In June of 2022 I wrote a blog article about creating and following daily action plans. This means having a plan for each day so that you are more intentional with your life. Planning your day, and acting on your plan, makes you more effective, but planning only at the day level can only get you so far.

What about planning ahead for the week and for the month? This level of planning helps you to tackle larger goals and tasks that cannot easily fit within a day. You can sit down and take a large task and plan which days of the week and month you will work on that task. This will help you to make progress on completing that goal or task.

I encourage you to make weekly and monthly plans. More specifically, I recommend doing the following:

1. Identify which projects you will work on for the month.
2. Set monthly objectives.
3. Set weekly objectives.

Monthly Projects

I use a physical time manager notebook that I bought at Staples. It has a month overview page, as well a page for each week. On the month overview page is a box for recording my monthly objectives and a box for recording important projects that I want to focus on that month.

I like this focus on objectives and projects. It lets me set goals for the month and to identify which of my personal projects I want to work on. This helps me to stay organized and to remember which projects and goals I want to work on each month.

What I like to do first when creating my plan for the month is to review all my personal projects and decide which projects I will work on that month. For example, for October I decided I work on the following projects:

• My current Toastmasters speech project.
• Learning project management.
• Learning Python programming.
• Writing my book.
• Working on the iPhone app that I am developing.

This list is not a set of goals. Instead, it is list of projects I intend to work on during October. Although it is not a set of goals, it does lead to my monthly objectives.

Monthly Objectives

How do I use my project list for the month? It is not a list of goals or objectives. It is a catalyst for generating my monthly, weekly, and daily objectives.

Each month I list out the projects I want to work on, then I set goals for that month that will bring me closer to completing those projects. When I do this, I am careful not to overcommit myself. I pick just enough objectives so I can be productive for the month without overburdening myself.

For example, for October my monthly objectives are the following:

• Complete my current Toastmasters speech project.
• Work on my book.
• Work on the iPhone app I am currently developing.
• Read the Project Management for Dummies book.
• Take some Python courses on LinkedIn Learning.

These are my goals for October. Completing these goals will help me to make progress on the projects I have chosen to work on this month.

Now that I have my monthly objectives, I am ready to set my goals for the current week.

Weekly Objectives

Every Sunday I create a plan for the coming week. I look at my list of projects that I am focusing on for the month as well as my monthly objectives, and I set some objectives for the week.

For example, my objectives for the past week were the following:

• Give a speech on Tuesday, which will complete my current Toastmasters speech project.
• Work on my book during the week.
• Take Python programming courses on LinkedIn Learning on the weekend.
• Read the Project Management for Dummies book during the evening after work.

This was my plan for the past week, and I did carry out my plan. I successfully completed each of the goals mentioned above. This means I made progress on some of my chosen projects for the month.

Next week I will make a similar plan based on my projects that are still in progress. It won’t be the same plan as this week, but it will incorporate my monthly objectives and will have me working towards some of the projects that I have chosen to work on this month.

When to Plan

So now you know my approach to weekly and monthly planning, but you may be wondering: when do I make these plans?

What I do is to plan every Sunday evening for the week ahead. Also, one Sunday a month I also create my plan for the month. Typically, the last Sunday of the month is when I make my monthly plan, and every other Sunday I make my weekly plan for the coming week.

Having a dedicated day of the week to do your planning will help to make it a habit. You can even schedule an appointment with yourself every Sunday to ensure you do your planning for the week.

Conclusion

Planning ahead includes identifying which of your personal projects you will work on for the month, setting monthly goals based on that list, and creating goals each week based on your monthly project list and goals. Doing this will make you more effective if you act on those plans. It will also help you to decide what to do each day when you create daily action plans.

If you are not already planning ahead, then start now. Who knows how much you will achieve?