Setting Up The Month in Your Digital Planner
This blog post illustrates how we plan out the month using our digital planner. We go into detail about our full planning process. If that’s something you’re interested in learning more about, then read on!
The beginning of the month is one of my favorite times to use my digital planner. You’re starting off on a clean slate and the opportunities for the month are endless. You’ve just ended a month, so it’s pretty clear where there is more energy needed and maybe if there are areas you want to make changes in.
REFLECTION
There are endless ways you can go about planning your month. The way we like to start is to reflect on the past month to get a sense of where we are and how we are feeling about life and our goals.
Questions to ask yourself:
How am I feeling right now?
What were some challenges I faced this past month?
What were some achievements from this past month?
If I could do 3 things differently this past month, what would they be and why?
What do I need more of in my life?
From here we like to envision how we want the new month to go.
How do you want to feel?
What do you want to do?
Where do you want to go?
We answer these questions by taking time to reflect and pinpoint our desires. Feel free to write down how you’re feeling so that you can refer to this later if need be.
VISION BOARD
Next, we do an exercise that allows us to bring in visual images and quotes that can help guide us as we plan out our month. This exercise usually turns into a vision board for the month.
I’ll use a blank page in my planner to put together all the images and quotes I have sourced into one place.
Once you’ve created your vision board, try coming up with a few words, phrases, or quotes that truly encapsulate how the month will be for you.
CALENDAR
After you have done all the visioning work for the month, move on to the calendar. We like to input the dates (for undated calendars) and any other events or occurrences during the month (full moon, holidays, etc.). Then you will add any significant dates or appointments.
PRIORITIES
Now that you’ve gotten the base of the calendar figured out, we suggest you take time to pin down what your priorities are for this month. One way we like to identify our priorities is to start by broadly figuring out which key areas of our life we want to focus on.
Here are some broad areas we like to review:
Family and Friends
Relationships
Career
Finances
Personal Life
Health (Physical, emotional, and mental)
Passions
Home and Environment
Fitness
Personal Development
Some questions you can ask yourself to get deeper:
How am I feeling about this area of my life?
Is this area bringing me happiness in my life? If yes, explain why. If no, elaborate why not.
Is this area something I want to focus my energies on this month? If yes, make a note of that for our next step.
Once you’ve chosen 2-3 areas to focus on, choose a goal that you think will bring you closer to where you want to be with that area. After choosing a goal, make a few action steps you are able to commit to completing throughout the month.
*If you’ve found your priorities have shifted, this is the time to adjust your vision board to be in line with what you want for this month.
CALENDAR + GOALS
Next, add some time that you will be committing to throughout the month that is aligned with your goals for the month.
For example:
If I am wanting to spend more time taking care of my health through consistent hydration; I will set a goal based on hydration and find ways to make it a fun habit. This may include trying out 2 new infused water recipes per week, setting a 30-minute timer to remind myself to drink water during the work day, and carrying a water bottle everywhere I go. Once I’ve identified the goal and how I will go about achieving it, I will add events in my calendar to remind me of said action steps; such as on Tuesdays and Thursdays I will try a new infused water recipe each week.
Lastly, you will be adding a few activities just for fun on your calendar. This doesn’t have to be anything crazy. But it’s always nice to have a couple of things to look forward to during the month. Some activities that I like to add that would fit into this step include:
Home movie night with popcorn and candy
Sunset walk with my partner
Bath time with bubbles or a bath bomb
Yoga class at the local studio
Trying a new recipe
Slow mornings
See a musical
Go the the local museum
Take a walk in a park
And that’s it! We have planned out the month and we are now fully prepared to embark on this new month :)
As a recap, this is our monthly checklist:
My New Month Checklist
Reflect on last month and envision the new month
Find visual inspo for the new month and make a vision board
Add appointments and events to the calendar
Identify priorities
Allocate time each week for my goals
Add some “just for fun” activities to the calendar
Happy planning and wishing you oodles of joy!
