Setting Monthly Goals with 33 monthly goals examples

Are you tired of not getting the results you want? Whether it’s professional or personal, do you get frustrated when it feels like you’re not getting any closer to your big goal? 

If so, this blog post is perfect for you. 

By the time you finish reading this, you’ll have plenty of monthly goal ideas for when you plan for the next month. 

Using the 3 steps monthly goal setting process, you’ll have goals that aren’t only clear and meaningful, but they’re also doable and achievable. 

The end of the month is a great time to set the next month’s goal but honestly, you can do it any time. There’s no rule. 

So if you’re ready, let me help you set your monthly goals. 

Just letting you know, I’ll only give you the steps but only you can decide what you’re monthly goals will be. 

DISCLOSURE: This post contains Affiliate Links, which means I receive commission, at no extra cost to you, when you make purchase using those affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Here’s my full Disclaimer.

Why should you set monthly goals? 

Setting monthly goals is a powerful way to help you focus, maximise your time and boost your productivity. 

That’s because monthly goals serve as benchmarks for tracking your progress over time. Setting meaningful monthly goals gives you something to strive for that your future self will thank you for. 

When you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve in the next month, it becomes easier to stay motivated, overcome obstacles, and push through challenges. 

Monthly goal-setting forces you to prioritize your tasks and activities based on their importance and alignment with your objectives. It helps prevent distractions by keeping your attention on what truly matters, allowing for more effective time management.

By breaking down larger aspirations into smaller monthly goals, you create achievable milestones along the way. Each month becomes an opportunity for growth, learning, and personal development. 

And as you set clear and specific goals for the month ahead, you get clarity on what you want to achieve. You know where to focus your time and energy. A regular monthly goal setting not only helps you in achieving your next month’s goals but also helps you check if the goals you’re setting every month are aligned with your long-term goals. During your monthly planning and review, you can set brand new goals or continue and check your progress if you’re still on the right track. 

Just please remember that doing a monthly review is as important as setting your monthly goals. So make sure that you incorporate monthly reviews too. Without a review process, it’ll be hard to know if you made significant progress. I used to publish Monthly Reviews but I don’t anymore because I now prefer to share everything behind the blog in my weekly emails. Go to this page, grab one of the freebies and you’ll be in. 

This Free Sunshine Weekly Planner will be a great companion of your monthly planning. Click the image below if you want it.

If setting monthly goals isn’t your thing, there are different ways you can plan. Bigger goals can always be broken down into smaller goals by planning with intention. 

For example, if you prefer to plan in a 12-month time frame instead, then you can set your annual goals first. After setting yearly goals, do quarterly goals then weekly goals. You can even go as far as daily mini goals. 

Make sure that you do regular and frequent planning and review. Because it’s hard to track and monitor progress with yearly goals if the planning and review only happens once a year.

Monthly Goals Examples

Your monthly goals will depend on what’s important to you, at the time of planning, but here are different monthly goal examples you can use as inspiration: 

Personal Development

1. Learn a new skill related to personal development 
2. Set one Professional goal
3. Read at least one book related to personal finance or self-improvement 
4. Set goals for personal growth or personal development
5. Consume one online course or learn a new creative skill. 
6. Make time for a hobby  
7. Start a journaling practice to reflect on thoughts, feelings, and goals regularly ( You can use journaling to declutter your mind or conquer negative self-talk.

Financial Goals

1. Save a specific amount for something, get rid of debts, and increase your net worth
2. Track daily expenses to identify areas to cut back
3. Create a monthly budget and stick to it
4. Build emergency fund (My family calls this Peace of Mind Fund) 

Health and Well being

1. Try new healthy recipes- (oh my gosh these Bat Oreo Pops are sooo cute)
2. Establish a consistent exercise routine
3. Practise mindfulness or meditation daily
4. Limit screen time before bed for improved sleep quality
5. Cook at home more often and try out new healthy recipes
6. Limit distractions by setting boundaries with technology and social media

Social and Community

1. Donate to a local charity
2. Volunteer time or donate to a cause meaningful to you
3. Join a group that let you give and receive. My personal favourite is the PIPS or Passive Income Pathways by Sadie Smiley. Check out this Passive Income Guide. If you’re not in Sadie’s world yet, that freebie is your key.

Self-care and Relationship

1. Work on relationship goals
2. Plan regular self-care activities
3. Prioritise quality time with loved ones
4. Celebrate achievements, big or small, each month

Challenge and Adventures

1. Do a 7-day, 21 days or a 30-day challenge
2. Get outside of your comfort zone
3. Explore new places in your city or plan weekend getaways

Work and Productivity

1. Set achievable targets for work or business projects
2. Practice effective time management techniques
3. Schedule regular breaks throughout the day to avoid burnout
4. Focus on personal growth by taking on a new challenge or learning something new

Habit Formation

1. Get rid of a bad habit
2. Develop healthy habits

Gratitude and Self-reflection

1. Practice gratitude by writing down three things you’re thankful for each day
2. Start a journaling practice to reflect on thoughts, feelings, and goals regularly

How many monthly goals you should set?

This is a good question but honestly, I can’t tell you how many goals you should set because the answer is up to you. 

How many can you handle in a month? 

There are so many things to consider like time, capacity, and energy. 

I can however recommend a maximum of 3 big goals. And then you can break them down into mini goals. The mini-goals can then be broken down further into small projects and then projects can be broken down further into tasks or small actionable steps. 

So in every given month, I have one goal for each area of life that matters to me: Well-being, Family and Home, and Business (blog and online shops). 

I can only handle a maximum of 3 big goals at a time, but your situation may be different. Maybe you can handle more than three goals. 

In the beginning, it’s a good idea to set 1 to 3 goals at a time. This is a great way to test what will work for you. You can always add or reduce the number of goals as you go.

Step process for how to set monthly goals

The key to having a fulfilling and productive month is setting monthly goals. 

As I mentioned before the timing is up to you. You can set new monthly goals for the next month at any time. But before I share with you the process of setting monthly goals, let me give you first an overview of intentional planning. This is important because once you get this right, no matter how many times you get off track, you’ll always find your way back on the right path. Because intentional planning will serve as your anchor that will gently pull you back to where you need to be. 

Overview of Intentional Planning

1. The big dream (this is the big picture or your life goals) 
2. Long-term Vision
3. Long term Goal
4. Short Term Goal
5. Annual Goal
6. Quarterly Goal 
7. Monthly Goal 
8. Weekly Goals 
9. Daily Tasks 

For me, starting with the big dream first is the best way to align everything. From the broad idea down to the single action step. I always start with personal goals, then family and home goals. and the last are the Business goals. 

In order to have good monthly goals, consider aligning your goals with the bigger picture. A good goal is a goal that is aligned with your values, beliefs, and principles. 

Here’s my 3-step process when setting monthly goals.

1. Reflect on the past month

Before you start creating your monthly plan, it’s important to take time for reflection. It’s easier to figure out where to go when you know where you are. I have a set of favourite reflection questions when doing a review.

Answering these questions will help you get a feel for how your previous month went. And this will be your baseline in setting the next month’s goals. 

Monthly Reflection Questions: 

• How do you feel about last month? 
• What did you accomplish? 
• Are there tasks you didn’t complete last month? 
• What did you learn? 
• How many projects did you move forward?
• What are your favorite moments? (Highlights) 
• How can you make next month better than last month? 

2. Set Clear Goals

To set clear smart goals, determine first your overarching set of priorities for this month. 

Make sure that your monthly goals align with your values and long-term vision. Then check the tasks and projects from the previous month that need your attention. 

What specific results or outcomes would you like to see by the end of the month? 

Remember to check your calendar and notes too, to make sure you got the important events, deadlines, and appointments. 

Include habits you would like to keep or habits that you need to let go of. 

A good question to ask when setting monthly goals is: how can you balance your professional and personal life? 

Of course, there’s no perfect balance, but at least find a healthy compromise among your list of priorities. 

Your monthly plan also needs to include how you’ll measure your progress. This is where habit trackers help.

Define specific metrics to track your achievements. And don’t forget to establish a reward system to keep you going. 

3. Break down monthly goals into achievable steps

One of the things I learned from David Allen, (Getting Things Done; the art of stress free productivity,) is that you cannot do a goal. You can only do a task. 

With that in mind, in order to achieve a goal, it needs to be broken down into smaller chunks or achievable steps.

When breaking a goal down, I always follow a certain path. A GOAL is broken down into Projects, and then projects are broken down into TASKS. I’ve always done this for as long as I can remember. However since working closely with Dr Fran Whitaker of the Happy Journals PLR Club, I have tweaked this path a little bit. So the new path I follow now is: Goals are broken down into Mini goals. Mini Goals are broken down into Projects. And then Projects are broken down into Tasks or single steps. 

A few tips about monthly goal-setting

Creating a meaningful and productive month doesn’t stop with the 3-step process I just shared. To make the most out of it you need to support this with a few more intentional actions. 

• Keep a daily log of your progress
• Schedule a day for monthly planning and review (your daily log will help you make this easier) 
• Create an action plan that’s clear and easy to follow
• Prioritise for maximum impact. Once you have clear goals, identify which goals are the most important. Pick a maximum of 3 important goals. By focusing on these high-priority items, you can make the most of your time and effort. You’ll be sure that you’re making progress in the areas that matter most to you. 
• Making measurable goals (so they’re easier to track) can be done by adding a number or time limit to action steps that will get you closer to your goal. 
• Use trackers to measure progress (printable and digital, are both great). Make your habit tracker easy and fun to use. 
• Be intentional with your to-do list. Manage it wisely. 
• Set daily goals and assign small daily actions. Make a checklist or gamify your daily action items. 
• Remember to celebrate the wins, even the smallest ones. 
• Set up an end-of-the-year session to review your progress for the last 12 months

Your next Steps

Now that you have the 3 steps to help you set your monthly goals as well as the 33 monthly goals examples, the next step is to set aside a time to start monthly planning. Then after that, Create a weekly planning routine that’ll help you have a successful month. Check the Intentional Week Success Guide for creating more productive week that’ll make your month successful.

Sometimes, all the planning and review seems like hard work but I promise you, it’s worth it. 

If this is your first month, I recommend thinking about your big dreams first and then setting larger goals related to them. Then you break them down using Step no 3 in the process above. Don’t stop breaking them down until what you have are small action steps. 

Set goals that excite you. 

Envision using a vision board. 

Take action using your monthly plan.