Do your own personal monthly SWOT analysis

This is a good way to start off thinking about your month ahead.

• Strengths from the month prior. What went really well professionally?
• Weakness from last month. What failed?
• Opportunities ahead. What are the trends? What are customers/clients thinking about? Given your strengths, what can you capitalize on?
• Threats in the coming month. This requires you to be a pure realist with a dash of cynicism.

After you’ve outlined your SWOT and have a clear picture, you can start to think about how you’re going to dodge those threats and lean into your strengths tactically.