Hi Reader,
​
My book “Restart Time” has a new appendix (#11!).

It covers monthly, quarterly, and yearly planning—the maintenance cycles that keep a system running after you build it.

Here’s how it came about.

The Borrowed Systems

For years, I used other people’s approaches to yearly and quarterly planning.

Annual reviews. 12-week years. OKRs. Vision boards. Quarterly themes.

They all work. I’m not knocking them. But they were never a perfect fit for what I was building: a system designed around weekly maintenance, not annual ambition.

So I did what I always do: I took what worked, discarded what didn’t, and built something that integrates with the weekly Reliability Cycle.

Mini Insight

Most planning systems are designed from the top down. Year → Quarter → Month → Week.

Pattern-First Productivity works the opposite way. Week → Month → Quarter → Year.

The week is the unit that matters. Everything else exists to protect it.

What the Maintenance Cycles Do

Monthly Calibration:
Catch patterns your weekly review misses.
One adjustment. One release. One Flex Week decision.

The key question: Which bucket (Energy, Relationships, Opportunity) has been lowest for 3+ weeks?

Seekers get a Containment Clause: “This month I will NOT start ___ until ___.”
Drivers get a Release Requirement: “What ONE weight am I removing this month?”

Quarterly System Evolution:​
Not tweaks; that’s weekly. Evolution. ONE bet that moves the needle. ONE release that creates space.

The mantra: One bet. 90 days. That’s how systems evolve.

Lock it until the next quarterly review. No mid-quarter restarts.

Yearly Container:
​Not a goal list: a container. What is this year FOR? What is it NOT for?

Year Theme: “This year is for ___ through _______.”

The river banks metaphor: A river without banks is a swamp. Constraints create force.

Your Pattern Tweak (Architect)

Your yearly danger is redesigning mid-quarter. Lock the system. Capture friction, don’t fix it.

At quarterly, resist the urge to make 5 changes. ONE bet. That’s the rule. The rest goes on the list for next quarter.

What’s Next

I’ll be sending out links to the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) later next week, once I’ve finished incorporating these new sections into the manuscript.

Lab Founder’s Round — You’re In

You’re part of the January cohort. Here’s what to do before we start on the 19th:

1. Complete the Lab Quiz (if you haven’t): https://curiochat.com/lab/quiz/​
2. Fill out the Intake Survey (check your email):
   ​https://curiochat.com/lab/intake/​
3. Reply to this email to schedule your Orientation Call

That’s the sequence. Quiz → Survey → Call.

The custom GPT tools are being refined and should be ready by the time we start.

Excelsior,

Pierre/​
Founder, Curio Chat Academy

P.S. The Yearly Container framework includes a “Load Philosophy” for Drivers: “This year I win by __, not by ____.” Mine for 2026: I win by depth, not by breadth.