If you are a person with a busy schedule or find it hard to achieve goals. You will find setting monthly goals efficient. If you want to make some big changes in your life start by setting monthly targets. You know the saying; Rome wasn’t built in a day. Let us talk about how to set monthly goals that you will actually stick to and achieve.
The google definition of ‘goal’ is the object of a person’s ambition or effort, an aim or desired result. Not surprisingly when you look at the term in the context of sports you get the same meaning out of it. In football for example, the effort or desired goal is for the opposing team to score the ball into the goal post, guarded by the goalkeeper. Getting that ball into the goalpost isn’t straight forward, you have to pass through many barriers before achieving the desired result.
Though it may differ slightly, some of us will agree that achieving our goals can be this difficult sometimes. It may not always be as straightforward as kicking the ball into the net. There always seem to be barriers and obstacles hindering most people from achieving their goals. These hindrances do not only apply to long term goals only, but it is also the same issue in the short-term goals.
Why is it Important to Set Monthly Goals?
Setting monthly goals is vital for many reasons. The first one being that monthly goals are a sort of pathway to your long-term goals. For example, if your goal is to lose weight in a healthy way. To achieve that goal you have to implement changes monthly, albeit going to the gym or cutting calories. You set those targets in bites and implement them on a daily to monthly basis in order to achieve the desired result.
Another reason why setting monthly goals is necessary and important is because of this thing called discipline. There are many definitions of the word ‘discipline’. Cambridge dictionary defines the word discipline as a way to ‘carefully control the way that you work, live or behave, especially to achieve a goal.’ So, setting monthly goals is essential as it helps you to be more disciplined when it comes to your big goals. There are goals that may take years to achieve so being disciplined in the small things is very important. Lack of discipline is a reason why people fail to succeed in their long-term goals. You have to be disciplined in the monthly targets to successfully achieve the big ones.
Goals and Purpose
The impact of monthly goals to your overall well-being and health cannot be underestimated. This is because achieving your monthly goals can give you a sense of purpose and clarity on what you want to achieve for that year. Setting yourself monthly tasks and doing them can be very rewarding. This can reap many benefits for your mental well-being knowing that you are closer to your goals. However not hitting your monthly targets can also be an issue in that you may feel down if you do the things that you target. Which is why in this post I will discuss some of the ways that you can set yourself targets and actually achieve.
How to Set Goals
To make life easy for yourself try to identify at least 4 goals each month. You do not want to set many goals each month as this can make it hard. But also setting yourself a target of at least 4 (choose a number of goals you honestly think you can achieve) can help you. Truth be told achieving all your monthly goals without hindrance can be very difficult. Which is why the solution to this is choosing a specific number of goals each month. Then making sure you achieve at least two of them weekly. At the end of the month if you have succeeded at doing 3 of 4 of those goals you have achieved something.
- Identify your long-term goal.
The first way to set monthly goals for yourself is to identify your long-term goal. Say that your long-term goal is to save money to buy a house. Unless there is a lump sum of money that you come across, chances are that you need to work hard to buy your house. So your goal every month is to save some of your pay towards getting that house. You have identified your long-term goal now the aim is to make sure that every month you actually save that money. Of course as mentioned earlier, there are always barriers and challenges our goals. This is why it is important that you break down your long-term smaller achievable ones.
2. Identify your Health-related goal
The habit of setting goals is a fantastic way of self-improvement and overall personal growth. Which is why for every goal you make each month; dedicating a goal for the improvement of your health vital. If you cannot think of any monthly goals, choose something that can help your physical and emotional well-being. There are many health-related goals that you can set on a monthly basis:
- 10,000 steps a day
- Quit smoking or Vaping
- 150 minutes of exercise a week
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Cut down on processed food
- Eat more home cooked meals
- Join the Gym
These are some ideas of monthly goals that you can adopt by breaking down to achievable tasks each month. For example, if you aim to walk 10,000 steps a day, how many days a week would you aim to do this for. If you want to quit smoking, you can create a plan with a health professional that can give you advice and help you to set achievable goals. As you can already see, these goals can reap such amazing results for you in the future.
3. Identify Your Reading Goals.
If you are well accustomed with my blog by now, you will know that at any given opportunity to talk about the importance of reading I will take. That is because reading is fundamental for your brain function, boosts communication skills and is a great source of entertainment. Depending on the book you read there are many great books out there that are great sources of knowledge and wisdom. In a digital age where people spend insurmountable hours on social media, reading books is essential. This monthly target is especially great for the people that do not read at all.
4. Identify a goal linked to your Passion
This is a very important goal that you need to include in the set of your monthly goals. Dedicating time to your passions, hobbies or interests is vital. It may start as a hobby that you do in your extra time. But if you set aside time for your passions, they may just turn into something special. Better yet, committing to the things that you love will help your mental well-being. Life is more than daily life requirements doing things that we love makes us feel more alive. So it is needed.
How to Achieve Monthly Goals
There are several ways that you can go about achieving the goals that you make every month. The most significant is writing down every goal that you make so that they are tangible and not only in your head.
4 Ways to Achieve Goals Monthly
- Break down your goals to smaller achievable tasks
To succeed at your monthly goals break them down to smaller achievable goals. Saying my goal this month is to exercise more, is too vague. Break it down even further, you can aim to exercise by taking a walk around your neighborhood 2 days a week.
It is not enough to say I want to save money. Set yourself a target, every month when you get paid 10% for example, can go towards your savings. Make your goals clear and achievable each month.
- Make a List
Make a list of all the goals that you want to achieve that month. Lists are really good as they help you to organise your thoughts and information. Every time I have made a list of the things I wanted and went back to it and ticked thing off things I had done; it has felt amazing.
- Stick your Goals on a Wall
Put your monthly goals in a place that you know you will see everyday and be reminded of. I have all my monthly goals on my wall. Every night I look at those goals and I am reminded of the ones I have achieved, and the ones that I can work.
- Do not be too hard on yourself.
With every goal you set remember not to be too hard on yourself. If you do not accomplish your goal that month, try again next time, there may be more grace for it another month. Being too hard on yourself when trying to achieve goals can have a negative impact on you. It may not always be easy but keep trying you will eventually see the results of the goals you set for yourself.
