E222: 7 Things to Do for a Smooth Month Ahead

It is possible to have a smooth month ahead, especially if you take the time to do these seven things!

[00:37] Welcome back, thanks so much for joining me! If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you may already know about my “Monthly Accountability Meeting.” This is an appointment I have with myself at the start of every month, and I’ve got to be honest with you, I have been SLACKING!

I have been avoiding this meeting and I think it’s because of a few reasons, but the main one is I’ve been avoiding coming to terms with some slow months, some incomplete/unreached goals and even though I KNOW having this meeting helps me get back on track, there is a sense of shame lingering.

So I’ve made two decision:

I wanted to admit this to you because I wanted you to know that not everything in my world is perfect. Yes this is the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, and sometimes empowerment means owning who you are on the good days and bad days.
And my second decision is that I am revamping my Monthly Accountability Meeting to make it more exciting! I am going to do my Accountability Meeting at a cute cafe instead of at home where I can avoid it really easily. This month I will be doing the meeting at Wet Coffee, a little cafe in Oakville, ON.

Not only am I revamping WHERE I complete this Accountability Meeting, but I’m also going to mix up some of the things I am tracking.

So, let’s get into it!

[2:05] The first thing you want to do every month is #1 Set the Vibe

Do this for your meeting, and also for the month ahead. As I mentioned, I’m in a cute cafe, with a lovely coffee and an almond croissant. Before I even get into the details, I’m centering myself in the present moment.

ASK: How can I show up as my fullest, most present self in this meeting?

If it helps you to create the vibe in your space you can light a candle, play some music, diffuse essential oils, set up your crystals, clean your desk, you get the idea. You do you boo.

It’s helpful to decrease distractions – one of the reasons I’m not completing this at home. Put your phone on airplane mode or do not disturb, let people in your home or office know you are not to be disturbed, or leave and go somewhere else like I did haha.

I usually take a few deep breaths, maybe close my eyes and feel my feet planted on the earth to help ground me in the space. I take as many breaths as I need to and show up present and prepared.

If you remember from last week’s episode we talked about the practice of releasing tension and setting intention.

Now, set the vibe for the month ahead.

ASK: How do I want to feel this month? How do I want to show up for myself and others?

Get clarity on what is meaningful to you and what feelings you want to embody. I encourage choosing 1-3 feelings for the month. Once you have those “feeling words,” open up the alarm app in your phone and create a new daily alarm with the label of your 3 feeling words. So that every day, when the alarm goes off, you see the feeling words and connect to them in that moment.

This month I’m using the same three words I did last month: STRONG, JOYFUL, PURPOSE

[04:13] Speaking of last month, the next thing you want to do at the start of every month is #2 Review the Month Before

What you review should be meaningful to your goals. If this accountability meeting is for your health and well-being, you want to be tracking and measuring actions related to your health. If this is for your business, you want to track things that are meaningful to your business.

If you aren’t sure what specific things you can be tracking, consider your goals and what actions need to be taken to reach those goals.

For example: If you want to improve your overall health and wellness, you can track how many workouts or classes you went to each month and even the types of classes. You can take physical photos of your body to measure your progress, and you can track how many meals you made at home.

For myself, these accountability meetings are for my business mostly. Even though there are a few things that I track and change each quarter, there are still a few things that stay the same. For instance, every month I track my spending. This includes how much I spend in different categories (like supplies, wages, etc). I also track how much money I make from my different services and offers.

I have a few different goals this year such as: participating in more speaking opportunities, monetizing the podcast, hiring help in some areas of my business, and building a Youtube channel.

BUT the day before I was producing this episode I received an email from my podcast host subscription site that said the Women’s Empowerment Podcast was eligible for monetizing so you may or may not be hearing ads at the start and end of the show. THIS IS A BIG DEAL my friend! I am thrilled to be able to continue serving my audience while I build my own wealth which allows me to grow in so many more ways, and support people too. So THANK YOU for listening, thank you for sharing, and if you’re on YouTube thank you for watching! It means a lot to me.

Some other things I track every month are:

Time tracked on business tasks
Days I’ve taken completely off
Times I went out of my comfort zone
Which podcast episodes performed the best that month, and of all time
Where leads came from
Social media outreach and ROI (for each platform I’m on)
What I’m most proud of

Once you feel like you’ve really combed through the previous month, and you’ve assessed the data that you’ve collected, you can be better prepared for the month ahead.

If you’re collecting the right data, you can make more informed decisions moving forward. It also helps you to see what is working, and what isn’t. You can either bring more energy and attention to the parts of your life and business that aren't working to help support it, or perhaps it’s something you need to tweak or let go of.

Last year I felt like I was losing so much focus in my business so I hired a business coach to help me centre in on what was most important and support me through leveling up.

Some of our goals will need more than a month at a time to complete, but checking in on the bigger goals each month, and creating smaller tasks and action steps to get to those bigger goals is going to help us move forward better and faster. Because we see what is working, and what is slipping through the cracks, we can then rearrange and spend our resources more wisely.

[08:05] With the information that we’ve been able to collect, and after reviewing the data, we can now move on to the third thing we can do at the start of each month #3 Set Goals for the Month Ahead

I think a lot of us get really excited about this one and are eager to dive right in! And listen, I get it, because that’s me too!

And I REALLY want to emphasize how important it is to review the previous month BEFORE setting goals for this month. Take it from me, you will achieve your goals in less time, and with little to no burnout when you know where you’re starting from/coming from.

When you’re ready to set the goals for the month, circle back to the feeling word(s) that you set at the very first part of this meeting. When you think of your feeling words – I’ll use mine as an example – how can you tap into those feelings in the present?

My feeling words: STRONG, JOYFUL, PURPOSE

I feel strong when I move my body consistently, especially at the gym or in a reformer pilates class. I also feel strong when I take risks and follow my intuition. I feel joyful when I’m around the people I love, and when I’m interacting with others doing the work that I do. I feel purpose when I am speaking and sharing my truth authentically, when I am able to empower and support women with their own health and life.

ASK: How can I tap into my feeling words in the present?

When you have this answer, you can start to understand what daily actions will help you reach your goals.

For instance, showing up as my best, most authentic self means that I feel good in my body inside and out. I start the day with breakfast and a workout or movement before I sit down at my desk to create or share. This helps me feel STRONG in myself, and in my messaging.

ASK: What habits, routines, or rituals can I stack and track this month to support my goals?

Essentially what we’re doing is breaking our bigger goals down into smaller, more bite sized ones. With the goal of getting more speaking engagements and being a guest on other podcasts, I can break that goal down into actions like:

Research podcasts that I would make a good guest on
Write out complimenting topic titles for each podcast
Listen to the shows I want to be a guest on
Reach out/pitch myself to the podcast host
Follow up with show hosts

Even though I have my own podcast, some of these actions intimidate me haha. Truthfully I’m nervous – and also excited to put myself out there!

[11:03] Something new I am starting to incorporate into the Monthly Accountability Meetings and what I believe to make a smooth and satisfying month ahead is #4 Adding Some or All of These Into Your Calendar:

Brunch meet up with friends: Get the gang together for waffles! Or whatever breakfast food you’re enjoying. Our gals like brunch so that’s what we do. Maybe it’s a pilates class and coffee date for you! Whatever, get together with friends.

Social media fast: either 24 hours no social media, or intermittent. I am really working on this one. I used to do 24 hours on the weekend, but I like the idea of intermittent social media as a daily/lifestyle practice. No social media from 7pm to 7am or something.

Date night (minimum 1): My partner and I are pretty good at this, but it’s a little more spontaneous for us than intentional. It would be nice to have something on the calendar to get excited about and dress up for.

Day spent outdoors: I get outside every day, but as the weather starts to warm up, and even before it does, I’d really like to spend more time outside! I need some ideas of how to spend the day outside in the suburbs, or maybe share with me where you’re spending time outside and I can do something similar. Let me know in the comments on YouTube OR send me a dm @vallavignelife on instagram

An adventure day exploring a new town or place: I used to do this a lot more and IDK I guess I wasn’t being intentional, but I LOVE THIS. Short drives from where I live are so many little towns to explore and wander. Hmmm where should I go this month… also open to suggestions!

A day to do whatever fills my heart/excites me! Okay, I know some of these would be better as spontaneous things, however in my brain, if it doesn't get scheduled it doesn’t get done! SO instead I will block off a day to do whatever that is and allow the spontaneity to come the day of.

1-2 Body work appointments (osteo, massage): I’m pretty good at doing these, however similar to date night, it’s nice to have something to look forward to. It also helps me with boundaries in my schedule and self care.

White space in your weeks/days: I’ve really been trying to add these in daily, but I think I need to mix them up to be a little less frequent because I’m noticing that they aren’t non-negotiable for me OOPS! White space is a dedicated time to take a mental pause from work or other commitments and just let the mind wander. I definitely take breaks in a day but they don’t always feel like mental breaks. It’s a time where we aren’t stimulated by technology or tasks.

Speaking of tasks, Catch up days to complete tasks: sometimes we make our to-do lists with more energy and excitement than we actually have to complete them, so I usually pop in 2 or 3 days a month for catch up or organize things in my life and business. Such as the current state of affairs of my office – YIKES!

As you were listening to this list, did any of them excite you or appeal to you? Notice which ones you’d like to add or incorporate into your own months. Maybe my ideas inspired ideas of your own. This is really about doing the things that light you up and are fun!

[15:08] Another thing to do for a smooth month ahead is #5 Create a (30 day) Challenge for yourself. This could also be a 21 or 28 day challenge instead. The idea here is that you have something you can measure, or stack into your current routines and habits that helps to support you and stretch you.

This challenge is meant to, as I said, SUPPORT YOU. Not stress you out more. You can also turn one of your habits or action steps for your goals into a challenge. For example, perhaps my challenge this month is to reach out to 5 podcast hosts a day for the next 30 days (total 150 hosts) and pitch myself to their podcast. If I said reach out to 150 people that might intimidate or overwhelm me. But 5 a day seems more manageable, and the “challenge” part of it excites the competitive nature I have to want to “win” or achieve something.

You may also know that I host 21 day healthy habit challenges – and I have very recently decided to change this up a little. Instead of hosting them seasonally, I will be hosting ONLY ONE CHALLENGE per year. Our last challenge started in January, however, I will run one more this year in April. You can get on the waitlist at www.valerielavignelife.com/challenge

[16:57] Another thing you can do today for a smooth month ahead, and a new part of my Monthly Accountability meeting is #6 Write How the Month Went for You as if you’ve completed the month already. Write in the past tense. This is a manifesting technique.

I used to be really into manifesting, and I’ve talked a lot about it in earlier episodes of the podcast. I’d like to bring that back into the show more and to do that I’ll also be practicing manifesting more myself.

Manifesting is turning your thoughts and ideas into realities. While a lot of people would categorize it as “wooey,” there’s actually quite the science to it – perhaps this will be a future podcast episode.

For this specific manifesting practice, we are writing out, in detail, how the month went. Similar to a journal entry of what happened in your smooth month? Which goals did you reach? What magic or miracles did you witness? What pleasant surprises unfolded? What adventures did you go on? What obstacles or challenges did you overcome? And anything else that you’d want to write about in the journal entry.

You can do this in a dedicated book or a file on your computer. It’s fun to read what you wrote the month before and then write another one at the end of the month of what DID happen to see how or what you manifested and more.

It’s very important to be detailed and write it as if it already happened. Past or present tense ONLY. This is part of the manifesting magic, because our brain doesn’t understand what is real and what is an idea. So when it listens to it in the past tense, it believes it’s true and already happened.

[19:06] One last thing to do for a Smooth Month #7 Pull an Oracle Card – or tarot, whatever. I have been doing this forever and it’s my way of closing the ritual.

The deck I use is called Wisdom of the Oracle. I’ll link to it for you obvi. Usually for this practice I’ll ask a question like:

What message do I need for [month]?
Or what will support me through [this month]?
Or what is something I need to know going into [month]?

Something along those lines. If you want to pull multiple cards you can, or if there is a particular spread you can do that, but I prefer just one card for the month. This, as I mentioned, is a nice way to close the practice and maybe give you a little wisdom of something you were thinking of, perhaps confirmation, or just a nice little message from the oracle.

Wisdom of the oracle cards

[20:09] And since we’re on the topic of WOOEY THINGS, I have a little BONUS for you! Look up when the new and full moons for the month are going to be and plug those into your calendar also.

New moons are all about new beginnings, manifestation, and intention setting. This date would be a good time to try something new, or start something new. It’s also a good time to set any goals that you want to achieve in the next 6 months.

Full moons are great for seeing the full picture of where you’re at with your goals. They are an auspicious time to receive the fruits of your manifestations, or perhaps they are more potent for letting go of what isn’t meant for you. The full moon will be a sort of ending to a chapter that began six months before. It’s an illumination of information and it’s up to you to do what you will with it.

Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of the podcast, please share this with someone you know would LOVE IT! And subscribe to wherever you are listening, or watching today.