SMART Goals: Write It Down, Make It Happen!

SMART Goals have allowed me to manifest the dreams in my head into reality.

S - SPECIFIC - say it with your chest
M - MEASURABLE - can you monitor your progress?
A - ACHIEVABLE - make it make sense
R - REALISTIC - can you actually do this? *see above*
T - TIMELY - give yourself a deadline

SMART Goals, Commitment, Accountability Partner(s)

Any goal is a good goal but a SMART goal will give you results. We need to be specific with what we want. I can say I want a black matte Jeep and that's cute but if I don't plan how to get it, I won't. They say that writing down goals make them concrete and visible. It's easy to forget about the things we want when we have a life to live. That's why lists are my best friends. I have a weekly to-do list, a daily to-do list, short term goals, long term goals. I write out my workouts, every purchase I make, I plan my paychecks and how to spend them. These lists keep me organized. Maybe you need to write your goals on bright sticky notes and put them on your mirror. Maybe you need to put a note on your wallet to remind you of something you're saving for. In the end, you have set yourself up to succeed.

Let's take my goal to save 10k as an example. Can you believe that in January 2020, my original goal was to save $1500 by June. Mind you, I had money in my checking account, I simply wanted to save this $1500 for my emergency fund. I was so used to spending horribly and barely moving forward that I gave myself 6 months to save $1500. I already had a financial advisor since November 2019 but it wasn't until February that I started to focus. Of course Covid helped me. I couldn't buy outside food, online shopping wasn't a thing. One thing that really helped me was changing my diet. Changing what I was consuming mentally. I started following financial literacy pages that really motivated me to make small changes. Opening Instagram and seeing that type of information on my feed helped reprogram my brain to put this at the forefront. I quickly changed my goal to Save 10k by June. As you know, I was able to achieve this goal! Making it a SMART goal was the reason.

S - SPECIFIC - say it with your chest - my goal has a very specific amount and date
M - MEASURABLE - can you monitor your progress? - yes, I can monitor monthly
A - ACHIEVABLE - make it make sense - based on my income and expenses, this is achievable
R - REALISTIC - can you actually do this? *see above* - obstacles are low-none 
T - TIMELY - give yourself a deadline - June 2020

Commitment is hard, especially in a world where quick access is the wave. But ask yourself: how badly do I want this? You have to retrain your brain to think differently. You can't achieve new goals with the same mindset. Everything has to change. Again, this is hard. Making sure you have a circle of friends with similar mindsets will make this easier. You need to be in an environment that helps you succeed.

An accountability partner can be a family member, friend, financial advisor, coworker, anyone who respects your goals and will be a positive impact. The right person will help you find alternatives that support your goals. 

Take a look at any goals you have right now. Are they SMART goals? How can you make them more specific? Let me know some of your goals and let's make them spectacular! 

All love, always, Shay.💛

Instagram: @financefortheculture

Email: financesfortheculture@gmail.com

Book a FREE financial analysis: https://calendly.com/financefortheculture/financialneedsanalysis?month=2021-07

Book an Investing 101 Session: https://calendly.com/shaymoneyinvesting101/60min?back=1&month=2021-07 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Apps Do I Use To Stay Organized?

I have a lot on my plate and in order to be productive, I have to stay organized. Right now, I'm working on building my Financially Attractive platform, while working full-time, chasing my fitness goals and still trying to enjoy life. Here are some apps that keep me on track every day. iPhone Calendar: if it's not in my calendar, I'll forget.😖 Google Calendar: content creation tasks go in this calendar. Alarm: I am that girl with 30 alarms each day. It combats my procrastination. TD app: I check this multiple times per week. I catch every charge and transaction.👀 Capital One: I check this multiple times per week as well. I stay on top of my credit card. My Fitness Pal: this is helping me be intentional with eating since I want to gain 10-15lbs by the end of the year. Instagram: you'll notice that I'll be using this less but I use it to connect with people, consume financial literacy, promote local businesses, spread love etc. All love, always, Shay.💛 Instagram: @...
Read more

SMART Goals Update!

A lot can happen in 1 year, 6 months, even 1 month! To recap, earlier this year, I made a SMART goal to save 10k for an emergency fund by December 2020. I had just started my financial independence journey so I gave myself a lot of time; a whole year. I didn't want to set myself for failure. Fast forward to June 2020 when I hit my 10k goal, 6 months early!! Call it my birthday gift to myself. Proving that I could focus, completely change my spending habits and get shit done, I kept pushing, saving 15k by August and 20k by the end of September.  The thing is, we can achieve such greatness if we have a plan. We can say so many things but without a plan and a way to execute that plan, they're just words flapping in the wind. I will forever talk about SMART goals because they brought me from 0-10, 000 real quick. I encourage you to write down some of your goals, big or small, make them specific, and organize them into categories (financial, personal, fitness, travel etc). Focus on ...
Read more

February 2021 Pep Talk

2021 will be exactly like 2020 if you don't change.  This post was supposed to be posted in December 2020 but guess what? Better late than never! Which perfectly leads into my original inspiration... It's never too late to start but you'd better start now! Repetition builds habits and habits build your lifestyle. It's so important to start making moves as soon as possible and not when the calendar tells you to or when a friend tells you to because change takes time. It's okay that you didn't make New Year's resolutions. It's okay that January wasn't your month. But now what? We all know what happens when we procrastinate. We push things until tomorrow and tomorrow never comes. We suddenly feel like our goals aren't important. We make excuses as to why we shouldn't do it anymore. Then we'll forget about it altogether. Then a year will go by and we'll randomly remember and feel tons of guilt for letting a good idea/opportunity slip away...
Read more