4 Tips to a Manageable Monthly Reset
You know that amazing feeling you get when you wake up and its January 1st? You have new goals, you are motivated, and honestly just feel like you could rule the world? It’s almost like you get a natural reset and everything behind you is old news. What if I told you this doesn’t just have to happen once a year?
Doing a monthly reset is something that can keep you on track and hold you accountable while also being understanding and flexible to yourself because everyone is busy, no one is perfect, and let’s face it sometimes we fly off the rails.
Here are 4 tips to creating a manageable monthly reset…
1. Reflect on the previous month
What better way to start the next month than to look back at the previous month and dissect it. One thing I always do is write down my highlights, successes, and opportunities to the previous month. This takes maybe 15 minute to really sit down and dig deep into what made you happy, what made you proud, and what are your areas of improvement. When talking about highlights – maybe you bought a house or you went on a weekend trip or got to catch up with an old friend. This will make you remember how happy it made you feel. For success- maybe you passed a goal at work you have been working hard for or you ran 2 miles or you went to bed at the same time every night. Big or small, a success is something to celebrate. For opportunities – ask yourself the question of where can I improve to be the best version of myself? Did you stay up too late binge watching your show and you were tired all month, do you wished you worked out more? Did you want to take more time to read? Meal prep? Lastly I also write a small summary of the month so I can go back and reflect.
2. Set New Goals
There are many ways you can decide how to set goals for the next month. Maybe you set a yearly goal that you have broken down into months. For example- if your yearly goal is to read 50 books than you can divide the number of books by 12 months which means you have to read approximately 4 books a month. So your monthly goal would be to read 4 books. You could also have goals that change based off of your previous month’s opportunities. This is how I personally set most of my monthly goals. Maybe I only worked out 3 times a week last month and I really was pushing for 4/5. My goal for next month is to put a focus on that opportunity. Another example would be maybe I was very impatient with my kids and feel there is opportunity to approach each situation differently. My goal for next month would be to reflect daily on the positive and negative reactions I had in that day and write down what I will do differently next time. I would never recommend doing more than 4-5 goals and I would always recommend making them a daily goal so they don’t get lost. Figure out a good method to track these- in a notebook/planner/whiteboard.
I personally use the planner in the amazon link below – this does a great job breaking down the reflection and goal setting.
3. Plan out your month
Calendars are not everyone’s best friend but they are necessary in life. Whether you have 4 calendars that are all color coded or you sometimes use your phone calendar it is important to have a plan for your goals and month. Take a hot minute get a coffee and sit down and plan it out. Start with the non negotiables. Meetings, work, doctors appointments, etc. Then add in the actions to hit your goals you created. Read 4 books by the end of the month. One book a week … so do the math and give yourself an hour before bed to read or get up early. Whatever suits your fancy. It seems crazy but if you write it down you will realize that you actually have the time to do it. Then add in any events or extracurriculars. You will know what’s going on and you will know your gaps and also know you can achieve your goals and feel good about it.
4. Do something FUN
Do something fun… go on a date night, hang out with a friend and drink wine, go for a hike. Do something FUN and that you look forward to. AND PLAN IT. If it is not planned it will not happen. Life gets in the way. We get tired, we say yes to way too much, we can’t find a babysitter. Blah blah blah. We have all made these excuses. So plan it from the beginning. Get the baby sitter lined up asap, make sure you get a good nights sleep before, and stop overbooking yourself. Learn to say no.
Give yourself GRACE
Does it have to be perfect? No and your schedule is probably going to change a million times especially if you are like me and have 2 small children. You are going to mess up and you are going to forget something and you are going to fail. We all do it every single day. Listen- the goal is not to do it perfect every time the goal is to get it right 80 percent of the time and give yourself grace the other 20 percent. We are all human and being
Now go out there and crush this month but remember – give yourself grace.
xoxo, jess