Goals are incredibly important.
They’re even MORE important if you’re an entrepreneur or freelancer that is responsible for your own time.
So let’s make your monthly goals below. There’s only room for 3 primary goals each month.
Fill out your monthly goals:
First Name:
Month:
Year:
Goal 1:
Goal 2:
Goal 3:
‘s Goals for
Take a screenshot of this and keep it on your desktop or phone:
Mac: CMD + SHIFT + 4….then select the area to screenshot.
PC: PrntScrn button.
3 goals is best. Too many is scary.
This isn’t some hard rule that you must always follow, it’s just a helpful guideline.
Generally if you focus on a small amount of goals, you’re very likely to get them done. If you have too many goals, it turns into a Giant Scary List of Goals:
Dang. That’s one scary list!
A Giant Scary List of Goals has many negative consequences:
- It de-motivates you from starting on the list.
- The sheer size of it makes it difficult to see which goal is most important.
- Having so many goals makes you scatter-brained.
- Month-after-month many goals don’t get accomplished and they start to just linger.
Not only do Giant Scary Lists of Goals not get accomplished, they frequently make you NOT want to work on it!!
A great solution to this is narrowing your goals down to 3 main things for the month.
Monthly Goal Sheet Examples:
Over the years I have personally gone through MANY MANY different methods of keeping goals, but none has been useful as the current format of up to 3 monthly goals.
Here are a few examples through out the years:
I’ve found that if I’m “wondering what to do” for the day, I can just glance at these monthly goals and they will guide me. It’s easy to know what to do (and what NOT to do) if you have a solid set of goals you need to accomplish by the end of the month.
Monthly goal planner template download:
If the above generator is a little primitive for your taste, here is a free template to use:
It will open as a Google Doc. You can make your own copy of it, or download it as a Word file.
You can then modify the goals to your own then save or print it. I personally like posting monthly goals on the big mirror in my living room. This way I see them often.
Hope this encourages you to make your own set of goals for the month!
Sincerely,
Neville Medhora
Thanks Neville for the awesome Kopywriting Kourse emails! Every time I check in, it is the content is always something I appreciate. I am definitely going to put these monthly goals for January on my white board at home. Have a great month!
In January 2020:
1. Work enough at part time job to cover bills and rent, and have extra.
2. Complete free online JavaScript and HTML basics course.
3. Organize storage room and bedroom closets
Thanks a million, Kopywriting Kid!
Love your posts, they are so informative and supportive. And the fact hat youâre so responsive with the audience. Itâs a real motivator.
Angelinaâs goals for Feb 2018:
– Transltion second set 50 pg.
– Finish Cow book original artwork
– Package idea list for broâs company
They are on my phone lock screen. An idea I saw in the comments. The comments here are honestly also so helpful. Way to go, people!
Glad ya liked this Angelina!
Looks like a very accomplishable set of goals you have for Feb, hope you finish them, you have 26 days left :)
Love your emails. Seriously one of the few copywriters I still read after signing up for EVERYTHING.
Danâs Goals for February 2018
Finish PsychoCybernetics
Read The Adweek Copywriting Handbook
Write Copy every weekday
Thanks Dan! Glad you love the emails :)
Those look like good goals (and good books)!
Sonny’s Goals for August 2017
Make $11,630 in sales.
Weigh 216 lbs.
Get first 100 e-mails for list.
I’ll be back at the end of the month to proclaim myself as victor over these goals!
Wow, VERY specific goals Sonny! Look forward to seeing your results (tell Siri to remind you in one month to update Neville on this post) :-)
JOHNâs Goals for February 2017
1. Finish Chiropractor site
2. Get back to eating smart & workout 5 days/week
3. Find 1 new dental client for lead generation work.
Thanks for writing this. It reminds me of my own goals that I’ve set two months ago. Very helpful!
I will have 3 more apps in the iOS App Store by the end of November
After having recently been laid off, two days after turning 59 years old, in a perfect work from home “j.o.b.”, I have found that I don’t WANT what employers offer. Neville, you inspire me, you young pup. I love reading what you post. Here are my November goals:
#1
Finish website for Hill Country Feed and Supply
#2
Write five posts per week for my tech site and for basic skills website(combined).
#3
Generate more than $3000 in income from âconsultingâ.
send me good karma, bro! (I’m not sure that’s the right vernacular, but I’m giving it a try.
You got this mane!
Jennefer Baruaâs Goals for November 2016
Gain 3k Email Subscribers
Launch First Online Course
Make a launch of 50k
1….populate a broward people facebook page to run every day
2…. Used mac pages app to design new biography entries….see if they are compatible with the word press template i am using
3…. Promote TEDx talks on my site
Just to clarify, a to-do list is seperate from your goals list correct?
Because in my to-do list my goal for the day is to get XYZ done.
Or do you mean goals in the sense of BIG things you want to accomplish and then your daily to-do list will be things you can do to get closer to that goal?
Hey Edwin, yes those two are separated.
To-do List = Daily.
Goals = Monthly.
Goals just sit there all month staring at you to make sure they’re done. If you wanna see how I do my daily to-do lists check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSskW5xiLiQ
Sick! Thanks :)
Thank you for the email. This suggestion is awesome. I have saved my goal sheet as my phone’s lock screen.
No worries Joyce, very glad you made your own goals and put them in a place you’ll see them!
Anthonyâs Goals for October 2016
Create online course to sell by 14th
Create New Financial Life Plan 5th
Lose 10 lbs before 27th
Oh wow…..getting ambitious here! Best of luck completing Anthony, check back in :)
3 goals, finish renovating the attic, go to Portugal, begin learning Tibetan sitting up sleeping (3 month process).
TIL: You can sleep sitting up?
As they say ” Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”, so your post comes up as a timely reminder. Thanks for posting it.
Glad it came at the right time for your Irfan. I’ve personally gone through periods where I made waaayyyy too many goals, and none of them end up getting completed because I’m juggling too many objectives.
Max 3 tends to have worked well over the years. Hope you take the concepts and have success with it too!
Chantelleâs Goals for October 2016
âïž Secure Supplier for BeastFarmFit.com
âïž Redesign SayMoreServices.com Website
âïž Solidify Waddell Client Relationship
It’s difficult staying focused when you have so many things you NEED to get done. Thanks for the reminder.
Nice job Chantelle!
Side note: If you’re trying to get more clients from a consulting website, might I suggest NOT spending time re-designing the website and instead participating in some groups? Read this:
https://copywritingcourse.com/consulting-as-a-side-job/
…..a lot of times spending time on that website won’t do squat….but going to some in-person events can drum up some serious business!
You’re so right! Just moved from Cali to Dallas and can’t throw a rock without hitting a good prospect. Need to get the low hanging fruit.
Great, thanks! Did mine in your template and then put in Canva, prettied it up in the colors I like so I won’t avert my gaze from it, will put on desktop and phone.
Oh wow, you’re like PRO level! That’s actually a really good idea :)
This is definitely crucial, I love that I get to take part in it with you (all).
Thank you Neville, I appreciate you!
Kelly’s Goals for October 2016
Incorporate
Pricelist
Website
Thanks Kelly! The fact you listed them out publicly is going to help a lot.
What would SUPER DUPER help is if you put hard-dates on each. I used to do that in the beginning to keep me on track.
Thanks! I had also put mine in Canva with a gorgeous island/beach pic as a background so I want to look at it. :)
Update:
Kellyâs Goals for October 2016
Incorporate 10/15
Pricelist 10/10
Website 10/30
Now it’s written, now it’s real. Can’t wait to update that those are done.
Yup….now you HAVE to do it!
Thanks, Nev…This looks like it could be one of those simple steps that results in a huge leap forwards.
My first goal for this month is to cut my list right down to just three goals. I tend to have more like thirty, and as you say that tends to lead to an end result of zero achieved.
My other two goals for this month are to finish off two projects which are essentially other people’s stuff, and then turn my full focus towards my own projects – the ones that never seem to get started, but which are now definite for next month’s goals.
Feels better already :)
Thanks Steve!
30 goals is NEVER going to get done, glad this came at you at the right time.
For the “other people’s projects” maybe you should set a hard-time limit also. Maybe “By Oct. 15th have all client projects done and paid.”
Best of luck Steve! Simple is better!
Hi Neville,
I like your “bite size goal setting” style. It’s more doable and really takes the pressure off. Thank you for sharing.
My goals:
* Work with (3-5) dream clients
* Payoff debt
* Complete my art project
Thank you J.L. hopefully this helps you! The “Pay off debt” one seems like a big thing that’s hard to do in one month. Can you maybe make it “Set out the plan to pay off debt by December 31st” or something more clear?
Thank you Neville.
Oh yeah, that would definitely work much better! Pay off debt by Dec 31st, 2016.
Perfect….now you can work backwards to see exactly how much you need to pay off each month.
For example: $5,000 in debt over 90 days = $1,666/mo.
These things are super achievable if you know the exact amount you need to pay off each month!
Thanks Neville! Your tips are always helpful…mainly because they’re so simple and present low psychological barriers to implementation. Goal #1 Start Using Neville’s goal setting strategy. Goal #2 Clarify Big Idea Goal #3 Define Brand Color Palette
Thanks Heath, I’m glad you like it and are now using it!
Do you set specific outcomes for goals? Or are they just general goals?
Example: “practice guitar” versus “learn 3 new songs this month.”
I generally have a concrete idea of what I need to do. So I would associate a specific number/date with something such as “Learn 3 new guitar songs all the way through” or “Practice my scales for 30 min per day.”
That makes them MUCH better to follow, and easier to understand when you are finished (and can scratch them off)!
I actually have several years of goals posted here:
http://www.nevblog.com/category/goals/
I love this tutorial, posted template is very useful, thank you for guidance!
Thanks Caroline! Glad you liked the template. I made it free for everyone to download. I hope at least a few people get some real life-time value out of it.
This goals format has greatly helped me in life :)