Thirty minutes at the start of the month instead of drifting with the current. What goes into my monthly plan and how it turns into daily tasks.
Almost every calendar month I set aside a little time in the first few days to plan the next four weeks.
I think it’s better to spend 30 minutes deciding on directions and a few checkpoints than to simply drift with the current and see where it takes you.
Of course I have goals for five to ten years ahead, and goals for the year. But I still try to check myself against that strategic course every month and adjust.
What goes into my monthly plan?
- An income target. A specific number.
- Four days off (right now those are Saturdays).
- The number of students I want on the new run of my course.
- The open questions I need to close this month.
Once a week I try to carve out 20-30 minutes for a “week review”.
That’s when I update my current to-do lists — edit them, add things, delete what’s no longer relevant. That weekly check-up then becomes the basis for my daily tasks.
So the logic is simple. When I understand what I want from life at the big-picture level, it isn’t hard to formulate goals many years out.
From those come goals for the year, the quarter, the month. And the monthly goals turn into weekly “course corrections” and daily tasks.
Which means that if this particular day is planned sensibly, then — like a set of nesting dolls — I keep moving toward my long-term goals.
Do you set goals for yourself? Are you managing to move toward them? How do you plan your life?