8 THINGS TO DO AT THE START OF EACH MONTH
There’s no better time to get a fresh start than the beginning of a new month, right?!
I LOVE the start of a new month because it means getting to start over - especially with a new plan of action! I like to spend time at the beginning of each month doing these things because it helps me get refreshed, refocused, and ready to conquer the month ahead.
As we begin the summer months (+ kids being at home), balancing life + work gets a little more complicated. But, when I take some time to do these things at the beginning of the month, it helps me stay on track, get focused on what I need to do, and gives me some things to look forward to as the month progresses.
So, spending some time at the beginning of a new month setting it up for success feels GOOD. It feels REFRESHING. It feels HOPEFUL.
I think you’ll find that these 10 things will help you get a great jumpstart to your month and keep that momentum up through the end of it!
Here are the 8 things to do at the beginning of every month…
1. Reflect on last month
This is one of my favorite things to do at the end of each month to help me prepare for the month ahead. And I think it’s something we can easily skip over because who really wants to look backward - especially if you had a crappy or sub-par month.
But, I think when we take time to reflect on the things that went well and the things we need to improve, we learn from our shortcomings and actually move forward.
So, I always ask myself 2 questions…
What things went well last month?
For me, this could be sticking with my focus goal or habit for the month (hold on, we’ll talk about that for a minute), keeping a level head, or just staying organized. It can be the most minute little thing that went well, but because I am intentionally taking the time to CELEBRATE it, it makes a world of difference moving forward.
What things can I improve on?
I like to celebrate first because this can really bring us down. But, notice how I’m not saying what I did poorly or failed at. I’m looking for areas that maybe didn’t go as expected and how I can improve upon them. Maybe you felt more overwhelmed during the month because you said yes to too many things. Or, maybe you slacked off on your workouts because you were more tired than usual. Write those things down and then I want you to write 1 - yup, just ONE - way you can improve on that.
2. Pick ONE habit to focus on this month
I started this little 30-day habit challenge last year and I STILL love it. I haven’t been as consistent with it this past year, thanks to COVID, but now that the kids are back in school, I’m hoping I can get better at this. Especially since there are a LOT of my 20 Intentions for the year that I really need to be more intentional about.
All you do is pick ONE habit that you want to add or change over the next 30-days. Some examples include drinking a green smoothie every morning, not hitting snooze when your alarm goes off, drinking 100 ounces of water daily, flossing your teeth daily - the list goes on and on. But, they are just little things that don’t take a ton of effort that you can do every single day.
Here are some examples of things I’ve done in the past:
Daily green smoothie
100 ounces of water every day
Daily devotional
Flossing
No sweets
3. Loosely plan out your month
If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you KNOW I’m a huge planner. Actually, I feel like I have a planner or calendar problem. As of the time of this writing, I have 5-6 calendars that I use - and that’s not counting my team events calendar I created today.
It’s a problem really…
But, one thing I know about myself is that I like to see the big picture. I want to get an overview of my entire month, start to finish, mapped out so I can troubleshoot where I need to.
Now, does this mean everything is set in stone? Absolutely not… and that’s why we write in PENCIL, friends!
But, as someone who gets overwhelmed VERY easily, I need to have an outline of what is happening in all areas of my life. So, I sit down a few days before the end of the month and I get EVERYTHING on the calendar…
Family events
Business events
Content outline
Blog outline
Client events and launches
Now, I can see where I might be busier so I can plan ahead and not fall down the overwhelm spiral...
4. CHECK YOUR NUMBERS
You might not know this, but I am a big data nerd. I think there’s something to tracking certain numbers or data points that is so important to staying on track or hitting a goal. And if you’re consistent with it (aka doing it at the beginning of every single month), you’ll be able to see your growth over time.
Obviously, there are different data points you can track, depending on the goals you’re trying to reach, so this is totally up to you what you track. For me, I track my Instagram growth (since that is really where I grow my business), my blog analytics, my email open + click rates for any sales funnels that I am running, my MONAT volume totals for the month, and my business finances (P+L).
Other ideas for things you can track:
Weight loss goals (I recommend tracking inches + not your weight)
Habits
Running mileage
Membership data
5. Review + setup your budget
If you read last week’s blog post, you know this isn’t just a monthly thing for me. This is something I do WEEKLY in order to stay on track. But, if you’re just getting started, looking at it at the beginning // end of each month is super helpful.
You can read more about how I plan our family budget (and grab our family budget spreadsheet)!
6. SET A DATE NIGHT - OR SOMETHING YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO
I always want to have something on the calendar that I can look forward to. You know, something that makes all the days working more exciting and worth getting done so you are closer to that one exciting day. While Matt + I aren’t great at scheduling date nights, I love at least having one thing on the calendar to look forward to if there’s nothing exciting already scheduled.
During the summer months, we almost ALWAYS have a trip to look forward to, and in the fall, we are celebrating birthdays with the family basically every single weekend (we have a LOT of fall birthdays), but the months we don’t have anything (especially in the winter), it’s nice to have a fun day or evening planned to look forward to
7. Declutter your space
I don’t know about you, but for me, a cluttered space = a cluttered mind. And I know with the kids being home 24/7 now that summer break has arrived, I need to get a jumpstart on keeping those “high traffic” places decluttered.
My “high traffic” spaces include my kitchen, our kitchen table, and my desk. These are the places where I spend the most time and tend to get the most overwhelmed with. But, I know that if I dedicate 20 minutes every day over the next week, I can get these areas feeling a lot less overwhelming.
BONUS: One thing I also do every month (just not at the beginning of the month) is deep clean different “zones” of our house. The first week of the month, I deep clean the kitchen. The next week, the living room. Then, the bedrooms. And finally, the bathrooms. This helps me stay on top of my cleaning without being overwhelmed - and helps me avoid hiring someone to come clean my house for me.
8. Clarify your skin + hair
Oh, friend, this is my FAVORITE thing to do each month. You can do this more often if you want, but I think it’s so so important to spend a few extra minutes in your “get ready” time to get out all the nasty build-up in your skin and hair.
I LOVE using charcoal to help detoxify my skin and hair, so I’ll do a charcoal face and hair mask once a month (sometimes more often than that) to help balance out the pH in my skin. I also use a clarifying shampoo to really deep clean my hair and get out anything that is causing build-up on my scalp (and thus, greasy, oily hair).
My favorite products to use are:
The beginning of a new month is the perfect time to get a fresh start on things! Try out 1, 2, or all 8 of these ideas and get a jump start on your month!
