Case Study with SMART Goals

The concept of SMART goals may be a little challenging, so let’s apply the SMART goal-setting formula to the vague “make more money” goal. This goal will now become:

Within 24 hours of earning any money,

I will put 10% of everything I make (paychecks, gifts, etc.) 

into my online savings account.

Now let’s hold it up to the SMART rubric to see how well it holds up.

• Is it Specific? Yes, I know the way I will make more money is by saving more of the money I already have.

• Is it Measurable? Yes, I can measure 10% of the total amount of money I receive.

• Is it Action-Oriented? Yes, I have to actually do something once I get the money.

• Is it Reachable? Yes, I am working within the money I already make, so there is no problem there.

• Is it Time-Sensitive? Yes, I know within twenty-four hours of receiving money, it will go into an online savings account.
  

A “yes” answer to all these questions means you’re being SMART in your goal setting. And now that you have a clear goal in mind (saving 10% of your money), you also have to set up mini-goals to help you eventually achieve your main objective.

Some of the mini-goals for the above example would include:

Day 1

1. Research three different online savings accounts by the end of the day.
   
2. Spend no more than two hours researching through Google the most important aspects in choosing the proper online savings account.
3. Spend at least thirty minutes comparing the benefits of the different online savings accounts (interest rate paid, ease of use).
   

Day 2

1. Choose the online savings account I will open before end of the day.
2. Register my information with the online savings account I chose before Monday.
3. Before my next paycheck, set up direct deposit with my job so my paycheck gets directly deposited into my bank account (bye-bye paper checks).
   

Day 3

1. Call my bank and online savings account provider to find out how to automatically get 10% of my paycheck automatically deposited into my online savings account.
2. Go through the steps the bank explained to me to set up the automatic transfer of 10% of all money that goes into my checking account.
3. Check my bank account when my first direct deposit happens to make sure everything was set up properly.

By the way, if you haven’t already done this for yourself, I recommend doing it ASAP. Go to www.yourstartingpointonline.com to get a list of online savings accounts that offer the best rates.

Arel Moodie is widely known as America's Top Young Speaker. He has spoken to over 65,000 students in 39 states and 2 countries on the topics of student success, student leadership and student entrepreneurship. He is a leading authority on helping students of this generation succeed in school and in life. He is also the best selling author of the book Your Starting Point For Student Success. To find out more about Arel's book, go to www.startingpointbook.com. To find out more about Arel's speaking please go to www.arelmoodie.com.