Our signature monthly practice. You work through your priorities, sort through all the things on your mind, look at the dates and deadlines, and finish with a printable companion to keep you on track all month long as you tackle all the things that come your way. Created for those of us with lives that resist going according to plan. And, it’s free.
The cognitive work that comes before the tactical work. We calibrate against long-term goals, set the tone for the month, and clarify the priorities.
A few sentences to set the tone for the month ahead. How do you want this month to feel? What’s the vibe?
This is where you remind yourself of your long-term goals and objectives, and where this month fits into that timeline. What’s done, what’s not? Are your long-term goals still relevant today?
Three to five items. The guideposts that lead your decision-making this month. When plans need to shift, these are the litmus test for deciding quickly and with confidence.
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Prep
Where aspiration meets execution. We brain dump all the things here, sort through them deliberately, and lay out the month and the weeks ahead.
Looking Ahead
Always give yourself plenty of runway when drafting your month. That means looking 90 days out while mapping the next 30. Federal and widely-observed dates appear below for reference. Check the ones that are relevant for you, then add your own: appointments, deadlines, birthdays, anything else you need to see coming.
Set your planning month in Begin to populate Looking Ahead.
Considering All the Things
Time to jot down everything that’s been on your mind lately: tasks, responsibilities, deadlines, appointments, the things you’d just like to do, feel like you should or maybe are even avoiding. If it’s on your mind, get it out of your head and on paper where you can address it deliberately. Don’t sort yet, don’t filter, don’t worry about whether they belong. That comes next.
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Now, let’s purposefully evaluate each thing you listed on two simple criteria: impact and urgency. Impact: does this matter to you, your goals, your values? Urgency: does it need to happen in the next thirty days? Check the box if it applies. If you can’t decide on something in the moment, check Undecided and keep moving. Finishing the practice matters more than getting every item right the first run through.
Do
Impactful and urgent. These are the items you take action on this month.
Delegate
Urgent, but not impactful enough to require your time. Ask or assign this to someone else.
Defer
Impactful but not urgent. Take note now and revisit during next month’s mapping session.
Dismiss
Neither impactful nor urgent. Often the things you feel you should do for reasons outside yourself: family of origin expectations, societal norms, goals or visions you’ve moved past. Make the deliberate decision now to let them go.
Undecided
You weren’t ready to evaluate these yet. Leave them here, or come back when you have more clarity.
Tending to Your Infrastructure
There are four areas that don’t usually make it onto a calendar but can greatly impact how you experience every month. Take a minute to opt into any areas you’d like to focus on in this month. You don’t have to choose all four; just the ones you can realistically support given your bandwidth and what’s already on your plate in the month ahead.
You opted out of all four areas this month. That’s a deliberate choice; you can come back and add them next month.
Your month has been mapped.
You’ve done the work up front to make this month as productive as it is purposeful, sans the decision fatigue and overwhelm. Let’s put the final touches on your draft, print it and let this map guide your practice in the month ahead.