Monthly planning & reset routine for productivity (+ WORKSHEET)

Summary

The video script outlines a comprehensive monthly planning process to help viewers set up for a successful month. It emphasizes the importance of reviewing the previous month's highlights and categorizing life areas, such as finances, career, and social relationships. The speaker shares personal examples and suggests using emojis for a more enjoyable experience. The process involves assessing what went well and what needs improvement, setting deadlines for ongoing projects, and identifying new projects based on the review. It also includes setting outcome and system goals for the month and proactively managing tasks to avoid stress. The video offers a free worksheet to guide viewers through this planning process, encouraging regular check-ins to stay on track and avoid autopilot mode.

Takeaways

• 📅 Start with a monthly review to set the scene for the upcoming month, focusing on big picture questions and personal reflection.
• ✅ Write down the highlights of the past month, including wins, accomplishments, and enjoyable events.
• 🔍 Examine each life category in detail, noting what went well and what could be improved, using primary sources like journals and photos to avoid recency bias.
• 📝 Assign a rating to each life category to quantify progress and facilitate comparison with previous months.
• 🗓️ Prepare for the new month by noting important upcoming dates and events to anticipate what's ahead.
• 📈 List current and upcoming projects, defining a project as anything with multiple steps that need to be completed.
• 📉 Prioritize projects based on importance and feasibility, ensuring a manageable workload that aligns with personal and professional goals.
• 📅 Spread out tasks and deadlines across the month to prevent overwhelm and allow for a balanced schedule.
• 📝 Break down larger projects into steps and estimate the time required for each to ensure they are feasible within the month's timeframe.
• 🎯 Set clear goals for the month, distinguishing between outcome goals (specific achievements) and systems goals (habits or routines).
• 🔄 Customize the planning process according to personal needs and the current pace of life, ensuring it remains a useful tool for self-assessment and direction setting.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of the monthly planning process described in the transcript?

The primary purpose of the monthly planning process is to set up for a great month by reviewing the past month's highlights, evaluating each life category, and planning for the upcoming month with a focus on concrete tasks, scheduling, and setting goals.

What tool does the speaker use to start their monthly review process?

The speaker uses an app called Day One to journal and start their monthly review process by looking at all of the weekly reviews and daily journal entries.

How does the speaker gather data on how the month went?

The speaker gathers data by reviewing their journal entries, calendar events, and camera roll to get a comprehensive overview of the month.

What is the first step in the speaker's monthly planning process?

The first step is to write down all the highlights of the month, which includes wins, accomplishments, and any positive events or things they were grateful for.

How does the speaker approach reviewing each area of their life?

The speaker reviews each area of life by looking at what went well, what did not go so well, and how they would like to improve that category in the next month.

Why does the speaker believe reviewing is as important as planning?

The speaker believes reviewing is as important as planning because it helps to understand the current position and progress, which is essential for deciding the direction for future planning.

What does the speaker suggest doing after reviewing each life category?

After reviewing each life category, the speaker suggests assigning a rating to quantify the evaluation and facilitate comparison with previous months.

What is the definition of a 'project' according to the speaker?

According to the speaker, a project is broadly defined as anything that involves multiple steps to complete, such as making a YouTube video, writing an essay, searching for an apartment, or organizing a dinner.

How does the speaker prepare for the new month in terms of planning?

The speaker prepares by looking at the calendar for important upcoming dates, listing current and upcoming projects, and deciding on new projects based on the areas they want to improve.

What is the significance of setting goals at the end of the monthly planning process?

Setting goals at the end of the process helps the speaker to have a clear focus on the most important outcomes and systems they want to achieve or establish during the month.

What is the speaker's attitude towards goals?

The speaker is ambivalent about goals as a concept, but finds value in having a list of important outcomes and systems to focus on, which serves as a daily reminder and motivation.

How can the monthly planning process be customized?

The process can be customized based on how busy one's life is and the amount of planning required, allowing for a bare minimum version to be done every month or a more detailed approach as needed.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Monthly Planning and Self-Review

The speaker introduces a method for monthly planning and self-review to set up for a successful month. They discuss the importance of balancing overview planning with more detailed weekly planning. The monthly review involves reflecting on personal achievements, using an app like Day One for journaling, and considering both personal wins and enjoyable events. The process also includes evaluating each life category's performance and planning for improvements, with the use of emojis for a more engaging experience.

05:06

📝 Project Management and Goal Setting

The speaker outlines a process for managing projects and setting goals. They define a project as any task involving multiple steps and suggest reviewing current and upcoming projects. The planning includes identifying important dates, creating a list of projects, and deciding on new projects based on life area improvements identified in the review. They also discuss the importance of setting deadlines and spreading out tasks to avoid overwhelm. Lastly, the speaker talks about setting outcome and system goals for the month, using personal examples from their July goals, and emphasizes the value of having a visible focus list to keep track of the most important tasks.

Keywords

💡Monthly Planning

Monthly planning refers to the process of setting goals, reviewing progress, and organizing tasks for a specific month. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of monthly planning to set the scene for the upcoming month, reflecting on the past month's achievements, and preparing for future tasks. It is a key component in the speaker's approach to personal organization and time management.

💡Weekly Planning

Weekly planning is the practice of organizing and scheduling concrete tasks and appointments on a weekly basis. The video mentions that while monthly planning provides a big picture overview, weekly planning is more focused on actionable items, such as booking appointments, sending messages, and emails. It is a structured way to ensure that daily tasks are completed within the designated week.

💡Journaling

Journaling is the act of regularly recording personal experiences, thoughts, and reflections in a journal. In the context of the video, the speaker uses journaling as a tool for self-reflection and data gathering to review the past month's activities and accomplishments. The speaker specifically mentions using the app Day One for journaling and reviewing weekly reviews as part of the monthly planning process.

💡Highlights

Highlights refer to the significant achievements, wins, or positive events that occurred during the month. The video script describes how the speaker begins the monthly review process by writing down the highlights, which include both intentional accomplishments and pleasant surprises. This practice helps to maintain a positive mindset and recognize personal growth.

💡Life Categories

Life categories are the different areas or aspects of an individual's life that they want to evaluate and improve. The speaker creates a list of life categories, each represented by an emoji, to assess what went well and what could be improved in each area. Examples from the script include spending, career and work, school, and friends. This categorization helps in creating a comprehensive review and targeted planning.

💡Budgeting

Budgeting is the process of managing one's income and expenses by creating a financial plan. In the video, the speaker reflects on their spending habits within specific categories and identifies areas where they overspent. The goal is to adjust the budget for the next month to better manage finances, which is a practical application of the review process in the context of financial management.

💡Projects

Projects are defined as tasks or goals that involve multiple steps to completion. The video discusses reviewing current and upcoming projects as part of the monthly planning process. Projects can range from creating a YouTube video to organizing a dinner with friends. Identifying and planning for projects helps in anticipating future commitments and managing time effectively.

💡Deadlines

Deadlines are specific dates or times by which a task or project must be completed. The speaker in the video uses deadlines to structure their projects and prevent procrastination. By setting personal deadlines, the speaker ensures that they can balance multiple tasks and maintain control over their schedule, which is crucial for reducing stress and increasing productivity.

💡Goals

Goals are the desired outcomes or achievements that an individual sets for themselves. In the video, the speaker differentiates between outcome goals, which are specific results they want to achieve by the end of the month, and systems goals, which are habits or routines they aim to establish. The speaker uses goals to maintain focus and provide motivation throughout the month.

💡Habit Tracker

A habit tracker is a tool used to monitor the consistency and frequency of personal habits or routines. The video mentions the use of a habit tracker to keep track of ongoing habits, such as taking French classes or doing hip flexor exercises. This helps the speaker maintain accountability and reinforces the importance of establishing and maintaining healthy habits.

💡Recency Bias

Recency bias is the tendency to give more weight to recent events or experiences when making judgments or decisions. The speaker in the video acknowledges the potential influence of recency bias when reviewing the past month and emphasizes the importance of reviewing primary sources like journals and photos to get a more balanced perspective on the month's events.

Highlights

The speaker advocates for a monthly planning process to set up for a great month ahead.

Emphasizes the importance of balancing overview planning on a monthly basis with more structured weekly planning.

Weekly planning is focused on concrete tasks, scheduling, and calendar blocking, while monthly planning is for big picture overview.

Uses the Day One app for journaling and reviewing monthly progress by looking at weekly reviews and daily entries.

Begins the monthly review process with a positive mindset by noting down the highlights of the month.

Highlights include personal wins, accomplishments, and enjoyable events experienced during the month.

Advises reviewing each area of life, using emojis for a more engaging and organized approach.

Reflects on what went well and what didn't in each life category and plans for improvements.

Discusses the importance of reviewing primary sources like journals and photos to avoid recency bias.

Rates each life category after reviewing to quantify progress and compare with previous months.

Prepares for the new month by noting important dates and planning for upcoming events and deadlines.

Defines a project as anything with multiple steps and inventories current and upcoming projects.

Evaluates if there is room to add new projects based on the review of life categories and their improvement plans.

Sets personal deadlines for projects without clear-cut deadlines to prevent procrastination.

Estimates the steps and time required for each project to ensure feasibility within the month's schedule.

Sets outcome goals and system goals (habits/routines) for the month to maintain focus.

Uses a monthly planning worksheet to guide users through the process, which is available for free download.

Encourages regular monthly check-ins to avoid autopilot mode and maintain a proactive approach to life planning.

Transcripts

It's almost a new month, you want a fresh start,  and I'm gonna show you how you're gonna spend an  

hour, maybe 2 hours, with your laptop, or a  notebook, OR my brand new *FREE WORKSHEET*  

that you can download from the description.  Whatever you want to use to set yourself up  

for a great month, it's gonna be fun, let's do  this! So I'm a big planner myself but I'm not  

gonna pretend like I've been able to completely  systematize and standardize all my planning  

processes. I'm not a robot! I'm a human being  with energy levels and emotions and a sometimes  

unpredictable college student life. But what has  been working for me lately is to do some sort of  

overview planning on a monthly basis to kinda set  the scene, and then much more structured planning  

every week. Basically, my weekly planning is for  concrete tasks and scheduling. For blocking my  

calendar (which I have a video on), for booking  appointments, sending messages and emails, things  

like that. Whereas my monthly planning is for  more of a big picture overview and asking myself:  

Where am I in life? How am I doing? Where- Where  do I want to be heading? So let's begin! I love to  

journal in this app called Day One, so I usually  start my monthly review process by looking at  

all of the weekly reviews that I have in here.  I might also look at my daily journal entries,  

my calendar events, my camera roll. I'm basically  just gathering all the data that I can on how this  

month went. I wanna start this process with a  positive mindset, so the first thing I do is  

I write down all the highlights of the month.  So this could be my wins and accomplishments,  

so like things that happened because of my  efforts, but also just nice things that happened,  

like fun events or things that I was grateful  for. I'm filming this on July 19th, so it's a  

little early for me to do my review. But I have  my February review pulled up as an example. The  

real one obviously has, like a treasure trove of  personal information that I should not give out  

online. So this is a heavily redacted version  that you're seeing, but you can still get good  

examples from it. So my highlights, for example.  I did a really good job on a midterm I took, I got  

a tattoo, I made a new friend in a new class, and  I saw some fun live music. For step two, we get a  

little more detailed, we zoom in, and we look at  each of the areas of your life. This is the list  

that I wrote. Each one, is, of course, represented  by an emoji, because if you're not using emojis to  

make everything cuter, what are you even doing?  So then I don't really go strictly down the list,  

one by one, I'm kind of just reading my journal  and everything else that I have, and anything  

that comes up in my brain to write down, I hop  around from category to category. So I'm writing:  

what went well in that category, what did not  go so well, and how would I like to improve  

that category in the next month? So some examples  are: In February, I wrote that my spending overall  

was pretty good, but there were some particular  categories that I overspent on, so maybe for next  

month I need to look at my budget and adjust some  of those budget categories. For career and work,  

I wrote that I did a photoshoot for the Music Club  that I was super proud of, I was also posting more  

on Instagram for The Bliss Bean, and I wrote  that next month I would like to try and do 2  

YouTube videos. For school that month, at some  points I felt very disengaged, but my grades were  

pretty good, so I wrote that, for the next month,  I wanted to try and catch up on all of my readings  

so that I could actually be fully engaged in  class discussion again. For my friends category,  

I listed all of the activities that I did with  my friends that month, and I also thought about  

which relationships I need to nurture more in the  coming month and what I might do to achieve that,  

like what I might plan. I think this reviewing  step is just as important as the planning,  

because how are you gonna decide which direction  you wanna go in if you don't know where on the map  

you currently are? That's my driving metaphor.  I also think that it's really important to go  

to these primary sources (like your journal, like  your photos) because of recency bias. When you sit  

down to do your review, whatever happened at the  very end of the month is obviously gonna be most  

salient to you. So for example, that last week  of February I apparently had a horrible sleep  

schedule, and I do remember this, it was not  fun. And so, when I sit down to review, I might  

be like "oh my gosh, this month was horrible, I  was not sleeping, I was so stressed". But then,  

once I actually look through all my weekly  reviews, I realize that it was really only  

that last week that was bad. The rest of the month  I was quite balanced, I was getting a good amount  

of sleep and I deserve a pat on the back for  that. After I've written about each category,  

I like to assign a rating just to kinda quantify  it and be able to compare it to previous months.  

Again, pro tip, it is much cuter if you do it  with emojis. Alright, so then we get to the more  

concrete stuff. So first, in preparation for the  new month, I like to look at my calendar and make  

note of any important dates that are coming up,  so things like birthdays, other holidays, events,  

travel days, due dates for assignments, things  like that. Then, I make a list of my projects,  

so I broadly define a project as anything that has  multiple steps- Oh I forgot I had these glasses,  

these are my blue light glasses. So this is  similar to the Getting Things Done definition  

of a project, if you're familiar with that  whole system. So a project might be making  

a YouTube video, it might be an essay for school,  searching for an apartment, organizing a dinner at  

your apartment with your friends, anything that  you have to do multiple things to complete. So  

first I look at what projects do I currently have  in progress, and then what projects do I know are  

gonna start in the next month? So maybe I have  a YouTube video scheduled in the next month,  

or I already know that an essay is gonna be due  towards the end of next month. Got that? Great,  

moving on. So now that you see your current slate  of projects, you can decide if it has room to add  

anything else. So when you did your review and  you wrote what things you want to improve in each  

category of your life, you might want to add those  as projects to your projects list. You might see  

that there were so many things that you wanted to  improve that it's simply impossible to do it all  

in one month, so then you just have to pick which  ones are currently most important to you. Beyond  

that, if you have something like a "do someday"  list or a bucket list, you can look at that, and  

also see if there's anything from that list that  you want to add to your current projects and turn  

it into a reality. The nice thing about having  your projects written out in one place is that  

you can get an overview of everything that's going  on in your life and anticipate what's coming up.  

So when do all of these projects need to be done  by? Some things have clear-cut deadlines, like  

assignments for school. Other projects are just  for you but you might still want to set yourself  

a deadline so that you don't procrastinate on it,  I like to do that. If you notice that you have a  

bunch of stuff due in the same week, this is a  chance to be proactive and spread it out across  

the entire month. If you have an essay deadline  but you have a ton of other stuff going on that  

week, can you set your own deadline that is a week  earlier? You get to make the rules! So March was a  

little stressful for me, I was pretty overwhelmed.  So what I did was I actually went an extra step  

and I tried to estimate what are the steps to all  of these projects and how long do I think each of  

them is gonna take? Then I did the math to see  if it was actually feasible to do the stuff but  

also eat and sleep and socialize. Finally at the  very very end of this process, I like to set a few  

goals for the month. So your goals can either be  outcome goals or systems goals. I'll show you what  

I have for July because it is a very illustrative  example. Illustrative? Illu- Illustrious. No,  

that's not it. So I talked about these goals in  my summer goals video, if you wanna watch it,  

but basically for July I said that the outcomes I  wanna see at the end are: I wanna repaint my room,  

I wanna put out a minimum of 3 YouTube videos,  and I am on track to do 5, so we're doing  

amazing (ACTUALLY IT'S 4, the first one was on  June 30th !!) and a minimum of 2 newsletters.  

And then for systems, you might also call these  habits or routines, I wrote that I wanna take  

2 French classes per week, work at a coffee shop  once per week, and do hip flexor exercises twice a  

week. You don't have to set goals, I am personally  pretty ambivalent about goals as a concept. Like  

these outcomes are already also projects, and  these systems are habits that I also have in my  

habit tracker, so there's really no reason to  separate them out as goals, I just like having  

this little list of things to focus on front and  center on my desktop every day, just to remind  

myself, these are the most important things to do  this month. So let's summarize! First, we review.  

We look at the highlights of last month and we  review and rate each category or area of our life.  

We take inventory of important upcoming dates  and our current and upcoming projects. And then  

finally we plan ahead for the future, so what new  projects do we want to take on, and what will each  

week of the new month look like? Like I mentioned,  you can customize, you can customize this process  

based on how busy your life is right now  and how much planning you actually need,  

but I think it's really important to do at least  some bare minimum version of this every single  

month because time flies and so we need to  pause regularly to check in with where we're  

at and re-orient because otherwise we can just get  into a very auto-pilot kind of mode. So I hope you  

found this video helpful, I have that monthly  planning worksheet that takes you through this  

entire process, you can use it every single month  if you want to. It is free and it is in the link  

in the description, so thank you so much for  watching, and I will see you next week. Bye!