After reviewing my goals, it seemed that they were not clear and comprehensive enough. This is why I am writing this post know. I want to share with you why you should write down smart goals so that you do have a better start than me in your journey.
If you are new to my blog, you can check out my smart and written down goals for passive income and weight loss.
Contents
Write down
The first step is simple. You need to write down your goals.
Try to remember when you were in class – did you write down the key points then? How about writing the key points now? And by key points you should already understand that I mean your goals. I am not talking only about a visual aid that the written goals produce (like the pages I have for myself on the blog), but I am talking about increasing the chance that you remember you goal. Just like notes helped you remember in school.
I know that I am talking mainly from my experience, but in school I used to take notes during classes (I am lazy, so a summary fit me best). At home, when I was learning, I was taking notes again and creating another a summary of the one from class. Sounds weird, right? But for me, this was the way forward and by writing the same notes again, but in a slightly different manner, it helped me remember.
You always write down what is important. My goals are important to me, how about yours? By writing them down, you will have to clarify what you want, but it will motivate you to take action and help you measure your progress. The most important benefit from this approach is that it will enable you to celebrate. I love the feeling when I mark one of my goals as achieved and move to the next.
SMART goals
A very important thing is to set yourself up to succeed and not run all over the place to reach a goal like: “Be the best at X.”. This is why i like to have SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based. By doing this I am more organized and have a better sense of direction.
Specific
If you want to write down a specific goal, then you should start asking your self questions like: What?, Why?, Who? or With whom?, Where?, How?
Let’s take one of my passive income goals: “Reach 50,000 EUR invested in P2P Lending and Stocks/ETFs by saving and reinvesting our household income by the end of 2019.” and check those questions:
- What – Reach 50,000 EUR invested in P2P Lending and Stocks/ETFs
- Why – Passive income generation
- Who – Me 🙂 It is a personal goal
- Where – Does not matter, can do it from anywhere
- How – By saving and reinvesting our household income
Measurable
You measure a football field, you measure for a recipe, you measure your cars acceleration to 100kmh (60mph), etc. Why do this? Because you need to be able to track via concrete evidence your progress towards your goal. You also need to know when you reached your objective so that you can move to the next challenge or find ways to improve and avoid to deviate from your direction.
Looking at my goal, my measurement is the 50,000 EUR that I want to reach.
Achievable / Attainable
Stretch your goal and make it something worth while, but always consider if you have the capacity and resources to reach it. Balance the time and effort needed for the goal against the benefits you get from it and versus the other obligations and priorities you have in life.
An example would be a professional athlete who shoots for being the best as this craft versus a fat guy like me who is happy with a body fat under 25%. I do not need to train 3 times a day, have a professional coach and so on and so forth, I just need to train regularly and watch what I eat.
Looking at my example, at this point I have a decedent amount already invested and I know what is coming in for this year, thus I know what to expect and how much of it I can invest on top of my current portfolio.
Relevant
Look at the big picture, check and see if your goal aligns with your direction in life or with your other objectives. You should always consider why do you want to reach this goal, what is the objective behind the goal and will this really help achieve that objective?
In my case, I have weight loss and passive income goals and I have a desired end game for both – all my goals are stepping stones to reach my objective.
Time-based / Timely
Without a due date all these goals are just dreams. You need a deadline to keep you on your toes and keep that sense of urgency. This is another good motivation as you can measure where you are versus that finish line.
In my example, I am aiming to meet my goal by the end of the year.
Time to conclude – I will continue to write down smart goals and push to achieve them. Will you?