Motivating yourself to come up with monthly goals you’ll actually accomplish can be tough. But when it comes down to figuring out how to set monthly goals, this list is here to set you up with various ways to make it work for you.
Whether you’re settling into a new morning routine or you’re trying to figure out goals for the new year or maybe making sure that you’ll have enough time to place those stocking stuffers for the holidays – setting monthly goals and acing them can sometimes be daunting.
And I get it, when I set monthly goals I can find myself not completing them, too.
But this post is all about showing you a few steps that you can take to make sure that when you do you know how to set monthly goals and be an absolute rockstar while you’re at it, too.
This post is all about how to set monthly goals.
Table of Adventures
Create Time in Your Schedule to Set Clear Goals
You can set goals at any point during your day, but when you carve out time in your already-busy schedule to set clear goals for yourself you’ll be more focused and attuned to the needs and wants of your goals.
It doesn’t have to be an entire day, but it has to be enough time (preferably distraction-free) wherein which you can dedicate your time to setting your goals and fine-tuning them for the coming month(s).
Choose Goals That Matter to You
I really believe that this is an integral part of the process. If you were to choose a goal that you really couldn’t care about, you’re not going to get it done.
Simple.
Choose your purpose and your goals will matter and make more sense for you. And guess what? You’ll actually want to achieve them!
Identify Your Yearly Goals
This may seem like a no-brainer, but identifying your yearly goals before you set monthly goals, can really help you to pinpoint the monthly goals you need to fulfill to complete your yearly ones.
Mind-blowing stuff, right?
You may have done that before the New Year started or it could’ve been a goal you created in the middle of one. It doesn’t matter. So long as you can find an overarching theme for your year, you’re good to go.
Related: 25 Unique New Years Resolutions
Brain Dump Goal Ideas
With pen and paper (yes, the good old-fashioned way) throw every goal idea you have onto paper. By writing it down, you stimulate brain development and your creativity, therefore, enhancing the opportunity for better goals to be fostered.
Don’t limit yourself to solely twelve (because duh, there’s twelve months in a year) goals either.
Also, don’t feel like you need to limit yourself to a certain kind of goal either. Just because your year starts off weird doesn’t mean you not be able to go travel – write. it. down.
Choose a Theme for the Month
By choosing a theme for your month you can easily structure your goal around that theme.
For example, the summers are usually for road tripping around the United States because of the obvious general warm weather all over. If a bucket list goal is to road trip around the continental USA, a great theme for the month could be as simple as “Travel.”
By choosing travel as a theme your goal could be, “I want to travel to several places around Maine and Massachusetts.” From there you can narrow it down.
Narrow It Down
Speaking of, you can narrow your goal down. By hyper-focusing on a specific part of your goal, you can figure out what your goal really means for you.
We’ll use the Maine and Massachusetts example again. This can be fleshed out immensely because of how large these states are – which gives you room to play around with your goal. What is it about Maine and its southern brother, Massachusetts, that draws you towards them?
Is it the colonial history of Boston? Or maybe you’re looking to eat the freshest lobster in Maine?
By narrowing it down you’ll feel a better emotional connection to your goal as you’ll be driven to get it done.
Consider Daily, Weekly, Monthly Goals
Sometimes thinking about monthly goals can seem pretty limiting, but if you were to consider fleshing out your goals by daily, weekly, and monthly goals, you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
The thought is that as you break down these themed monthly goals you can start to tunnel vision your goal.
So say you’re now deciding that you want to eat the freshest lobster in all of Maine, but how are you going to achieve that goal if you live in California and on a limited budget? You could do a weekly goal of saving up to $100 with a daily goal of saving $14.29. After a month, you’d have saved $400.
See how that works?
The smaller the goal, the easier it will feel to accomplish the larger one.
Identify Your Bottlenecks
Your bottleneck will be your stumbling block. What will prevent you from completing the goal you have written down?
It could be a number of things:
- Ego
- Pride
- Resources
- Physical ability
- Focusing on the end result
- Procrastination
- Perfectionism
This list isn’t exhaustive by any means, however, it is meant for you to reflect and understand what may be keeping you from the end goal. Taking this time out now to think about and work on your bottleneck will make achieving your monthly goals seem effortless.
Create 3 Top Goals
Whether or not you’re doing this early on in your intention process (or later) when you create 3 top goals you’re giving yourself permission to commit to smaller daily, weekly, or even monthly goals in order to achieve your main goal.
Let’s come up with another goal.
Main Goal: To learn how to do a standing spiral in figure skating, but you’re not flexible enough. However, you’ve got roughly 4 months to make it happen.
Goal #1 – Work on gliding on one foot as steadily as you can.
Goal #2 – Gain more flexibility in your hips and strength in your ankles.
Goal #3 – Work on your balance by spreading your arms out and lowering your body as waist level as you can.
By breaking your main goal down into your 3 top goals you can see the pieces of the puzzle coming together. Plus, it looks less daunting, right? Right!
Break It Down Into Quarterly Goals
This is one of my favorite things to do when it comes to my goals. Breaking my goals down into quarterly goals gives me time to take the time out to dive deep into my goal and take my time.
How many times have you put a goal in front of yourself only to realize that you were rushing it? Spread it out over 3 month periods and remember to break down your goals into daily and weekly goals that are more attainable for you.
Hold Yourself Accountable
It’s really important that you hold yourself accountable when you’re setting monthly goals. If not you, then who will?
You can keep yourself accountable in a couple of ways:
- Finish one task before starting another
- Stay focused on the overall goal when you need that little push
- Set reminders and follow through with them
- Make your goals visible – no excuses!
- Write it down in your planner and do a mid-monthly check-in to see where you are
Make Time to Reflect
Once your month is over, take some time to reflect on what did or did not work.
It’s so important that you be honest with yourself when it came down to your goal. What made this goal easy, difficult, or impossible to do? Was there anything that you could have changed to complete your goal – doesn’t matter if you did complete it, still do it – that would have made your life easier?
Reflection helps you to identify any other bottlenecks that arose, any limiting beliefs you may have had that kept you from finishing it earlier, and an array of other possibilities. Plus, you can really get to know yourself better and how you work so that your next monthly goal can go off without a hitch.
Did You Figure Out How to Set Monthly Goals Yet?
Overall, setting monthly goals is a great way to keep track of your progress and stay motivated. Be specific with your goals, so you can measure your success.
You may want to consider setting both short-term and long-term goals, so you have something to work towards in the short term while still having a long-term goal in mind. And if you did figure it out, let me know in the comments below. I can’t wait for you to rock your goals this year!