Because there is no standing still.
What needs to adjust for Q2?
Not what needs to be perfect. Just what needs to shift.
And here is the important part: Your plan can change.
Just like at work, where budgets get revised and strategies get adjusted based on new information.
You are allowed to pivot. To scrap what is not working. To restart with a better approach.
The review is not about judging yourself against a fixed plan.
It is about asking: Given where I am now, what makes sense for the next quarter?
The Invitation
I am not writing this from the other side. I am writing this from the same place you are.
Three months gone. Nine months ahead.
So here is what I am inviting you to do. Not someday. This week.
Sit down. Pull out whatever plan you made in January. Or the intention you had. Or the vague sense of what you wanted this year to be.
And ask yourself the questions:
Am I progressing or regressing?
Where did I show up for what I said mattered?
Where did I disappear?
What needs to adjust for Q2?
You do not need graphs or charts or performance dashboards.
You just need honesty. A willingness to look. And the courage to adjust.
Because here is the truth:
Your life matters. Not just the big milestones. The everyday decisions. The small adjustments. The quarterly check-ins.
The life you are building right now—in the unremarkable middle of Q2—matters.
And it deserves your attention.
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