150+ Best Monthly Goal Ideas for a Better Life

If you want to improve your life, goal-setting is a great place to start. Here are over 150 meaningful monthly goal ideas to inspire your self-improvement journey!

Why Set Monthly Goals?

Goal-setting is one of the greatest ways to transform your life. Setting goals for yourself and your life is important for a few different reasons.

1. Goal-Setting Encourages Self-Reflection

When you sit down to write out some new goals, you have to get really honest about where you are currently at. This self-awareness and deep introspective reflection is crucial for bettering yourself and your life.

Without goal-setting, it can be easy to get caught in the flow of day-to-day life without ever really stopping to think critically about where you are at. Goal-setting encourages deep and continual reflection and self-awareness.

2. Goal-Setting Motivates You to Do Better

Setting goals for yourself and your life is exciting! After a good goal-setting session, you will likely feel a renewed sense of motivation and inspiration to work hard towards those goals. The simple act of getting intentional and specific about what you want can light a fire in you to go out and achieve it!

3. Goal-Setting Helps You See the Bigger Picture

Again, it’s easy to get wrapped up in daily life that we forget to take a step back and ask the big questions.

What are you working towards? Are you happy in your life? What do you want for yourself?

Setting goals prompts all of these questions to be answered and helps you work towards a solution that feels supportive of the life you want to be living.

4. Goal-Setting Allows You to Track Your Progress

Well-set goals are clear and concise enough that you can specifically track and measure progress. When you can see that your daily actions are actually taking you steps closer to your goal, you are much more likely to stay on track. Having measurable goals is a great way to do this.

5. Goal-Setting Puts YOU in the Driver’s Seat

YOU are in control of your life – and goal-setting helps to remind you of that! By setting goals, you take control of your life and your future. You can clearly see how your actions, mindset, and habits directly impact your life’s outcome.

YOU have control. It’s empowering!

How to Set Monthly Goals

As we now know, setting monthly goals is an incredible tool for improving your mindset, health, daily habits, and overall life. But, without a clear understanding of HOW to set effective monthly goals, it’s likely these goals will fall through.

A study on goal-setting estimates that around 70% of people that set goals fail to achieve them.

In order to avoid becoming part of that 70%, establish a clear idea of HOW to set goals that are achievable, productive, and realistic. Here are some top monthly goal-setting tips to do so.

Understand SMART Goals

The acronym ‘SMART’ goal stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

SMART goals are a helpful framework to guide you toward setting goals that give you the best chance at achieving them.

This concept was created by George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham as a strategy to simplify goal-setting and help set goal-setters up for success.

Learn more about how to set SMART goals in this Forbes Business article.

Evaluate Where Your Starting Point

Get real, honest, and specific about where you are RIGHT NOW. To set goals, you need to have a clear understanding of your starting point.

This helps you better identify what’s working, what’s not, what needs to change, and how exactly you can take steps toward your goals.

We all start somewhere!

Feel no shame or guilt when evaluating your starting point. This is simply a helpful step in your journey to monthly goal-setting success.

Brainstorm Your Goals

Set aside some time to have a monthly goal idea brainstorming session, whether it’s over your morning coffee, on your afternoon lunch break, on a walk, or during some bedtime journaling.

If you are here reading this post of monthly goal ideas, I’m guessing you’re in this phase now.

Brainstorming goals from scratch can be overwhelming! I hope this monthly goals list can help inspire you in this process.

Break Down Big Goals

For every big goal, you should have a few micro-goals to help track your progress along the way.

For example, if saving $2,000 is one of your monthly goal ideas, breaking that down into saving $500/week is a clear, actionable way to track progress.

Along with micro-goals, it’s important to establish clear daily habits that will help you achieve your goal.

Using the same example from above, the goal “save $2,000 this month” could include daily habits such as:

• make coffee at home instead of stopping for Starbucks
• shop coupons and sales
• eat meals at home
• meal plan and shop off a grocery list (avoid buying unnecessary things)

CLICK HERE FOR MY PRINTABLE ADULTING BUNDLE

(includes: meal plan, budget tracker, habit tracker, grocery list, and more!)

By breaking down your larger goals into small, actionable steps, you are much more likely to achieve them, stick with them, and see progress!

Track Your Progress

Finding a way to track your progress is a key part of staying on track with your goals. As humans, we want to feel like we are taking steps toward our goal. We crave that feeling of accomplishment.

Not only do small, daily wins add up to success over time, but they are great motivators to keep moving forward. This helps to prevent you from running out of steam when your sole focus is a big, far-away goal.

GET UNLIMITED PRINTABLE HABIT TRACKERS HERE

Using habit trackers is my favorite way to track progress. You can also use goal-specific trackers to mark progress.

For example, if you have a goal of saving $1,000, you could have small $10 bubbles to fill in or check off as a visual representation of progress.

Realistically Reevaluate

Now that you have goals set and broken down, it’s time to get really honest.

Do these goals matter to you? Are they truly helping you improve your life? Do you have the ability to achieve these goals? Have you taken on too many goals at once? Do you feel like you could set bigger goals (are you selling yourself short)?

These are all questions to really consider as you enter the final phases of goal-setting.

It’s important to have goals that are in alignment with the life you want to live. It’s also important that your goals are a good balance of ambitious and realistic. Push yourself, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Establish Accountability

Accountability is key when sticking to a goal. This can be different for each individual. Find a way that works for you and use it to stay on track with your goals.

Some ways to keep yourself accountable:

• habit tracking
• telling a friend
• talking about your goals with a loved one
• daily reflection journaling (get my daily reflection journal here)
• tracking progress
• write down your goals
• goal check-in setpoints (ie. weekly reflection checkpoints)
• setting micro-goals in the morning, reflecting on them at night

Establish a Clear WHY

This may be my #1 tip for successful goal-setting. Working towards new goals is challenging! It often requires discomfort, change, habit shifts, and hard work.

Without a clear, meaningful “WHY”, it’s easy to give up on your goals before you reach your end goal. Your “why” is what keeps you motivated and moving forward – even when it gets tough.

Have deep reasoning for your goals that really resonates with you. When you feel tired, worn down, defeated, or have the urge to give up, reconnect to this “why” to give you the push to keep moving forward.

150+ Monthly Goal Ideas

Feeling motivated? Are you ready to set those monthly goals? Let’s do it!

This list of over 150 monthly goal ideas is sure to give you some inspiration to get started. There are goal ideas here for every area of life and for multiple different lifestyles.

I’ve divided these monthly goal ideas into the following categories: work/productivity, finances, physical health, mental health, relationships, environment, and personal growth.

These goals start fairly broad and open-ended. This is intentional, so can make these goals more specifically tailored to your own needs.

No matter who you are, where you’re at, or what you want for yourself, there is bound to be a monthly goal idea on this list for you! Let’s jump in.

Work & Productivity Monthly Goal Ideas

• Create daily to-do lists
• Clean up your desk at the end of each day
• Get a promotion
• Open your own business
• Start a side-hustle
• Get a new job
• Master time-blocking
• Clean out your computer files
• Set work/life boundaries (don’t take work home)
• Bond with a co-worker
• Network with other professionals
• Take a work-related class
• Use a planner
• Update your resume
• Create a great LinkedIn profile
• Optimize your time
• Find a work-from-home job
• Clean out your email inbox
• Take an online class to learn something new
• Use the Pomodoro technique
• Set your phone on DND when working
• Improve time management skills
• Organize paperwork
• Get caught up on work tasks you’ve been avoiding
• Improve your public speaking and presentations

Financial Monthly Goal Ideas

• Only eat out once a week
• Avoid unnecessary online shopping
• Shop from a grocery list
• Only buy one coffee each week
• Save $X this month
• Cancel unused monthly memberships/subscriptions
• Get a pay raise
• Start a side-hustle
• Shop at discount stores
• Shop coupons/sales
• Sell your old clothes on Poshmark
• Buy generic/store-brand groceries
• Set aside $10/day
• Start a budget tracker
• DIY new things from what you already own rather than buying new items
• Join Rakuten to get money back on online purchases

Physical Health Monthly Goal Ideas

There are many different elements to physical health. I’ve divided this category into sub-categories of food, movement, & daily health habits.

Food/Nourishment Goals

• Eat breakfast – try these meal-prep-friendly breakfasts
• Eat 3 meals every day
• Get more vegetables in your diet
• Drink enough water every day
• Limit caffeine consumption – learn about the negative impacts of too much caffeine
• Limit soda consumption
• Minimize artificial sugar consumption
• Eat seasonal produce – see the seasonal food guide
• Stop dieting – work with me one-on-one to break up with diets
• Learn how to intuitively eat
• Stop labeling foods as “good” or “bad”
• Allow balance in your diet
• Enjoy dessert!
• Try new healthy recipes
• Make a new dinner every week
• Cook at home
• Take your daily vitamins
• Try new healthy snack recipes
• Eat more protein
• Educate yourself on nutrition fact vs. fiction (spoiler alert – diets don’t work!)
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Don’t skip meals!

Movement/Exercise Goals

• Try a new form of movement
• Take a weekly exercise class – there are even free ones on YouTube
• Get outside for daily movement
• Stretch daily
• Learn when your body needs rest
• Cycle-sync your movement
• Take a yoga class – Move with Nicole on YouTube is great!!
• Take a walk
• Run a _ minute mile (set your own goal!)
• Train for a 5k
• Be able to do _ pushups
• Get stronger (feel free to set your own strength goals!)
• Join a workout challenge
• Heal your relationship with movement – see my coaching services for one-on-one support
• Move for joy, not to change your body

Physical Health Habit Goals

• Get enough sleep
• Support healthy lymphatic drainage – get a dry brush!
• Attend doctor routine check-up appointments
• See your dentist for check-ups/cleanings
• Brush your teeth
• Quit smoking
• Spend time in nature
• Track your cycle (for females)
• Cycle sync your nutrition, movement, habits, and lifestyle – learn about cycle syncing
• Support a healthy immune system
• Protect your eyes from screen exposure – get blue light glasses!
• Clean your area of dust, mold, and other harmful particles

Mental Health Monthly Goal Ideas

• Practice daily gratitude
• Limit social media consumption – see negative impacts of TikTok

READ: 10 Ways to Make Your Instagram More Positive Right Now

• Set boundaries in relationships
• Go to therapy – start online therapy with TalkSpace
• Make time for alone time
• Practice daily self-care
• Start a mood tracker
• Begin daily reflection journaling
• Practice positive self-talk
• Use positive daily affirmations
• Learn your self-care love language
• Journal
• Get enough sleep
• Foster healthy relationships
• Celebrate your wins daily
• Start a self-care journal
• Practice naming your emotions
• Give yourself permission to feel your emotions
• Treat yourself – get yourself a gift, buy yourself a coffee, etc.
• Take care of your physical body – self-care shower, face masks, etc.
• Read more books – see all my recent book reviews here

Relationship Monthly Goal Ideas

• Say ‘yes’ more often
• Reconnect with an old friend
• Make time to visit your grandparents
• Have weekly family dinner
• Go on a date
• Say ‘no’ when you want to
• Practice healthy boundaries
• Be vulnerable
• Volunteer
• Have a date night with your partner
• Put your phone away in social settings
• Compliment a stranger
• Make one person smile daily
• Develop good communication skills
• Balance social and alone time
• Meet new people
• Initiate plans

Environment/Home Monthly Goal Ideas

• Keep your room tidy
• Make your bed every morning
• Do the dishes before bed every night
• Change your sheets every week
• Decorate for the season/holiday
• Keep your workspace tidy
• Organize your phone
• Create a house chore schedule
• Clean out your car weekly
• Go through your closets and get rid of old things
• Finish up any outstanding household projects
• Have a relaxation station in your house – I love my cozy corner
• Organize your kitchen
• Do a bi-monthly fridge cleanout
• Brighten up your space with natural light – open the windows!
• Get outside whenever possible

Personal Growth Monthly Goal Ideas

• Buy and utilize a planner to stay organized
• Make bucket lists for things you want to accomplish/experience
• Build consistent morning and night routines
• Develop good habits in your everyday life
• Reflect at the end of every day – be honest with yourself
• Read personal development books
• Surround yourself with people who encourage you to be better
• Push yourself out of your comfort zone
• Challenge yourself to pursue self-development

RELATED POST: 70 Best 30-Day Challenges for Personal Growth

• Listen to uplifting podcasts
• Start a new hobby
• Have a bedtime wind-down routine
• Develop a healthy morning routine
• Limit screentime
• Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals for self-improvement

There you have over 150 monthly goal ideas.

What area of life are you most focused on for your monthly goals? Which one of these monthly goal ideas inspired you the most?

Leave a comment down below and let me know your goals for this month! I’d love to support you along the way.

Happy goal-setting!