How An End Of The Month Reflections Can Help You Reach Your Goals

I imagine if you are reading this and have found your way onto our site, you have goals! Which is awesome! I also imagine that you are also very aware of the power in writing your goals out. However, if you are not regularly tracking your progress towards them, how do you know if you are getting closer or not? How do you know if you are taking the right steps? By tracking your progress towards your goals, it will give you records to look back on and use to help your future decisions. You can reflect back to see where you have done well, and here you have fallen short and need to improve.

One great way to track your progress towards your goals is to use an End Of The Month Reflection. These reflections will give you a way to coach yourself each month so you can make sure you are constantly improving!

Here are 5 steps to an insightful end of the month reflection:

1. List Your Accomplishments

Start with your accomplishments. Write out all that you did over the previous month. Even your small accomplishments, try to think of as many accomplishments as possible. Like I have stated many times, it is too easy to only focus on what we didn't do, rather than what we did! Listing out your accomplishments is a great way to increase your confidence by giving you a visual way to acknowledge all that you did.  Doing this will help you feel more fulfilled with your month and gives you the opportunity to give yourself some praise.

2. Write those things you intended to do, but didn't

Unfortunately, we will almost always have a few things to write on this list. Don't beat yourself up about not accomplishing something, rather use this as an opportunity to try again. What were those things that you may have been putting off and didn't get around to accomplishing? Or maybe you tried to accomplish, but were not able to? Writing these types of things out is a great way to hold yourself accountable. It gives you a visual way to look at which areas you fell short on. This puts a small amount of pressure on you to make sure you accomplish these goals the next month. 

3. List The Biggest Challenges Your Are Facing Now

There will always be challenges. One of the first steps to overcoming a challenge though is to identify it. By acknowledging what the challenge is, it gives you a clearer picture of what you need to overcome to accomplish your goal. Also, by acknowledging something as a challenge helps you to realize the obstacle is just temporary and can be beaten. 

4. Write Out Your Biggest Opportunities

Often times we get so caught up in our routine that we don't realize all the opportunities we have. If you don't take time to sit down and let your mind explore new ideas and opportunities, you may miss out on whats all available to you. Also, by focusing on what your 'biggest' opportunities are, it can help you to prioritize where you should be spending the most time. You might realize that you have been spending too much effort on small opportunities and need to shift your attention to higher payoff ones.

5. Write What Will You Do Differently Next Month?

This is one of the most powerful questions out of this entire reflection. What will you change this coming month? If we never stop to ask ourselves this, it is easy to just continue on without making any changes. If you don't make changes, how can you ever expect to improve? Work on coming up with a couple of changes and improvements you can make in the coming month. What are some new habits you want to start? What are some bad habits you want to stop?

Get Started On Your End Of The Month Reflection

So get to it! Refelct back on your prevous month and look for ways to make this month even better! If you need help, check out the GoalCrazy 90 Day Planner that has End Of The Month Reflections built-in at the end of each month. Or download the FREE PDF End Of The Month Reflection Download below. Also, see how an End Of The Week Reflection can help in achieving your goals too! Check it out here.