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Productivity

The Four B's Quarterly Goal System

Balance four life domains with daily singles toward a three-year vision

Difficulty
Moderate
Time to result
~ongoing to results
Steps
5
Confidence
75%

Seth uses a goal-setting framework adapted from Garrett J White. You split the year into four quarters and each quarter into four life domains — Body, Being, Balance, and Business (equivalently health, wealth, love, happiness). You set a directional three-year vision, translate it into a one-year target, then divide that into 12-week sprints for each domain. For each domain you define a weekly checkpoint and a daily or weekly action that moves you toward the quarterly target. The design deliberately avoids grinding: you 'turn up and hit a single each day' so you progress while staying in balance, counteracting the person who doubles down on business and ends up spiritually disconnected and divorced but with the money. It gives you one clear focus per domain.

Origin

Adapted by Seth from Garrett J White's annual goal-setting process (four domains, quarterly sprints).

Core principles

  • 01Balance across domains beats maximising one
  • 02Hit a single each day, don't grind your face off
  • 03Vision cascades: three-year, one-year, quarter, week, day
  • 04Alignment prevents the rich-but-divorced outcome

How to run it

  1. 1

    Set a three-year direction

    Decide directionally where you want to be in three years across your life, not just work.

  2. 2

    Derive a one-year target

    Translate the three-year vision into a concrete one-year target.

  3. 3

    Split into four quarters

    Divide the year into four 12-week sprints so goals stay near-term and actionable.

    Pro tip 12 weeks is short enough to stay urgent, long enough to move a needle.

  4. 4

    Cover the four B's

    Plan across Body, Being, Balance, and Business so no domain is neglected.

    Pro tip Seth likes the alliteration; the underlying set is health, wealth, love, happiness.

    Watch out Don't let Business quietly eat the other three.

  5. 5

    Define daily singles

    For each domain set a weekly checkpoint and a daily action; just hit a single each day toward the quarterly target.

    Pro tip The point is steady alignment, not blasting one area.

In the wild

Counteracting the imbalanced founder

A founder who spams growth in Business alone ends up overweight, spiritually disconnected, and divorced — but with the million. Running the Four B's forces a weekly and daily action in Body, Being, and Balance too, so progress compounds across all four domains rather than one.

Steady, balanced progress instead of a single win bought at the cost of health and relationships.

Common mistakes

Overweighting one domain

Doubling down only on business produces the classic rich-but-divorced, disconnected outcome the framework exists to prevent.

Grinding instead of hitting singles

Trying to blast every target at once breaks the cadence; the design is turning up and hitting one single per day.

Is it for you?

Best for

Founders and high-achievers who tend to double down on work at the cost of health, relationships, and meaning.

Not ideal for

People who need aggressive all-in sprints on a single objective for a defined push.

From the transcript

splitting your year into quarters and then splitting that into four domains of your life body, being, balance, and business. Or health, wealth, love and…

Seth

you're just turning up and just hitting a single each day so that you move towards your goal and you're fully aligned

Seth

From the episode

Christmas Special - Life Hacks, Biggest Lessons & Best Resolutions - #881