About six months ago, I began a practice that changed how I live: monthly goal setting. Since then, I have begun living more on purpose -- I stopped feeling like life was just "happening" to me. I treat myself better, I love people better, I am less stressed. I invest in my current and future self. Setting goals helps me to tangibly step in the direction of the life I want to live and the person I want to be every single day!
I hope you'll join me in this endeavor because today I am sharing just how I set monthly goals. It's not a quick one-size-fits-all operation, but I assure you the process is well worth it.
STEP ONE: BRAINSTORM
"What do I need to do to feel my best mentally and physically?"
Some examples from this category:
Write down three things I am grateful for every day
Meditate four times a week
Include veggies with each meal
Remember to take my daily vitamin
Work out x number of times a week
And I always include: "make sure to actually track goals" as a goal in this section!
2. LEARNING | school + self-betterment
"How can I learn more and learn well?"
Some examples from this category:
Stay off my phone during class
Read a non-school related book
Practice writing each day
Go to one review session a week
Watch one TED Talk or lecture a week
3. LOVED ONES | family, friends, and everyone
"How can I show up for those I love?"
Some examples from this category:
Call my grandma once a week
Send snail mail to a friend each week
Say hi to someone new every day
Help someone daily
4. FAITH | pursuing a relationship with God
"How can I be a better daughter of God responding to a love that I know?"
Some examples from this category:
Go to weekly Bible Study
Write in my prayer journal daily
Invite a friend to mass
Pray a decade of the rosary each day
5. TIME, MONEY, ENERGY | spending all three wisely
"How can I allocate my resources in an intentional and smart way?"
Some examples from this category:
Look ahead for each week to avoid procrastinating
Track spending
Set a monthly budget
Stop worrying about things out of your control
Spend 1 hour or less on social media a day
STEP TWO: PLAN
The next thing I do in this process is to look at the goals I have brainstormed and decide what is most important at the current moment. I choose anywhere from 1-5 goals from each category based off of what I think I can handle! Make sure not to overload yourself or all of your goals will suffer. It's okay to remove a goal as the month goes on if it gets to be too much to handle.
I'll then move on to creating my goal tracking sheet. To do this, I'll write the category, then the goal, and then a "say no" statement. For example, I would write, "Self care" then under it "Remember to track goals" and then under that "Say no to setting empty intentions."
The reason I include a "say no" statement under most goals is because setting goals can feel overwhelming and like a huge undertaking. But if you think of it as saying no to some things so that you can say yes to other things that serve you better, the goals will feel much more attainable.
STEP THREE: TRACK
Tracking your goals is just as important as setting them. To do this, I draw a "progress bar" instead of a checkbox for each week of the month. On Sundays, I fill in the bar to correspond with how well I followed through, or how often I attempted to follow through, with my goal. If your goal has a numerical correlation, like a number of times you worked out or amount of money you spent, write it in the progress box.
And that's all...
I hope this post was helpful to get you on track to setting your own goals. It's changed my life-- now go change yours!
Let me know in the comments: do you set monthly goals or intentions? What has been your most life-changing so far?
Stay Sunny,
Meg
