7 Monthly Review Questions I Ask Myself and Now You Can Too
If you follow me on social media you know how much I love a good review session. I believe that if you want to stay on top of your goals, weekly and monthly reviews are the way to go. I’m not alone. Productivity experts like David Allen (author of Getting Things Done) agree. He believes that without weekly and monthly check-ins, we’d never know where we stand on our goals. And so today I wanted to share with you the monthly review questions I ask myself.
Here are the 7 monthly review questions I ask myself each month
#1 — Write a short overview
This technically isn’t a question but it’s important nonetheless. The first thing I write is a short overview of the month. This isn’t a long-winded paragraph. It’s a sentence or two that captures the general essence of the month. I’ll go back and look at my weekly review overviews to get an idea of what to write here.
For example, my November 2021 overview went like this: This month was crazy! Lots of revelations and plans to be made. Compared to October 2021 where I wrote: This month was all about kicking Q4 goals off and it is a solid start. Short and sweet. You’re just writing down the overall sense of how the month went.
#2 — What were my big wins?
Now we get into the official monthly review questions. I love starting my reviews (weekly and monthly) with a positive. And so I ask myself: What were my big wins this month? Since I do a weekly review, I’ve already done half the work because each week I write my wins as well. I like to capture at least 5 wins each month. So I look at my previous weeks and choose the biggest ones out of those lists.
Why wins? Too often we focus on the tasks and goals we didn’t accomplish. Having a list of wins shows us that we did, in fact, work hard this month. No matter how big or small the wins, they’re great reminders that you completed a few things.
Here are some of my previous win examples:
Launched updated website
Decluttered and organized TV room closet
Finished the first draft of my proposal
Created media kit for website
Found a financial advisor
#3 — How am I doing with my goals?
A monthly review wouldn’t be complete without a goal progress report. Again, I track my goals weekly so filling this out is pretty simple. I'm going to write a future post about the questions I ask weekly so you can see how the two work together.
Underneath this section, I give a brief overview of where I’m at with each goal. Did I finish it? Did I move the needle forward? This answer depends on the goal itself. Is it a monthly goal that I wanted to finish? Is it part of a larger goal that I want to get done within the quarter? So long as I’m making progress, I’m happy.
This is also a great space to write about any obstacles you’re having. For example, when I was working on a new freebie, I thought I wanted to do a particular PDF, but I ended up coming up with something even better. That means I had to overhaul my current plan and start from scratch. So in this area, I wrote the new steps I needed to take and when I wanted to complete them.
After reviewing your progress, ask yourself: What do I have to do to keep going or to complete anything? Turn those action steps into part of next month’s focus, which is next on our list of monthly review questions.
#4 — What do I want to focus on next month?
Don’t go into the new month completely blind. Have a plan. Even a minimal one. Do you have goals you didn’t finish? Make those a priority for next month. Have new goals you want to get a jump start on? Add them to the list.
For this section, I typically write a short paragraph or a bullet list of the central things I want to focus on. They can be goal-related or a mindset I want to adopt. For example, during my December review, I wrote a single bullet list for this section.
Finalize Q1 goals and plans
That’s it! Your next month’s focus doesn’t always have to be long and complicated.
#5 — Am I avoiding anything?
Now we start to get into the nitty-gritty details. We can't hope to grow without a little learning curve. So having questions that make us dig deeper is needed. And one of the questions I ask myself each month is if I’m avoiding anything?
This can be a small task you keep saying you’ll do, but keep pushing off. It can be a responsibility you don’t have time for but know how important it is. Whatever it is, if you’re avoiding it, write it down.
We tend to avoid things that don’t feel important at the time, but the longer we put it off the more it nags at us. I’ve been known to put off little tasks like returning purchases or calling someone to check in with them. Avoiding these kinds of tasks doesn’t make you lazy. It just means your time and energy are being spent on larger goals. But if you let too many of these avoidances pile up, they’re going to become a burden and that’s the last thing you want.
So when you look at your list of avoidances, ask yourself: Can I do this tomorrow or can I scrap it from my list completely?
#6 — Do I need to change anything?
This question builds off of the previous one. Once you know the things you’re avoiding, it’s a great time to ask if you need to change anything? This can be something like scheduling small tasks into your day so you actually get them done. Or it can be something like completely shifting the way you plan.
For example, there were a few small tasks I kept avoiding. I finally picked a day on my calendar and said, "I'm doing X and Y this day, no questions asked." Another change you can do is delegate the task to someone else in your family. Or if it’s a work task, delegate it to a co-worker or an intern who has more time.
The main purpose of a monthly review is not only to capture your wins but to see where you’re spreading yourself too thin. So use this question as a guiding post to where you need to shift your priorities for the next month.
#7 — Positive Lesson
I like to start my monthly review with a positive note by focusing on my wins. And I like to end my monthly reviews with another positive: a lesson I can take away from the month. This doesn’t have to be a legit lesson. It can be a quote that really spoke to me. It could be a monologue from a film or TV series that stuck with me. Or it can literally be a lesson I learned.
Whatever you write here, keep it light and (pun intended) positive. When you end your review on a positive note you’re more inclined to do it again next month. It’s also important to always mix the good with the bad. Even if you fell behind on your goals this month, you learned something you can carry with you into the next one.
Write one quote or several. Write one lesson or two. However long this section is, so long as you smile when reading it, that’s the most important takeaway.
Please note that you don’t have to answer every single one of these questions. In fact, you can come up with your own. That’s what I did. I started using a fellow goal enthusiast’s list and built mine off of those. Coming up with your own monthly review questions will really individualize the process and make you more prone to doing it.
If you want to see time-lapses of me filling out my monthly reviews, be sure to follow me on Instagram. And now I want to know: Do you do a monthly review? What kind of questions do you ask yourself? Are you going to start doing monthly reviews this year?
