Many people set goals on a regular basis, especially their money goals. I'm sure you read all the posts on how to set SMART goals - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time limit.
Setting SMART goals is how you should set all of your goals, including your money goals.
How to Set SMART Money Goals
Make the goal specific.
The goal should be clear enough that you completely understand what you are aiming for. Do you want to pay off a certain amount of debt? Do you want to have a certain amount of money saved? Make the goal as specific as possible so there is no confusion.
Make the goal measurable.
The goal needs to be quantifiable so that you know when you've succeeded with the goal. Just like above in making your goal specific, use a certain number to make your goal measurable.
Make the goal achievable.
Your goal needs to be reachable. Don't make a goal to make $1 million when you haven't even made $100,000 yet. Start smaller and work your way up. Each time you meet the number, then make the number bigger and go for the next goal.
You want it to be somewhat challenging, but not so challenging that you end up giving up on your goal because you can't reach it.
Make the goal relevant.
The goal needs to make sense for you in your life right now. For example, if you work full time and work on a side hustle, setting a goal to work on your side hustle for 30-40 hours a week while raising kids and taking care of your family is most likely not doable for you.
The goal needs to make sense for where you are right now in this stage of your life. Don't make a goal that you know doesn't fit into your life.
Set a time limit on achieving the goal.
You always want to set a time limit on your goal or it will never get achieved. And you actually want to set smaller deadlines to make them more achievable.
Sure, making a certain amount of money in a year is a good goal. But how likely are you to actually achieve it. Set monthly money goals so that you achieve them quicker and you always have a deadline looming.
Having set deadlines makes us work harder towards our goals.
One of the big mistakes I see a lot of people make with their money goals is they set a one big goal for a month or year. And then just go after that goal. The reason this is a mistake is because you need to break it down into smaller chunks that are even more achievable.
So if you are setting a goal for a month, break that goal down into 4 weekly goals.
One of the main reasons that we fail at our money goals is because the number seems way too big. But if you would break it down into smaller chunks and achieve your goal in smaller amounts of time, the number isn't way too big. This way it is much easier to achieve and even exceed.
Related Posts:
- Building New Habits with Money
- Why Do You Really Want that Money
How to Achieve Your Money Goals Like a Financial Expert
The first thing you want to do is write down your goals, obviously after you set them.
Set a goal for the year. Now take that goal and break it down into 1 month chunks. Then break it down into weekly goals.
For example, you want to make $100,000 in the next 12 months. Monthly goals would be to make $8,333 a month. Weekly goals would be $2,083 a week.
Out of all of the those numbers, the $2,083 is the smallest number and the easiest one for your brain to wrap around how to make. Right?
When you are writing down your goals, you want to write down each of these steps too. So you can really see the actual plan here for making money and how much you want to make in each time frame.
The act of putting pen to paper really helps the brain to actually see what you are writing. There is a difference between saying or typing versus writing on paper. This may seem like a silly concept, but it's the honest truth. The brain has to fire a lot more neurons when you are writing on a piece of paper, than it does for you to just think, say or type something. And it will bring what you are writing into your subconscious to make it easier to comprehend.
Since your brain now has your goal in your subconscious, it will also be more on the lookout for seeing this goal to happen.
And the other thing with writing down your goal, you can now paste this piece of paper somewhere that you will see it every day and refresh your memory for the goal as well on a daily basis.
Next, you are going to tell someone else about your goal.
When you tell someone else, you have a much higher chance of being held accountable to acheive your goal. As a bonus, you can get an accountability buddy and hold each other accountable to your goals. Check in with each other on a regular basis to see how your money goals are coming along. Are you regularly achieving your goals?
This person could be your best friend, your business partner, your spouse. Just find an accountability partner to help hold you accountable to your money goals.
When you and another person hold each other accountable to your goals, they are much more likely to be achieved. You have an even better reason to achieve them, because if you don't achieve your goals, you have to tell your accountability partner that you didn't and explain why. Personally, I think have to explain why you didn't meet your goals week after week to someone else, is one of the worst things you have to do. Especially when you are just using excuses to why you didn't achieve your goals.
Finally, take action on your goals.
Nothing will happen without action.
You can't wish for money to just show up for you without you taking some action. You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. You can't sell your products and services if you don't get out there and offer your products and services to other people. You get the picture.
The more action you take, the easier achieving your goals becomes. And no one else can take the action on your goals for you.
Yes you can hire team members to help you with certain aspects of your business, but at the end of the day, you are still the one paying the team members and telling them what to do, so you are the one taking action here.
It doesn't matter what time of the year that you set your money goals. It doesn't have to be the beginning of a new year, the beginning of a new month or the even the beginning of a new week. You could pick any random Thursday and set your goals for the next month or the next quarter or the next year.
Just set your goals and get to work on achieving them. You can't achieve any goals that you don't actually set.
Related Posts:
- Weekly and Monthly Money Check-ins
- How to Transform Your Money Relationship At Any Age
What are your money goals and how are you going to achieve them? Let me know in the comments below.
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