Micro Monthly Goals (how I choose them, how I reach them)
Creating monthly goals is a smart move. They’re reasonable and have a lot of upside.
Of course, longer-term stuff like multi-year plans are great (and have their place) but micro goals are not to be forgotten.
Setting personal monthly objectives is quicker and often these targets become the core ingredients of your long-term plan.
So let’s wrap up this chit chat – let’s look at why monthly goals are awesome and some examples and tips for reaching them.
Let’s get it.
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Why Should I? (the benefits of monthly goals)
Having something personally important to work towards gives me a strong sense of pride and ownership.
Monthly goals are a strategic part of that work. They’re literally creating your dream life.
So here are some of my favorite perks to setting these micro goals:
They’re a springboard for longer-term habit formation
They can be stepping stones to reaching larger goals
They build discipline (in small doses)
It heightens your sense of purpose and focus
Monthly goals give you a sense of accomplishment and life ownership
They boost your self awareness
They tend to be more manageable and can build some quick confidence
You’re skill building (which is always awesome)
You learn your weaknesses (and find workarounds for them)
Monthly Goals List (25 examples)
I wrote another article a little while back on categorizing your life into buckets.
In it, I talked about the productivity benefits of organizing your life into different categories. For me, these life buckets include:
Personal
Financial
Social
Career
Health
Let’s use these themes again and for examples of monthly goals.
Personal Monthly Goals
Read two (or more) books in the month.
Meditate and practice mindfulness for at least 20 minutes each day.
Start a journal and write in it consistently to reflect on thoughts and experiences.
Learn a new skill, such as painting, playing an instrument, or cooking.
Limit social media usage and prioritize mental well-being.
Financial Monthly Goals
Create an emergency fund.
Start a side gig related to your passion or dream career.
Learn about investing.
Pay off some or all of a credit card.
Track your expenses for the month and see where you can improve.
Social Monthly Goals
Reach out to an one old friend and catch-up.
Go to meetup event to expand your network and social connections.
Volunteer or go to an event to give back.
Call someone to catch up every week (no texting).
Join a club or group that aligns with your interests to meet like-minded people.
Career Monthly Goals
Start fresh in a new career opportunity (if you don’t like your current one).
Set up a meeting with your supervisor to discuss career growth and performance feedback.
Start creating LinkedIn content and growing your professional social brand.
Attend a networking event or industry conference.
Learn a new career skill that could sharpen your competitiveness.
Health Monthly Goals
Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week.
Try new ways of eating (limiting junk food and sugary snacks).
Prioritize long, quality sleep each night.
Practice an stress-reduction technique such as yoga or deep breathing exercises.
Get into the habit of drinking more water.
How I Choose Monthly Goals (mood vs. practicality)
I decide my monthly goals based on a mix of mood and practicality.
So here’s my method.
Using Mood to Choose Monthly Goals
Mood isn’t the most reliable tool for reaching goals. Still, it can help guide some initial decisions.
For example, I have many seemingly separate long-term goals. From music and travel filmmaking to blogging and business – so my focus tends to hop around a lot.
Sometimes I feel more entrepreneurial. But other times I’m more artistic.
So whenever I’m mapping out my next month’s target(s), my mood tends to drive my initial decision making.
Because doing what you actually feel like doing is a reasonable starting point.
Using Practicality to Choose Monthly Goals
Mood helps, but it isn’t 100% reliable.
I mean, my fleeting inspiration can really get the best of me. It seems there’ll always be a new trend, tool or opportunity to pursue.
Of course, I like to schedule time to explore these (seemingly random) curiosities (like AI). (because you never know which dots will connect down the road)
But when setting monthly goals, I also try to align my work with my core long-term goals.
For example, one of my big picture goals is to become a confident music producer with industry-level expertise (just for my own music).
But this takes time – a long time.
So in setting my monthly goals, I like to circle back to my longer-term targets and ask myself one question:
Is this monthly goal helping me get closer to my macro objective?
If it is, I’ll prioritize it. Because big goals are made up of many micro moments and they require consistent attention.
Still, I also recognize it’s important to try new things and monthly goals are the perfect way to give something new a decent chance.
It’s all about balance, I suppose.
I prioritize things that get me closer to my long-term goals, but I also leave room to try fun, more curiosity-driven goals every once in a while.
Because we rarely see how different paths will connect later on and we never know which new things will inspire us in new ways until we try them.
Recommended Read: How to Reverse Engineer Your Goals
How I Reach My Monthly Goals (4 tips)
Focus is essential (but difficult to sustain).
On-demand technology, social distraction and FOMO-drenched opportunities create ubiquitous shiny object syndrome.
So how can we avoid this quicksand? Well, monthly goals are one solid solution. They’re sort of like short-term focus exercises.
So here’s how I stay strategic and ensure I reach (at least most of) my month-to-month targets.
1. Know Your Purpose
Having a purpose for monthly goals is fuel for motivation. It adds important intention to things.
This purpose can be simple (like “I’m just curious about this thing”) or much deeper (like “this will be the catalyst to awesomeness”).
Whatever the case, it can help to start with defining your why, which will add clarity to your daily actions.
Here are some more questions to ponder in defining your monthly goal purpose:
What do I hope to achieve?
Why am I doing this? What are my motivations?
What expectations do I have? (are they realistic?)
If I meet my monthly goal, how will it bring me closer to some larger objective?
2. Break Things Down Even Further (turn micro into nano)
For me, many of my monthly goals are already broken-down component pieces of some larger objective.
But we can break things down even further.
If monthly micro goals are the component pieces of a larger macro goal, then what are nano goals but the component pieces of some micro goal?
So after you choose your goal for the month, try breaking it down into smaller weekly targets.
You can then break those weekly targets down into even smaller daily goals.
This is how you reach great milestones – one small step at a time.
3. Find Your Tribe
Who’s in your inner circle?
Do they motivate you and bring you closer to your goals?
It can be hard to get things right here (especially if you need to cut ties), but it’s super helpful in setting yourself up for success.
And people aren’t the only part of your “tribe”. I also add content as another component.
For me, the content I consume and choose to believe in or embody has a big impact on my mindset, motivation and ability to reach goals.
So in auditing your tribe, don’t forget other elements (like your environment) that are having an impact on things.
4. Don’t Be Perfect
Going back to my discussion on balancing mood and practicality when choosing your monthly goals, it’s important to also just have fun.
It’s important to not try to be perfect.
I struggle with perfectionism as a musician almost daily. But simply staying aware of this trap helps me to realign and reset myself.
Besides, you’re probably already doing way better than you give yourself credit for.
But you know, critics…we are our own worst.
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