How to Master Monthly Goals to Unleash Your Potential and Stay Focused
FREE Download: Start your own online business checklist
This guide includes:
How to plan your business
How to set up your marketing
How to build your website
And more!
All in a simple goal-oriented format.
* Disclaimer * Some of the posted links are affiliate programs. By clicking these links, I may receive monetary compensation. This will not alter the price or change the buyer's experience.
The best way to make progress in your business is to set goals and work towards them. The goal-setting process is crucial to any success. If you have no clear vision of what you want to accomplish, you will be hard-pressed to accomplish anything.
Having clear goals in mind is vital to this. Monthly goals are a great way of maintaining growth towards larger, long-term goals. They allow you enough time to make measurable progress without forcing you into a frenzy. Learn how to set monthly goals that will boost your productivity and potential, completely change your trajectory, and create the life you have always wanted.
If you are just starting out, I have a checklist to help you create and launch your business in a step-by-step, goal-oriented format. This checklist aims to establish a profitable online business and is broken down into simple goals to set and achieve in your own timeframe. Download your copy here.
Why Goalsetting is Important in Business
Businesses need clearly defined goals to stay on track. All progress can be reverse-engineered based on these goals.
A business without these goals is like a boat adrift at sea. If you don't know where you are headed, you might not like where you end up. You have to have a clear destination and a plan to get there to brave the turbulent waters of entrepreneurship.
Goals are the milestones of that plan. Businesses should have:
Yearly goals that can be broken up into quarters.
Quarterly goals that can be broken into months.
Monthly goals that can be broken up into weeks.
Weekly goals that are worked towards daily.
When you have these big yearly goals broken up into tasks that you can complete daily, you can take small steps to reach your target every day.
Why Goal Setting is Important in Life
Goal setting in your personal life can help you with self-discipline. Having something you are working towards can help give you direction and drive to achieve your dreams.
These goals can be yearly goals, like in our business example, or wild dreams that can take decades to achieve. The process is still the same.
Your dreams are broken up into milestones, which are then converted to yearly goals. These are then broken down exactly like the business goals until you have simple tasks you can work on every day.
These small steps may seem tiny and insignificant. Still, they are practical things that you can do daily that will add up to significant improvements.
Why Goal Setting is Important to You as an Individual
We all have dreams and ambitions. For some of us, it might seem complicated to make a plan to get there. Our dreams can seem so massive and insurmountable. We need to understand that we don't have to do it all at once.
Let's look at an example. Maybe, since you were a child, you have always dreamed of being a successful business owner with a 6-figure company. That seems impossible right now while you are sitting at the kitchen table with a crying baby. But, if we break it down, we can see that there is a definite path to get there:
Start your business.
Land your first customer.
Create a marketing strategy.
Scale
Earn 10,000
Learn from what works and modify your plans.
Earn 100,000
Learn from what works and modify your plans.
Earn 1,000,000
Do you know what the best part of this strategy is? You don't have to figure it all out at once. Take these 10 steps in order and break them down until you can achieve them.
The first step is to print off the business building checklist. This has the entire process of starting and launching your company. Work through it until you have achieved the goal of starting your business. Simple!
Then, we will create a separate plan to land your first paying customer. As you work through your goals individually, you will gather the knowledge and experience needed to work towards the next one.
You will also start to build the motivation to make larger and larger goals until your dream is no longer just in your head. It is becoming a reality.
What are the 5 Keys to Goal Setting?
When you start the goal-setting process, you want to make sure you are setting SMART goals. These goals are the most achievable because they are placed with intention.
SMART goals are:
S – Specific – You need to be exact in your wording with what you want to achieve. It's not enough to say, "I want to be a millionaire." You have to know how. Do you want to win the lottery or, do you want to start your own business? The strategy to achieving millionaire status between these two techniques will be wildly different.
M – Measurable – Your goals need to be measurable. This way, you can quantify the results of the efforts you put in. "I want to be a successful business owner" is not measurable. The word "successful" can mean different things to different people. "I want to earn $6 Million in my business" is measurable. We can break that down into a strategy, and we know when we have achieved that goal.
A – Actionable – The goals you set must be broken down into steps that you can work towards. When we are talking about building that 7-figure business, we can take steps daily to advance our progress. We can engage on social media, start a marketing plan, or launch a new offer. If you have a goal like "I want to be 6'feet tall," it's not exactly actionable. In this case, it's all up to nature and hope. You can't control the outcome of this.
R – Realistic – Anything is possible within reason. If you want to build that 7-figure business, you will have to take a realistic approach to set these goals. It is going to take time, persistence, and constant effort. If you want to wake up tomorrow to an inbox full of paying clients, you will have to do something today to plant that seed. When you are setting these goals, you have to consider the work you need to put in to achieve them and decide if that is something you are willing to do.
T – Time-sensitive – This works two-fold. You want to have a time frame for each of your goals to keep you progressing towards them. This will keep you motivated, so you have something to do every day to help you achieve it. Alternatively, you also need to give yourself enough time to build the foundational work for your goal. You can't expect to earn 6-figures in your first month of business. Make goals that will keep you motivated and will not set you up for failure.
If you are just starting out and don't know where to begin, pick up my Ultimate Business building planner. This bundle opens with a self-coaching session that will help you to explore what you really want.
It will take you on a journey of self-discovery that will help you dive deep and explore what kind of life you want to live and what type of business you would be suited to.
It also has templates to help you build and organize all of the processes in your new business. Create your customer profile, all of your policies, and plan your blog. Learn more about the Ultimate business Planner here.
How to Set Monthly Goals to Achieve Anything
Monthly goals, broken down weekly, push you to gain momentum daily without overtaxing your already busy schedule. If you already have a clear vision in mind, you are two steps ahead! But let's say you don't really have a monthly goal. If you have an idea of where you want to be in the future, you basically have a goal. Now, let's clarify it:
Have you made some resolutions this year?
How are they going?
How long did you keep them?
Did you have a clear path on how you wanted to achieve them?
Have you taken any deliberate steps to achieve them?
And most importantly, have you written them down or set a deadline?
Reaching even the simplest resolutions will be challenging without a clear, step-by-step plan to follow. Let's stop and break down how we would set these goals. Then, maybe we can shed some light on why this is so important.
Goal setting can look differently depending on your comfort level. Do you often have a dream of what your future will look like? Have you ever said, "Once I —-, I will —-"? These are precursors to goals. Without a plan, a goal is just a dream. You need to create a SMART plan to achieve them.
Start by defining your goals.
Creating a vision board is a great way to organize your different goals for each area of your life. The Ultimate Business Planner has a self-coaching assignment, along with a vision board exercise to help you capture your ambitions and put them on paper.
Vision Boards use the power of visualization and manifestation to help you set and achieve crucial goals. These are generally big goals. Goals will take time and planning to achieve.
Creating a vision board and posting it somewhere visible will potentially materialize this new possibility. You have created a plan, made it real, and now you can achieve it. Simply creating a vision board and including significant, tangible goals has been shown to make it more likely to accomplish what you set out to do. But first, you have to put it out into the Universe. Start with this vision board, and the path to your large-scale goals will begin to become clear.
If you are struggling with the vision board, try the self-coaching session included in The Ultimate Business Planner. This intensive workbook will take you on a journey of self-discovery. It will delve deep to discover your ambitions and your interests. It will help you really consider where you want your life to lead and what is important to you. Download it here and take the afternoon to complete it. I suggest a hot cup of coffee, a cozy blanket, and settling in.
Break large goals down into something you can work on in a month.
Let's say your goal is to live a healthier lifestyle. It seems simple enough. But without a doable plan on how you want to achieve this, you will quickly slip back into old habits.
Now there are different definitions of a healthy lifestyle depending on your starting point. An excellent place to start is a goal for the first month of simply eating better. Maybe your plan for the first week is to not buy any junk food on your next grocery shopping trip. The week after that could be to substitute fresh veggies for a bag of chips once that week. The following week we can make the same substitutions 3 times.
Monthly goals can be broken up into weekly targets.
Next, you can commit to trying out one new "healthy" recipe a week. These goals should be clearly written out in your planner each week. If you do not use a planner, post them somewhere that you look every day, like on your nightstand or bedroom mirror, so that you are reminded of your goals each morning.
These simple steps are clear and well-defined. You have either achieved them or not. You can feel a sense of accomplishment when you cross the item off your list.
Breaking down a large goal into tiny pieces makes it more attainable.
No matter how committed you are to buying that gym membership and work out 5 days a week, starting January 1st, chances are not in your favour. Expecting something so drastic from yourself is unrealistic and cruel. Let yourself build up to a goal that big.
Many resolutions fail, not because of goal setting but because of implementation. It is essential in any area that you strive for progress over perfection. Achievable setting goals is much more rewarding than trying for something beyond your reach and falling short.
Take baby steps,
Create a realistic and achievable plan,
Slowly increase the difficulty and commitment as you notice progress.
Perhaps you want to save more money this year. You should still start with little steps that have clearly defined parameters.
Start with a budget. Your goal for the first month can be something as simple as sticking to it. Or, maybe you only eat out once this week. Next week you don't eat out at all unless it is previously scheduled. Another week it could be no impulse buying.
Another route could be transferring a predetermined sum into savings. Try $10 the first week and $15 the second. Slowly increase the amounts weekly until you get to an amount that works with your budget. These small goals all build into a larger ultimate goal, but they are things that you can apply to your life today.
Tracking daily progress will motivate you to continue towards progressively larger goals.
When you are building your business, you need tasks to tackle every day to make progress. This sets up habits of both building your company and taking care of the responsibilities that come with it.
There is a lot to do when you are an entrepreneur. Every week you will have to complete marketing tasks, deal with customers, launch products, update your website, handle social media and blog posts, etc.
These responsibilities, of course, are broken down and adjusted as needed. Notice again that these goals can be broken down into smaller segments that you can achieve daily and weekly.
If you are still on the fence about using a planner, I want to re-emphasize how important they are. These are crucial tools to help you to achieve your goals. To-do lists often have an "out of sight, out of mind" existence. When you do not reflect on this list, it just doesn't exist. Having a planner that you check and update daily will help you to cross these items off faster.
The best part of goal setting is the sense of accomplishment you get from achieving these goals.
Breaking down significant goals into tiny manageable levels allows you not only to make an intimidating plan seem reasonable. It will also give you room to grow into larger expectations of yourself. If you successfully earn $100 this month. Maybe we can aim for $200 next month. Perhaps you were able to overshoot that goal and make $150.
How much better about yourself will you feel if you earn the $100, or more, that you set out to this month than if you didn't make any of the $1,000 you wanted to make this year because you procrastinated or didn't do your marketing tasks?
Setting goals with no plan on how to achieve them is just a setup for failure. Giving yourself a month to achieve something is a reasonable time frame without forcing yourself into an unrealistic schedule. It also gives you some leeway, so if you fall short on a goal one week. You can still make it up by the end of the month.
The most important thing to remember is to break your monthly goals down weekly and review them daily. This keeps them present in your mind, so you are constantly looking for ways to make progress. This progress is what leads you to your destination.
Goals can be almost anything, even obligations that already exist in your life. You might have a goal for this month, to complete all your past-due housework. Or, perhaps you need to clean out an area to set up a dedicated workspace or office. Maybe next month's goal is to actually launch your website.
The most important thing about goal setting is to be realistic. Goal setting does not have to be reserved for yachts and fancy houses. Today your goals may be more humble but no less important. Once you see how successful you can be at setting goals for essential duties in your life, you can begin to dream bigger.
If you are unrealistic about your goals, or the time frame in which you can achieve them, you'll never be able to reach them.
If goal setting is new to you, it is best to start with things already expected of your time. Items like keeping your work schedule or printing off the free business checklist are a great place to start. These are examples of goals that are great for beginners. They are an excellent gateway to obtaining the motivation and sense of accomplishment that will push you to believe in yourself.
Building self-confidence will lead to setting more goals, leading to more progress towards your dreams.
It is also a great way to practice self-discipline. Putting restraints on yourself for spending your money or time can help you teach yourself how to say no. It can also help you be strict about taking care of your responsibilities and obligations before indulging in your wants.
While you don't need an ultimate dream of where you want your life to go, set short-term goals. It is a good idea to start getting into that mindset. This year, set the goal to choose a profession or build and run a multinational company. Perhaps it's something closer to home. Having these clearly defined, long-term goals will help drive both the theme of your short-term goals and give you a clear sense of direction, making massive undertakings more manageable.
Year by year, month by month, and week by week, you can tick off each of these milestones while on the path to your own personal success story.
You have to start today with the small steps before you can look back on the journey and smile. If you complete these tiny tasks and build up to your weekly and monthly goals, you will start seeing your progress accumulating, leading you faster and faster to your dream destination.
You can build this company. You can have the lifestyle you want. But first, you need to make an achievable plan to get you there.
Don't forget to pick up the free business building checklist to help you step by step through the process of building your business. It is already set up in an easy-to-use, goal-oriented format so you can set your first goal immediately. Choose your starting point and fill in the action dates as you progress toward your profitable business. Download it here.
I want to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.