How To Set & Achieve Monthly Goals: Personal Goal Setting

Do you ever have months where you are overburdened with work but don’t seem to accomplish much? And by the end of the month, you’re still at the same place you were a month ago.

It’s mostly because you spend the entire month putting out fires and meeting unimportant deadlines, ignoring the goals that really matter. That is why it is so important to do the following things at the start of each month, as well as set clear monthly goals. This allows you to move forward in the right direction and achieve your goals 3x faster.

If you can relate, I’ve got the perfect solution for you. Here’s a goal-setting exercise to help you plan your month in advance and achieve your monthly goals without feeling overwhelmed. Yes, you don’t have to exhaust yourself in order to be productive.

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.

– Alan Lakein

How to Plan Your Monthly Goals

Here are some simple and practical ways to plan your month, avoid exhaustion, and easily achieve your goals. I’m assuming you have a general idea of what you want to achieve. Through this exercise, you’ll gain a better understanding of your end term goals.

Grab a journal and a planner. You can use a traditional planner or a digital one like Asana.

1. Reflect on Your Last Month

You can learn a lot from your previous months if you take out the time to perform a monthly analysis. Take your time and answer these questions in your journal,

Question 1: How was your last month?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how aligned do you think you were with your goals. How much time have you spent on them? Write down your thoughts on the past month.

Question 2: What things would you improve?

Are there some habits you’d like to improve this month to get better results? I follow this Start, Stop, Repeat Process were you divide all your habits into these 3 categories.

START — Write down the new habits you want to start this month.

STOP — The habits that you don’t want to take with yourself in the coming month.

REPEAT — The habits that you want to continue.

Related Post : 5 Habits Of Highly Successful People

Question 3: What are You Proud Of?

Always, always, always celebrate your victories. Don’t feel shy to give yourself the credit for the things you’ve accomplished. If nothing, you just survived a bad month and are ready to tackle the next one.

2. Onto the Next Month . . .

Step 1: Set Your Intention for The Month

You are always focused on what you want to achieve, but it’s equally important to consider what you want to become. How do you want to improve as a person? Maybe you want to focus on connecting with others, practice being patient, or be more grateful this month.

So, choose a word or a sentence to set the vibe and theme for the month.

Step 2: View Your End Term Goals

Before you plan your monthly goals, take some time to review your long-term objectives. So that you can make sure that your monthly goals are aligned with your end term goals. You don’t want to be chasing artificial goals only to be disappointed a month later.

You you haven’t set an end term goal, think about something you’d want to achieve in the next 2 years. For example, a promotion at work, a new job, becoming more fit, or applying for higher education.

Related Post : Goal setting – How to Achieve Your Goals

Step 3: Set Three Monthly Goals

Set no more than three goals for this month. They can be personal or professional or a combination of both. Be very specific.

You don’t have to overburden yourself with a hundred goals. In fact, focusing on too many tasks at once hampers your productivity and produces undesirable results. Focus on one thing at a time and you’ll be able to perform better and accomplish your goals.

Step 4: Create Action Steps

Now that you’ve set your goals, you need to devise some actionable steps, so that you can actually start working toward them. This helps in breaking down your large monthly goals into tangible ones. You can also assign these actions steps to each week of the month to get an overview of what you month is going to look like.

Step 5: Take Out Your Calendar

Check your calendar to see what meetings and appointments you have coming up in the next month. Set reminders for meetings and deadlines. Then, assign your action points to each week to get a sense of how your weeks will unfold.

You can use traditional planners like this Weekly & Monthly Planner or digital calendars like Google Calendar. I find both of them useful.

Also, schedule some time time for rest. Taking rest days allows you to unwind and recharge. And also help in increasing productivity.

Related Post : How To Plan Your Week – Sunday Routine

How do You Set Your Monthly Goals?

Leave a comment below if you have any new goal-setting tips or strategies. To be fully prepared for the next month, practice this goal setting technique 3-4 days before the month begins. Share your thoughts in the comments if you’ve tried this method.