So a few months ago, I was delighted to receive a set of 90 Day Powersheets from Team Cultivate to try out and review. (Don’t know what Tending Lists or Powersheets are? Start Here!) I had been entertaining the idea of using 2 sets of Powersheets long before this 90 Day Version was created, one for my personal goals and one for all of my platform goals. My main concern was that if I had 2 sets of Powersheets that I would overcommit and fill both Tending Lists – which would not just be unachievable and unrealistic, but would also set me up to crash and burn. When I saw the layout of the 90 Day Powersheets and how the Tending List was smaller, I thought it was worth a try!

In this post, I am going to share with you: the differences between the 90 Day Powersheets and the yearly Powersheets, how I used them together, what I loved about it, what I didn’t love, and what I have learned and want to continue doing!

Want to see this blog in a video form, you can below!

Difference between the 90 Day Powersheets and the yearly Powersheets

I specifically use the 90 day in addition to my yearly powersheets, if you are not sure which Powersheets set up would work best for you as you looking for one set of powersheets cultivate has a fantastic breakdown here!

How I used both sets of Powersheets together

I knew that if I was going to use two sets of Powersheets, I needed to build grace and realistic commitment into my goal setting so that I didn’t burn out or create an unachievable workload.

The first way I did that was by using my “Brainstorm Your Month” in my yearly Powersheets to list out my ideas for BOTH Tending Lists. Remember up until this point, I have been using my yearly Powersheets for both my personal and platform goals; the biggest change was that I wouldn’t need so many Break It Down sheets for each platform monthly or weekly action item. If you look at this picture of my Brainstorm Your Month page, you can see that I highlighted in peach all of the goals that would be moved into my By seeing everything on one page that helped me determine if I was adding too much to my plate. As I have said to my friends, the 90 Day Monthly Tending List I make is used more like “a glorified break it down page.”

The second way I balanced using two sets of Powersheets was by making goals that would keep me from “forgetting” about this second Tending List.

The first check-in I built into my Yearly PS Tending List was through a monthly action item to do mark my progress on all of my Grace + Goals monthly action items. As you can see in my July Tending List here, the first goal is “G+G Goals.” If you look at the progress bar for that action item, I made 5 boxes for the 5 Monthly goals I have on my platform TL so I can track my progress on those goals.

The second check-in that I built into my Yearly PS TL was through a daily action item to “Check G+G PS” which made sure I was in there everyday. Now because I was using the weekly planning pages daily and I moved my personal weekly sticky notepad list in there too – it wasn’t hard to remember to check in daily, but that reminder was really helpful in my first 2 months adjusting to using the 90 Day PS.

The third way I balanced having 2 sets of Powersheets was by still using my quarterly goal refresh in my yearly Powersheets for both my personal and platform goals. This helped me look at everything together because, again, I truly use my 90 Day PS TL as a glorified break it down page.

What I loved about using the 90 Day Powersheets

There are many things that I have enjoyed in using the 90 Day Powersheets, here are my top 5 favorite aspects of using 2 sets of Powersheets:

1. I have LOOOOVED the weekly spread that is available in the 90 day Powersheets! I used to use 2 pages of the Weekly Sticky Notepad, one for personal tasks and one for platform tasks. In the photo below you can see how I use that weekly spread, and above the to-do list, I place one of the Weekly Sticky page above it for all of my personal tasks for the week so it is all in one space.
2. My second favorite feature in the 90 Day PS are the ability to have a full goal action planning pages each quarter. Almost all of my goals are finish line goals, this allows me to get really detailed and specific – there are no umbrella goals in here. If I have an overarching goal that I carry out every month, I only make an action plan for it the first 90 day set of the year and then I don’t make a new action plan for that unless there is a major change.
3. I have loved getting my main calendar back in my yearly Powersheets, so now I can use that to track personal progress and use the calendar in the 90 Day PS as a content calendar. Each month, I use that calendar to keep track of posts, newsletters, Grace + Goals events, and Accountability Collective dates/emails.
4. I really like being able to have a Month In Review that is specifically for my Grace + Goals/platform monthly memories + moments. This also allows me to be more detailed in my personal yearly Powersheets Month in Review too!
5. Finally I really love having so many blank notes pages in the back of each 90 Day Planner so I can keep all my ideas and thoughts in one place rather than in a separate journal.

What I did not care for in using the 90 Day Powersheets

The biggest downside to the 90 Day Powersheets is all the prep work every 90 days. Now I know that because the pages are smaller the blank space for your PS prep work is lighter, but for me it is not practical or necessary to do ALL of that prep work every quarter. That is why I use my yearly Powersheets quarterly refresh for both. I only do the full prep work in the first of the four of my 90 Day PS sets of the year, and then after I have done my quarterly refresh in my yearly Powersheets, I fill out a select few of the 90 Day prep pages to help me break those goals down further.

Now because I am not using these for anything other than Grace + Goals and platform related goals, I had to make some modifications, but I especially had to modify the Cultivated Life Evaluation Categories. With some Tending Tape and a sharpie, I modified the categories, as you can see above, to help me evaluate my platform: Instagram, Newsletters, CWM Sales, Free Resources (aka Grace + Goals Resource Library), Blog, Accountability Collective, Monthly Reset, and Coaching.

What I have learned + want to continue doing!

I will still do my annual prep work in my yearly Powersheets for both my platform and personal goals, and then will designate 1-2 yearly goals to my platform, but will break them down in detail in the 90 day PS goal action plan pages rather than the yearly goal action plan pages. As you can see in the photo, wherever there is a bright pink flag, that is a platform goal. I wrote cultivate and then inserted my 90 day word for that quarter. In this photo, you can see how I broke down my platform goal to “cultivate diligence” into 7 goals for that quarter.

I will only do a handful of the 90 Day prep pages each quarter as I will still be doing my quarterly refreshes in the yearly PS. Then after I will break those goals down by using the following prep pages in the 90 Day PS: 5, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 19, 23-25, and then the Goal Action Planning pages 27+ (up to 43). I very lightly do pages: 12-13, 19, 23, and occasionally utilize page 17.

I will continue to plan the month’s goals all on my one Monthly brainstorm page (in the yearly PS) because I don’t want to over commit as I cannot do it all and do it well.

Final Thoughts…

The majority of my platform goals are finish line goals with very specific action plans (and maybe 1 big dream goal can be thrown in there,) but if my platform goals were not so specific and straightforward, I don’t think I would be using a second set of Powersheets. I would have kept using lots of break it down notepad pages and kept my goals in my yearly Powersheets.

I do not recommend using both if you do not have a very specific purpose for the second set. Way before Cultivate came out with a 90 day set, I made a wildcard that was basically a “platform Tending List” that fit in my PS; If you want to try out using “2 Tending Lists” before buying a 90 Day PS set, you are welcome to download that here.

In case you didn’t know, here on Living the Chronic Illness Life you now have access to the

🎉 Grace + Goals Resource Library 🎉

which helps you tailor your goal setting and powersheets to seasons of uncertainty. You can find all the info here!

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Cassie Nolin is a married spoonie who lives the chronic illness life with EDS + Co. (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and it’s comorbid conditions.) She challenges others to choose grace over guilt while goal setting, and is in ministry part time serving the online community through Grace + Goals and The Spoonie Study. She loves planting, confetti, hand lettering, and sharing the hope she has found in Jesus. Her blog, Living the Chronic Illness Life, is in the top 100 chronic illness blogs and in 2019 she launched her podcast, Chronically Cultivating, where Cassie encourages women to live authentic and intentional lives through their diagnosis’ not in spite of them. She is on a mission to help other women learn how to trade guilt for God’s grace and control for confetti! You can learn more about her at www.livingthechronicillnesslife.com

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