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The Four Quarter Method: A Framework for Mental Resilience

Mental Models, Performance, Business & Entrepreneurship | newsletter.scottdclary.com

Sep 20, 2023

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The Four Quarter Method: A Framework for Mental Resilience

We’ve all experienced those days where the universe seems to conspire against you.

The car won’t start, you spill coffee down your shirt, you botch a high stakes presentation—and by 10am, you’re ready to wave the white flag on the day.

Days like this can feel impossible to salvage.

And because we’re only human, when chaos piles up early on, negativity bias convinces us the whole day is already ruined.

Our motivation flatlines as we succumb to frustration.

But what if you had a framework to compartmentalize setbacks, so they didn't contaminate your entire day?

A system to hit mental reset buttons when things veer off track?

That's where the 'four quarter method' comes in.

It's a life changing technique, dividing your day into four distinct parts so you can reset and refocus as needed.

It's about building resilience and preventing a rough start from defining your entire day.

It forces you to limit the damage when problems arise and structures your time for resilience.

Let’s dive in.

The Origins of the Four Quarter Method

Like many viral trends, this one traces back to TikTok.

I actually came across it while delving into the Eisenhower matrix (the urgent/important framework), and found this to be a more effective and practical alternative that helps you structure your entire day.

Creators shared how dividing their day into four ‘quarters’ helped them better manage setbacks.

A little deeper research showed that this wasn’t just a TikTok trend, but an emerging tool being adopted across several life optimization and productivity circles.

The core idea is to view your waking time not as an amorphous blob, but as four separate segments.

Each quarter offers a fresh start—a chance to recalibrate when life in “earlier segments” goes awry.

This method provides more runway to absorb mistakes or delays.

Rather than a steady grind, your day unfolds through a series of mini-chapters.

How to Implement the Four Quarter System

To try it yourself, split your day into four quarters:

Morning: ~5am to 9am
Late Morning: ~10am to 1pm
Afternoon: ~2pm to 7pm
Evening: ~7pm onward

The exact hours can vary based on your needs. The aim is to create distinct segments that feel meaningfully different from each other.

Next, define an intention for each quarter—a guiding focus to orient your activities:

Morning: Prepare
Late Morning: Produce
Afternoon: Polish
Evening: Unwind

With your quarters mapped out, it’s time to build your daily schedule within this framework.

Optimizing the Morning Quarter: Priming for Success

Imagine your morning quarter as the on-ramp to launch your day. Use this time to proactively set yourself up for success.

Potential morning activities include:

Health practices like exercise, hydrating, and nutrition.
Reflection such as journaling or meditation to ground yourself in purpose and priorities.
Reviewing your schedule and goals. What are 1-3 must-do items?
Tackling urgent logistics like responding to pressing emails, calls, or messages. Deal with time-sensitive issues now so they don’t linger.
Structuring to-do lists and blocking off time for focus work.

The morning is your chance to get into peak state so you can show up powerfully for the day ahead.

Curate this time mindfully, rather than defaulting to busywork.

Containing Chaos in the Late Morning Quarter

With key priorities identified, the late morning is go time.

Channel your peak energy levels into driving meaningful progress on substantive work.

The late morning is often (or at least it should be) the least interrupted segment of the day.

Use it for intense focus on your most cognitively demanding projects.

If you find that you are getting interrupted during your late morning, you need to shut off notifications, put your phone away, block out your calendar from less important calls.

Protect this time like your life depends on it (because honestly, it does).

You need to architect a distraction free, needle moving/ highest priority task, flow state environment.

Potential late morning activities:

Your #1 priority task for moving top initiatives forward
Deep work time free from distractions
Working sessions for brainstorming or strategizing
Difficult conversations that require mental sharpness
High-stakes presentations, pitches, or speaking engagements

The late morning is when you actualize your plans. Convert morning intentions into measurable progress.

Regroup in the Afternoon Quarter

By mid afternoon, you might find your energy starting to decrease.

Willpower gets depleted and focus suffers.

A study in the journal Cognition revealed our most accurate decisions happen early in the day, even if we're night owls.

Researchers found chess players made their most precise moves from 8am-1pm, though these took longer.

As the day progressed, speed increased but accuracy dropped.

Ultimately, faster afternoon decisions compensated for reduced precision, equalizing players' scores.

But the trends were clear: mornings bring discernment, afternoons impatience.

This data validates the four quarter method's approach. Use the energized morning quarters for precision work, and leverage faster afternoon thinking for tasks requiring speed.

Sync activities to mental strengths at each time.

Rigidly powering through a whole day can backfire.

Our minds operate in rhythms, alternating intense focus with restoration.

Rather than grinding when you’re depleted, the afternoon quarter is a chance to catch your breath.

Pause to evaluate what’s working and what needs adjustment.

Potential afternoon activities:

Completing unfinished tasks from the morning
Troubleshooting anything that is stuck or subpar
Reassessing priorities in light of new developments
Dealing with emerging needs and issues
Collaborative meetings to align with team members
Administrative work or email catch up

The afternoon offers breathing room between morning intensity and evening recovery. Use it to course correct based on the day’s rhythms.

Rest and Recovery in the Evening Quarter

In the evening quarter, you’re going to transition your focus from output and accomplishment toward renewal. Protect space for your personal needs and relationships outside of work.

Potential evening activities:

Exercise or movement
Reconnecting with family or friends
Hobbies and recreation
Relaxing through music, reading, tv, etc.
Reflection such as journalling or meditation

Guard the evening quarter fiercely for activities unrelated to work.

These hours of rest are non-negotiable for maintaining personal well-being and staving off burnout.

Set clear boundaries on work activities after hours.

Be disciplined about disconnecting from email and messaging in order to fully recharge.

Mastering the Art of Mental Reset

Implementing the four quarter system allows you to move through days with purpose, not just momentum.

Each segment provides a mental reset when needed.

For example, if your morning gets derailed by a crisis, you curb the frustration by refocusing on a fresh start in the late morning.

The quarters provide checkpoints throughout the day to get back on course.

This regular reset prevents compounding issues.

An early mishap doesn’t ruin the whole day when you know another opportunity is coming in the next quarter.

The Four Quarters in Action: A Case Study

To illustrate how this plays out, let’s walk through a case study:

Georgia adopts the four quarter method to improve her time management skills. Here is how a sample day unfolds:

Morning quarter (6am - 9am):

Georgia wakes up early to go to the gym and drink a green smoothie. She then journals to get centered and reviews her priorities for the day. After meditating, she responds to urgent emails but saves substantive work for later.

Late morning (9:30am - 1pm):

Georgia blocks off this segment for making progress on a big presentation that’s due next week. She finds a focus zone in a cafe and spends the late morning working diligently on the deck.

Afternoon (2pm - 5:30pm):

When Georgia returns to the office, she feels drained. Rather than forcing more slide work, she uses the afternoon to meet with colleagues to gather feedback and refine the presentation. Regrouping helps breathe new life into the project.

Evening (6pm - 9:30pm):

Georgia heads home to enjoy dinner with her roommates, then calls her mom to catch up. She ends the day by reading fiction, stretching, and getting to bed early.

By dividing her day into quarters, Georgia stays nimble when plans go awry. She doesn’t waste mental energy perseverating on setbacks. Each quarter offers a fresh start.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

To avoid potential downsides of the four quarter approach, keep these tips in mind:

Review your typical daily schedule and determine natural breaking points to divide into quarters. Adjust if needed.
Start on the weekend or a less busy day to begin practicing the quarter system without overhauling your routine.
Don't let quarters 1 & 2 become “superior” to 3 & 4. Each plays an important role.
Batch similar tasks within their relevant quarters, i.e. errands and admin in quarter 3.
Set 1-3 priority goals or outcomes to accomplish within each quarter.
Build in buffers between quarters to recharge. Don't schedule them back-to-back.
Reflect at the end of each quarter. Continuously improve your time allocation.

The four quarters provide a framework - not a formula. Adapt them as needed to your context while preserving time for spontaneity.

The Power of Compartmentalization

At its core, the four quarter system leverages the psychology of compartmentalization. By separating experiences into categories, we limit contamination between them.

For example, an argument with your partner doesn’t have to ruin your whole workday. By mentally filing it into the “personal” box, you reduce spillover into the “professional” domain.

Compartmentalization allows us to isolate negatives into limited spaces, preventing spread. The four quarters effectively compartmentalize your day into discrete segments.

This mental separation makes it easier to dissolve frustration at the end of difficult quarters, ensuring it doesn’t leak into the others. Each quarter gets a fresh start.

The Brain Science of Mental Reset

The effectiveness of quarterly mental reset is supported by research on the brain’s plasticity and renewal.

Studies show activities like meditation, music, and time in nature can trigger restored cognitive performance by activating the default mode network in the brain associated with wakeful rest.

In the quarter system, the gaps between segments allow this restoration to occur multiple times daily.

You hit the mental reset button continually.

This drives greater resilience by preventing negative emotional states from becoming entrenched.

Each quarter interrupts rumination and stagnant thinking patterns.

The brain breaks free from narrow grooves as you consciously shift between different modes of thinking across the quarters.

The variation avoids the trap of remaining fixated on problems.

By combining focused effort with intervals of recovery, the four quarters leverage neuroplasticity to enhance adaptability.

Your brain stays agile and energized across the full day.

Putting the Quarters Into Practice

The real test comes in implementing the four quarter method for yourself.

Try applying it in your own life for one week and observe what happens.

What insights emerged?
Did certain quarters feel more productive than others?
What was the greatest challenge?

Use what you learn from your trial run to continue refining your quarter system.

Tailor it to your energy rhythms and personal priorities.

While rigid scheduling can backfire, having a guiding mental framework lends structure without rigidity.

The quarters strike that delicate balance of providing direction while allowing flexibility.

At its core, the four quarter method is about building intentionality and mindfulness into your days.

The goal is not to cram more into each segment, but rather to bring your full presence and creativity to whatever the moment holds.

Your days will unfold however they do.

But having the quarter structure as an anchor allows you to flow through them with purpose, not just momentum.

Each quarter is a chance to start again.

Remember: Brute forcing endless grinding will lead to mediocrity and burnout - true success comes from strategically leveraging your natural mental rhythms, not pretending human limitations don't exist.

If you enjoyed this article, I’d love to hear from you.

Write me at scott@scottdclary.com or tweet at me @ScottDClary and I’ll do my best to get back to everyone!