How to Plan for a Productive Month : My Top 5 Tips

Michelle Smith
Oct 16, 2018
5 min read

Updated: Feb 1, 2019

Hello, everyone! 💕 I am here and ready to give you my top tips for a productive month! This time of the year always ends up being so busy due to the holiday season; so I am here to give you some of my favorite ways to stay on top of it all. Get your planners out and grab a cup of coffee ☕ and let's get to making our to-do list and organizing our month!

1. Have a planner or a system that you know you will stick to - For me having a planner is the way to go! What I am currently using, and have been using for the past few years, is the Day Designer!📖 It is set up perfectly to help you achieve your monthly goals and really boost your productivity! For me, it is very important to designate time to planning out my days, weeks & months. Each day I sit down and plan out my day ahead so I know what I need and want to get done. Find what works for you! Make sure that important things are easy to find. When you look at your month you want to make sure that bills, appointments, big events, etc. are all written out so that you do not forget about them. Knowing what you need to do and stick to will increase productivity and help with your scheduling.

2. GOALS, GOALS & more GOALS!!✨ - In the beginning of the year I wrote down a bunch of goals that I wanted to achieve this year. Each month I look back on that list and pick a new goal(s) and make sure that I stick to ones I have been working on previously. Setting goals & priorities, or having a system in place that allows you to know what is important to you is a key step in making your month productive & successful! A couple of my goals for this month are:

Figure out a schedule that I can stick to for blog posts to go up!
Try to eat clean and healthy Be more adventurous
Take care of myself: spend time by myself, spend time with my favorite people, get enough sleep, do things that make ME happy

✨What are your goals for this month?! Let me know in the comments!

Prioritize & Break up tasks: Prioritizing/priorities are SO important! Knowing and understanding what is and what is not-so important is a good way to plan out & begin your month. Knowing what needs to get done/what you need to do is something that taught me accountability and responsibility within myself. It is important to also make tasks realistic. Each month I try to break up my overall to-do lists into smaller more manageable tasks. Breaking up the bigger tasks is a much more effective way and more efficient way of getting it done.

3. Write down/plan out your ideal morning and night routines & improve upon them as the month goes on - It is important in life to have some sense of routine in place to begin and end your days with. Knowing what makes you start your day off on the right foot will not only improve upon your mood in the morning but really get you motivated for the rest of the day.

Just a few things I make sure are done in the morning:

The bed needs to be made (even if you want to crawl back up in it.. don’t!)
Set aside time for yourself: watch a quick YouTube video or scroll through Pinterest (Check out the Blog Favorites board!) 😍
Make sure that I have enough time to wash my face & get ready without rushing
Get to hydrating! (Water with lemon🍋is my fave)

Now not every day is perfect.. some days I stay in bed for a little too long but I try my best and that’s what matters to me! Now at night things like having a cup of chamomile tea, showering, relaxing in bed and reading for a little while or watching a TV show with the bf is on my to-do. Doing things that are going to help me wind down and get ready for bed (and more importantly the next day!) is essential for me as my mind is always thinking of 1000 things at once!

4. Reflect on the day & plan to take action the next - when the day is coming to a close and you are winding down reflecting on your day is very beneficial. It not only lets you know what you have accomplished that day but also gets you thinking about tomorrow. Reflecting in a positive way is something that I have been trying to implement- ex: today I have worked hard on my to-do list, today I have tidied up my living space, today I have worked on a goal I have set. Knowing what you have tackled will help you lay out the foundation of your tomorrow - I have found that dwelling on the things that you may have not gotten done that day will lead you to a LESS productive tomorrow. A positive mindset will lead you to achieving much more!

5. Plan to make YOURSELF proud & do things you love 💖 : By planning to make yourself proud & happy everything else will simply fall into place. If you are working towards a goal(s) to better yourself and better your life in general not only will your productivity rise but so will all the good in life.

Some things to plan this month: Time for YOURSELF!✨ Whether it be a Sunday shopping spree or a Saturday to do a morning yoga class.. making time for you is something that we all forget to do. Making time for myself is something I am particularly not the best at and it is something that I will be working at. Little things like going to get a coffee by myself, on a drive, or simply just spending a morning at home alone can be a start. Lets try doing this together - let me know your ways/or what you plan on doing to make this a habit in your month!! Make time for your family & friends!✨ Making time on the weekends to spend a morning with my mom - shopping, grabbing coffee .. or planning out a day with the bf.. Simply spending a night in and just relaxing with the family or some friends.. whatever it is it's always time well spent. Being with others that genuinely care about you will make you feel a sense of need and that is such a great feeling. By doing this it really puts you in a great mindset and for me makes me feel ready for anything.

I am hoping that these tips are helpful and get you ready to tackle the remaining days of October and this upcoming holiday season! Keep these 5 things going each month and you will be amazed at how your life/productivity changes! Happy planning & I hope that this October is going amazing for you all. ✨Stay tuned for a Fall inspired post coming your way very soon! 🍁🍂🎃

Until next time,

Michelle Elizabeth ✨🍂