Personal Growth and Development Tips: 4 Reasons To Focus On Monthly Goals Instead Of Annual Resolutions

Goal setting for a new year can be a profound experience.

With each new year comes the feeling of starting afresh. More often than not, an all-or-nothing mentality sets in, and you end up setting giant annual resolutions. Unfortunately, this approach rarely works.

Adopting this approach explains why most new year resolutions fall by the wayside. The truth is, it's easy to get complacent with annual resolutions. Beware that once you lose steam, the huge goals you set in January will seem ridiculous and impossible by mid-year.

Why Are Annual Resolutions Hard To Follow?

Annual resolutions are hard to follow because they are:

• Not measurable,
• Vague,
• Unrealistic, and
• Hard to track.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, only a tiny percentage of people manage to achieve their new year resolutions. So, before you declare that all hope is lost, there is a better way of planning for the new year - setting monthly goals.

Think about it. Short-term, measurable, and realistic mini-goals will help you stay on track even when your morale is low. Does this pique your interest? Good!

Here are four reasons why you should give up annual resolutions for monthly goals:

Monthly Goals are Simple

To be honest, big goals become more daunting as the year goes by. Remember, you'll have other competing priorities to fulfill. This means, the more complex your goal is, the easier it is to become overwhelmed. You won't have this problem with monthly goals.

Here's how it works. Since you have limited time each month, you have to keep your goals simple, small, and achievable. The result? Attaining each goal becomes easier.

What's more, this approach creates a domino effect where each goal you tackle adds more wind to your sails, improving your chances with future tasks.

Monthly Goals are Realistic

Shooting at the moon can be inspiring. After all, who doesn't like dreaming big? But the reality is, ambitious goals are more challenging to achieve. The chances are that frustration will set in as soon as you start hitting obstacles. So how can you avoid this? By setting realistic and rational monthly goals.

Again, the time limit of monthly goals works in your favor. Since you can only do so much in one month, setting realistic and achievable goals comes naturally. The best part is that this approach makes tackling an ambitious resolution possible. With each monthly milestone met, you come closer to your overall resolution.

Monthly Goals are Manageable

Given the scope of ambitious new year resolutions, there's a risk of spreading yourself thin. On the other hand, tasks become easy to manage with monthly mini-goals. Here's how it works. Using a reliable planner, you can break down your annual resolution into quarterly and then monthly goals.

As you can imagine, this approach makes you focus on urgent issues first. What's more, by tackling issues monthly, you can manage your time better, setting yourself up for success. The bottom line is that you are more likely to spread yourself thin going in different directions unless you use monthly goals.

Monthly Goals are Quick to Reset

The truth is, there's always a chance you'll hit a few false starts on your personal growth journey. So it's not surprising that you are better off with a goal-setting model that accommodates this fact. Look at it this way, the faster you get back on your feet after a fall, the better. 

Resetting a simple monthly goal is much easier than a complex annual resolution. If you fail to meet a monthly goal, you can quickly go back to the drawing board. This allows you to plan better for the coming month, and therefore, set yourself up for success.

Despite your set goals, you need proper planning to meet your new year's goals.

Although this appears taxing, don't fret. At Aspyn Market, we got your back.

Subscribe to the Aspyn Planner and Wellness Workbook and bring yourself closer to meeting your resolutions and improving your personal growth effortlessly.