How to start a new month right!
As hard as it is to believe, there are only three more months to 2021 now! We sincerely hope your year has been blissful so far. We hope you accomplished loads in your personal, professional, and spiritual life. If yes, then it’s about to get even better now because we bring you a short and succinct guide to making the most out of each month! And if your year hasn’t been all that great so far, maybe this will help you move forward and make some progress in the direction you want.
Getting the most out of your month is merely a 5-step process of:
Reviewing, Planning, Prioritizing, Financing, and Accountability.
1. Review
Newton’s first law of motion states that a moving object will stay in motion and a static object will remain static unless an external force acts on it. The thing is that this holds true for most people and their behavior too! We are always waiting for a ‘rescue’ or some external magical thing to happen to us to move us forward instead of making it happen ourselves. And thus, reviewing your weeks, months, and years is essential! The two major questions to ask yourself when reviewing anything is:
– What did I do well last week/month/year?
– How could I have made it better?
The first question will help you continue what should be continued and the second question will help you to discard what doesn’t work and needs to be improved. That’s it, this need not be further complicated. We take two important questions and see for ourselves.
The reason we don’t ask the question ‘What did I do wrong’ is that life is too short for regrets, so instead of viewing our ‘mistakes’ with a negative lens, we’ll view them with optimism and ask ourselves, what did we learn from it and how can we make it better?
2. Plan
The key to accomplishing the most difficult things in life is planning. Start by looking over your review and seeing how far along you are. Next, set goals for yourself, both long-term and short-term. While setting these goals, remember to factor in not just productivity but also self-care, because a balanced approach leads to sustainable success. Whether it’s taking time for mindfulness, setting aside moments for relaxation, or treating yourself to crystal-infused skincare from ANAS Crystal Care, nurturing yourself should be part of the plan.
3. Prioritize
The goals we’ve set above can be personal, professional, or just about anything that means a lot to us. The key to prioritizing is valuing how much they’ll mean to you when you take away external factors like societal applause, status, other’s expectations, etc. Also, chances are if you pick something to satisfy your ego or any momentary pleasure, it will not bring you continued satisfaction over the years to come. So we advise you to always choose your priorities based on real reasons that’ll give you deep, meaningful happiness not short bursts of pleasure. A good way to decide is:
~If it doesn’t matter in 10 years, it doesn’t matter at all~
4. Finance
Financing your goals is very important. Just like you need to set aside time without excuses for your most important goals, you also need to set aside money for it. Making a budget will help you manage your money more efficiently and finance the right actions while cutting back on irrelevant ones! A budget does not mean something that’s meant to keep you away from spending and getting the best experiences in life, it’s rather meant for the optimal use of your money. If you have a habit of watering the wrong seeds, you will become aware of it with a budget and start being more mindful. And if you’re too scared of using your money and keep saving all for the future then you’re costing yourself lost opportunities and experiences.
Instead, you could choose to invest some in your personal goals, professional growth, and self-care.
A good way to start dividing your income is via the 50-30-20 rule. It dictates that you spend
– 50% on needs,
– 30% on wants, and
– 20% on savings.
5. Accountability
Do you postpone things regularly? Could be a diet switch, or the decision to write every day, or to start the day with yoga in the morning. We all need accountability to do the hard things in life. A great way to be accountable is by starting a 21-day or 30-day challenge and sharing it with one person who could either keep you going or someone with similar goals who could do it with you.
Just by trying to make it to the end of the challenge, you’ll make a massive change in your life. We only need about 3-4 weeks to form habits, so once you’ve finished your challenge, chances are you’ll stick to it (remember Newton’s law?). So don’t think too much. Just tell yourself, you’re doing it for 21 days and you’ll take it from there if it works or not.
With that, we wish you a lovely October and hope you liked our guide to a better way of going about your months. We send you warm wishes and hope you flourish in each aspect of your life!
