A Quick & Easy Way to Do Monthly Goal Setting

When I have a big goal that I am working on, I love the start of a new month. It is the perfect time to monitor my progress towards my goals and do my monthly goal setting for the month ahead.

It is especially exciting when I have real measurable progress to celebrate and can also identify ways to grow as I keep going.

Last year I wrote all about the usefulness of having a Monthly Planning Session, especially when life is extra busy or you have a major project going on. I do stand by that article. However, there are times when you do not have time to do all of those many things I listed there.

Sitting down and planning out your goals for a new month can be a simple thing.

Sometimes you just need a quick and easy, straight forward goal planning session, tailored to the month ahead. Or the week, or the quarter, or whatever time period you like to think in. So I made us a checklist for times like these!

The Mini Monthly Goal Setting Checklist for Busy People:

#1. Make any changes to your daily/weekly schedule that you need to make.

Last month I noticed that while I always had walking scheduled in the morning, I was never ready to go walk in the cold morning. Maybe when summer comes I will change it back, but for now that does not work. So I moved walking to later in the day. Then I moved starting dinner to earlier in the day. Those were two things I had noticed were not working last month.

Look for things like that in your life. What are things you never get done that you need to make a specific time for?

#2. List your most important work or home projects for this month.

Any big project you know that you have coming up, jot those down. Later you can break those down into actionable steps.

#3. Set goals for work.

This is my favorite thing to do for the blog. If you enjoy dreaming, this is fun.

Think about where you were last month and the month before, and set a realistic goal for something you can improve.

You can print out this monthly goal setting sheet below:

#4. Set personal goals for yourself.

It is much easier if you only pick one or two to focus on. Jot the goals down, and remember to make them measurable. You might not know if you “spent more time with your husband.” But if you say, “Go on a date night,” that you can measure.

I also found this free printable online that breaks the month down into weeks you can plan. That is a good idea. The smaller you can break down the steps you need to take, the better.

All of those goal setting activities can be done in just a few minutes. If you have any additional time to spend planning your month ahead, work on these:

#5. Mark any birthdays that are coming up in the month so you can get gifts or cards purchased.

Why is this one so hard to do? You know, for me it is not hard to remember that it is people’s birthday. But it is so hard to know what to buy anyone that they will actually want.

#6. Write any big events coming up on your calendar or in your Google Calendar.

Then write what you need to do to prepare for those on the weeks leading up to the big event.

I have a kid with a birthday and company coming this month, so this is going to be an important one for me.

#7. Plan to do something fun!

A simple night out to the movies or Sweet Frog with a friend can be a real pick-me-up.

You do not want to live a life that is only work and sleep. And you should not feel guilty for doing fun things either. Go ahead and write down something fun you want to do this month and put it in your calendar. We are way more likely to actually do things when we put them in our calendars.

And that’s it really. You are done!

When you are done taking the time to decide and plan out your goals, you should feel refreshed and excited about the month ahead. At the very least, you should feel less stressed and assured that you have a plan. It feels good to have a plan.

Goals are so motivating to me. I hope this motivates you too.