How and why to create a monthly reset routine for self care, goals, and mental health!
What is a Monthly Reset?
Monthly resets are an important part of my routine for the end of the month. Just like many of us set annual (New Year’s resolutions) goals, its also important to follow-up with these goals by setting and reviewing monthly goals.
A monthly reset is where you’re able to reflect on the prior month, set and adjust task-based goals, organize, and re-energize.
The goals you set can be in relation to finances, budgeting, business, career, personal projects, fitness, or even self care! If you have a goal, this is your way to make sure you’re on track with it and still feeling good about what it is you’re striving for!
A monthly reset helps:
Provide a way to move forward with a refreshed mindset
Set intentions and elevate your energy / mood
Ensure that you’re on the right track with your goals
Step 1: Reflect
I personally believe this is one of the most important parts of a monthly reset. It allows us to dive deeper and make ourselves more aware of our habits, both good and bad, that are either hindering or helping us make progress.
This is also one of the harder parts of a monthly reset (and the part most skip out on) because it can be uncomfortable to face the habits that are holding us back and most of the time we experience resistance when we know we need to make changes to improve.
In the reflection stage, ask yourself:
What did you do well last month?
Where can you make improvements from last month?
What area of your life would you like to put more focus for this month?
Take your time to consider each of these questions. You can write the answers down in a journal or on the computer. It doesn’t matter where you write it, but do make sure that you keep track of the notes so that you can reflect again on the following month.
Step 2: Setting Goals
My personal favorite way to set, add, and revise goals is to start with a brain dump. The great thing about doing a brain dump for your goals is that it allows you to write down everything you may want to achieve, without judgement.
This gets your mind away from what you think you should achieve and opens you up to goals that you may have been pushing to the side or ignoring. If something is important to you (or more important than you realize), it will likely come up often during these brain dumps. Keeping track of this gives you the opportunity to take a deeper look at things that may be coming up consistently that you’ve ignored or put off.
(That’s actually how I finally started this blog; I had been putting it off for TEN YEARS.)
Some things you write will come out of left field and may just be a thought or idea (and not something you actually want), but some of these will be very real goals that you may want to work towards.
After the brain dump, you’ll set (revise, add, and/or remove) more structured goals, keeping the brain dump list in mind.
Being able to revise, remove, and add new goals in each month allows for you to adapt and pivot when wanted or needed. The direction that we move in life should be based on the things that we want and desire for ourselves. There is no wrong answer as to which direction you move, although it can be challenging if you have people in your ear telling you what you should do. Do what you want to do and you’ll be happier, by a long shot.
These wants and goals may change as we have new experiences and that’s an exciting thing!
For me personally, I used to be gung-ho set on achieving certain goals for myself simply because it was a goal I said I wanted to achieve, not because it was a goal I cared about anymore. I was worried how it would look if I didn’t achieve it, especially as a woman in an industry that was male-dominant (in relation to business and fitness). I didn’t want doubt that I couldn’t do it, but at the same time, I wasn’t passionate about it like I wanted to be, either.
I spent years striving towards these massive goals of mine and I achieved them, even though they weren’t something I wanted anymore. As it turns out, achieving something just to say you did it isn’t worth it.
You’ll hear people talk about this in relation to getting a PhD to appease their family and even in something more simple like going on weight loss journey. Go for what makes you happy and plot twist: you will be happy.
Step 3: Visualization & Manifestations
This step is important as a way to re-energize and set intentions as to how you want to move forward into the next month. When you set time aside for manifestation and visualization, you’re able to focus on very detailed imagery that gets your mind into the exact position you would like to be in at the end of the next month. When you master visualization, you’ll be able to hear, feel, and see all of the things that you envision for yourself.
This visualization technique is used by many high-level business owners, CEOs, and elite athletes. Many successful people even talk largely on the power of manifestation.
Personally, I like to do three things in this category for my monthly resets: writing in a manifestation journal, setting time aside to sit and visualize, and create a virtual vision board to save as the background on my phone.
The way I create my virtual vision boards is by collecting images from Pinterest, creating a photo collage, and saving that as the background to my phone.
Step 4: Organization
Having a clean and organized environment is one of the main 7 pillars of self care. This can help in promoting a better headspace for you, especially if you work from home. The major things that I do during this step is food and item restocks, deep cleaning, and a big load of laundry!
Step 5: Self Care “Rewards”
One final way to get yourself re-energized, excited, and inspired moving into the next month is to treat yourself to a self care-based reward (which in reality, can be anything). If you’re like me, this would be going to the nail salon to get your acrylic nails done, but it could also be treating yourself to a nice dinner, getting a massage, a spa day, or even planning a small getaway trip/ staycation.
If you don’t have a monthly reset routine yet, try incorporating this at the end or beginning of the month to hold yourself more accountable to the things you want to achieve in your life! Go get ‘em!
