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Looking for a SMART goals worksheet so you can start crushing it? We all know that smart goal setting is absolutely crucial to your success. But how can you set great, attainable goals and actually hold yourself accountable so that you get the results you want? It’s important to not only know your goals but to put them to pen and paper and break them down. If you work for a person or company, you already know that the boss is the one who keeps you in line. Great leaders set actionable goals for their employees and expect them to follow necessary action steps to get the sales they desire, to get the customer service feedback they need, or to increase their revenue.
If you treat your life as if you’re the CEO, you will become more serious about your own goals.Β I’ve created a printable SMART goals worksheet so you can get started crushing your goals today. You can find it at the bottom of this post. Just be sure to come back and read the entire post for an explanation of each section of the worksheet.
Definition of SMART Goals
SMART is an acronym. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Setting goals isΒ the easyΒ part. It’s coming up with an action plan to actually follow through and complete them that’s difficult. Anyone can enthusiastically say “My goal is to obtain financial freedom”! But how are you going to do that? Here’s how you can break it down so you can start setting attainable goals and crushing them.
Before we Get Started, Grab your SMART Goals Worksheet
I’ll send you the password to my free resource library with goodies to help you on your financial journey!
Specific– What is your exact goal? What do you want to do? “Obtain financial freedom” is so generic. You’ve got to get serious about it. An example of a specific goal is “I want to pay off all of my debt except the house”. This will get you to your ultimate goal of financial freedom, but it gives you something concrete to strive for.
Measurable– How are you going to track your progress? Learning how to reverse-engineer your goals will help you reach them faster. If you have $40,000 worth of debt (other than the house) and you take home $80,000 per year, you have to create a personal budget to break down how much you’ll be paying in minimum payments to each debt every month (or every paycheck). You can then see how much money is left over after paying all bills so that you can start attacking the debt using the debt snowball or debt avalanche method.
Attainable-Β Are your goals realistic, or are you being a bit dreamy? Using the example above, let’s assume you don’t make $80,000 per year but instead you only make $20,000 per year (or worse, you’ve been laid off, are living paycheck to paycheck, and are collecting unemployment). Paying off debt and achieving financial freedom shouldn’t be your goal in this case. You need to get your income up FAST so you can start working towards your goals! Make sure the goals you’re setting are attainable.
Relevant-Β This is your WHY. Why is this so important to you? Why do you want to obtain financial freedom? I used to be super generic with my WHY, saying that I want my kids and my family to not have to worry and to have more than I ever did. That’s not good enough, people. We live in the Midwest, in a suburb of Springfield, Illinois, and I am a beach-loving mama. I absolutely crave sunshine, waves, and white, sandy beaches. My husband travels A LOT for work. Beach vacations are very important to me. My WHY has been refined to “I want to obtain financial freedom, allowing my family to travel whenever and wherever we’d like any time of the year. And when my kids have kids, I want to be able to pay for large family vacations, with 3-4 generations making memories that will last a lifetime”.
Time-Bound-Β Give your SMART goals an expiration date. When you’re measuring your goals, and you create a budget, you should be able to tell exactly when you’ll be able to reach your goal (at minimum) based on normal, everyday conditions. Make sure you give yourself a timeline to work with. Set short-term and long-term goals and adjust where necessary.
The goal is to stop setting generic goals and instead get super specific and reverse-engineer them. The SMART goals worksheet I’ve created for you will help hold you accountable, and you can post it on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, keep it in your planner, or wherever you’ll see it so that you can be reminded to stay focused and follow through with each step.
Get your FREE SMART Goals Worksheet
Life is a collection of memories and experiences. There are ups and downs. I am so grateful for God’s grace and am on the journey to a renewed spirit, free of perfectionism. Perfection Hangover offers the sober truth – no filter.
Absolutely stunning!
This is a wonderfully informative and helpful post. Creating both measurable and attainable financial goals are two things that really resonate with me and are great reminders. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Aarika!
Love that you talk about having an action plan for your goals! Helps get closer to meeting goals in a real way.
Thanks, Cara! It’s so important! π
Awesome printable. Nice of you to share. Such a good idea to keep organized.
Thanks, Crystal! Enjoy!
This is very important and can not be done early enough. I did this with my financial planner. Some of it hurt as we took a hard look at everyone’s spending. Finding out that my, now ex, husband had a serious cash problem was interesting and helpful. It really helped set me up during our separation and divorce and the later sale of my house. Get started with this printable great printable.
I wish that I knew about SMART goals when I was going through my divorce years ago! It could have helped keep me on track during a difficult time.
Thank you so much, this is such a great advice! I loved that you explained the definition of each letter. I believe the most important is Measurable to calculate and make a plan accordingly!
I agree, Pilar! Measuring your goals is vital to success!
You are so right in creating these points to help you attain your goals. I love the idea of setting incredibly specific and attainable goals. People tend to live in their heads, but if they really want something, they’ll have to be realistic… And these points really help with that. Thanks for the mega reminder π
You’re so welcome, Zoe! I’m glad you enjoyed it! <3
These are awesome guidelines if you need them to track everything. I have something similar to your worksheets. π
Awesome, Marcela! I know it helps to put them down in writing!
Oh my gosh! No way! I am part of a DBT therapy group right now and we are talking about smart goals! This is so great, thank you for these wonderful notes that will aid me in my life and future. I think we can all use smart goals for almost every aspect of our lives.
Talk about perfect timing! Please feel free to share with your group! It’s free for everyone to use! π Just make sure you send them this link to sign up π https://perfectionhangover.com/smart-goals
Oh this is what we were looking for some time lately!! Finance is so important for your activity and I’m going to stamp the worksheet. Thanks π
I’m so glad you like it! Let me know if you need any help!
Great advice! I love that one of the things you focus on is the WHY of SMART goal planning. I think that is very important, because if one doesn’t know a purpose, then one day they could get tired of it and just abandon their dreams. Purpose of financial freedom is key!
Thanks, Patricia! Absolutely! If you don’t nail down your “WHY”, or purpose, you’ll definitely lose focus and direction and will eventually lose momentum. Please feel free to share with everyone you know! This SMART goals worksheet can be used in any area of your life!
this is such great advice – I am so awful with finances! I think it’s especially important to make it measurable & specific!
What’s great about this worksheet, Hal, is that it works for setting goals in literally any and all areas of your life! <3