52 Monthly Goal Ideas to Change Your Life

If you want to make some big changes in your life, start by setting monthly goals.

According to motivational speaker Tony Robbins, success and failure aren’t giant events..they are all the little things you do or don’t do.

The key to achieving your goals is to make progress every day.

“All the results in your life come from rituals.” - Tony Robbins

Robbins also assures us that once you discipline yourself in one area of your life, you’ll want to create more rituals in other areas of your life.

Why not start by setting monthly goals?

YouTuber, Matt D’Avella was on to something when he tried a new 30-day challenge every month over the past year.

His experiments allowed him to try different things for a month to discover how they would change his life. He documented each one and video-ed his progress throughout each month.

Some of the monthly goals D’Avella set included quitting caffeine, meditating for an hour a day, journaling daily, taking cold showers, cutting out sugar, waking up at 5 am, quitting social media, and intermittent fasting. You can watch all of his 30-day experiments here.

D’Avella also shared why he chose those challenges, what worked, what didn’t, and which ones he’ll adopt permanently in his life.

Watching his videos got me thinking, what monthly goals can I set to change my life for the better?

And furthermore, how should I go about setting goals each month for success?

Related Post: how to set goals

I also wanted to make a bucket list of monthly goal ideas for work, fitness, and other areas of my life so that I have a wide variety to choose from.

The first part of this article covers how to set monthly goals while the second part is a list of monthly goal ideas you can try. There’s even a FREE printable at the end for you to download.

Do you know that less than 10% of New Year’s Resolutions are actually achieved? The problem with resolutions is that they aren’t specific and they don’t create habits to work towards the goal.

Here’s how to make those resolutions into goals that you can actually achieve.

Most people set a resolution of something like “I want to lose weight.”

The problem with this phrase is that it’s vague and un-actionable.

Instead, try setting a realistic monthly goal for how much weight you want to lose.

Tips for Monthly Goal Success

Only choose one goal per month.

Goal does not have to be big..just one you can work on every day.

Once you decide on a monthly goal, it’s time to take action.

Break down the goal into small, actionable steps you can do every day.

Remove all obstacles that will keep you from your goal.

For example, if your goal is to work out every day. Set your gym clothes and sneakers next to your bed at night. Then when you wake up in the morning, you can put them off and head to the gym without giving it a second thought.

What if your goal is to quit drinking soda? Remove all soda from your home and replace it with other drink options.

I decided to quit soda five years ago. I committed to going without soda for 30 days.

So, I removed all the soda (Coke was my go-to) from my home. Then I replaced it with sparkling water.

I’m not going to lie, for the first ten days, I really craved Coke and even had dreams about it!

But after that, it got easier.

At the end of 30 days, I decided to just keep going.

About six months later, I was out to lunch with my family and my daughter ordered a Coke.

I took a sip and I couldn’t believe how sweet and syrupy it was. I had absolutely no interest in drinking it any more!

That was five years ago and I haven’t had any soda since then!

What I was most important to me, though, more than giving up Coke, was the fact that I could actually accomplish that goal.

That knowledge has helped me set lots of other goals in all aspects of my life and know that I can see them through.

Do whatever it takes to keep your monthly goal and daily task to achieve it at top of mind.

Set reminders on your phone.

Add task to your daily to do list.

Put sticky note reminders on your fridge, bathroom mirror, and computer.

Create a tracker in your planner or bullet journal.

Tell a friend about your goal and ask them to help keep you motivated all month.

Where should you start with setting monthly goals?

Well, the goals don’t have to be big. In fact, you are much more likely to have success by making a little progress every day.

To help you kick things off, here are 52 monthly goals for you to choose from.

I’ve added lots of links to help you choose the right goal to suit and improve your life.

In addition, I divided the goal ideas into categories that are the most popular areas where people want to make changes.

Categories include work, fitness, dietary/health, personal development, self care, and financial goals.

Use time blocking- how to use time blocking to get the most out of your daily schedule

Only check email twice/day

Try Pomodoro method for productivity

Clean and organize your desk - here’s how your desk should be organized

Find a mentor

Join a mastermind group in your industry

Improve your typing speed

Organize your paperwork/files

Organize your digital files

Clean up your email folders

Find a new job

Attend networking events

Update your LinkedIn profile

Update your resume

Get professional headshots

Use apps to get more organized and efficient such as Basecamp.com, Grammarly.com, Clickup.com, Monday.com, Trello.com

Take an online class to improve your skills and advance your career

Walk 10k steps/day for a month

Go to the gym every day for a month

Try a new exercise for a month such as yoga, pilates, HIIT, jogging, walking, hiking, swimming, biking, weight lifting, or jumping rope

30-day plank challenge

Couch to 5k running challenge

30-day sleek arms challenge

Little black dress challenge

Lose the love handles challenge

30-day push up challenge

30-day yoga challenge

Cut out sugar

No caffeine for a month - 10 health benefits of living caffeine free

Drink more water and monitor your water intake all month

Eat breakfast every morning - top 5 health benefits of eating breakfast

Replace soda for water for the month - how to stop drinking soda

Quit alcohol for 30 days

Pack your lunch instead of buying it - here are 52 cheap and easy ideas

No snacking for 30 days

Give up fast food for 30 days

Lose 10 pounds in a month

Try meal prepping

Read one book a month

No TV for 30 days

Make your bed every morning

Clean out your closet

Start a capsule wardrobe and only wear those items

Take up a mindful hobby such as knitting, bullet journaling, or painting

Volunteer - 12 ways to get started volunteering

Declutter your home

Learn something new

Take a tech break from your phone

Start a gratitude journal

Keep a mood tracker

No complaining - 30 days of no complaining

Go makeup-free for a month

Quit eating out for 30 days

Put money aside every day - Every time you spend money using your debit card, an app like Acorns.com will round up to the nearest dollar and save that money for you.

Don’t buy new clothes for a month - How to make cute outfits with clothes you already have

Use the cash envelope system

Sell your old clothes

Create a budget you can stick to

Start an emergency fund

Skip Starbucks, make coffee at home - 6 ways to make coffee at home without a coffee maker

Only buy generic brands at the grocery store

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