Make a SMART Goal:

1. Now that we know what SMART goals are and how to set them, let’s put this into practice.Meet Ramon. Ramon knows that when he graduates high school in two years, he’s going to go to college. He also knows that he’s going to keep a part-time job during college.His home is a two-hour drive from the state university, so even if he stays home for college he’ll need a way to get to college, and a way to get from his school to his job.
2. Let’s pick a Specific (the S, from SMART) goal for Ramon. Would that be:
   • A: Figuring out how to get to and from his home, his college, and his job?
     Or,
   • B: Buying a car

   Buying a car is definitely a specific goal, so let’s choose that.

3. Next, let’s make this goal measurable. Ramon does a little bit of research and finds that he can get a decent used car for $1,750. By determining a budget for the car that he can afford, Ramon can measure his progress toward this goal.
4. Now, let’s figure out if this goal is adaptable. Ramon plans to get a job to help pay for this car. But say he loses that job at some point, or depending on the job (like a tips-based job as a server, for example), he makes less money than he expects.Is his goal to save $1,750 dollars adaptable?Yes, it is! At least, it is to some degree. Obviously, the less money Ramon earns, the less he can pay for a car. And the cheaper the used car he buys, the more likely it is to be old, worn out, or otherwise prone to having problems (which, in turn, would cost him more money). But he can certainly always set his sights for a less expensive car if he knows he will not be able to save $1,750 in the two years before going to college.Remember, since goals are adaptable, he may actually earn more money than he was expecting and adapt his goal to buy a vehicle that’s even better!
5. Okay, now let’s determine if this is a Realistic goal for Ramon. Ramon wants a car and needs money to get it; how can he get that money? By getting a job.He knows how much money he needs to earn in total, but he will need to figure out how many days a week he can work during the school year or the summers, how much money that job will pay, and how much of that pay he will save on a regular basis (he might have living expenses in the meantime!).Once he knows how much he can earn during his high school years, he’ll know how much he can save – and how much he can afford to pay for a car at the end of his senior year of high school.So, let’s say Ramon gets a job that he can work at twice a week during the school year. He will take home $200 a week, after taxes. If we assume he needs $100 a week for living expenses, we know he can save $100 a week.There are roughly 25 weeks in a school year, so if Ramon is able to save $100 a week, so let’s do some math on your sheet of paper.25 weeks times $100 a week gives us $2,500. In just one school year, he’ll have saved $2,500—quite a bit more than he has estimated he needs for the car he will buy.

   Remember, he isn’t going to college for two more years, and we haven’t even accounted for the fact that he might be able to work—and earn, and save—a bit more during summer vacation. When you consider that, it looks like Ramon’s plan will earn him more than enough money.

   Would we say that this goal is realistic? Yes, absolutely!

6. The last step, T, requires us to look at whether the goal is Time-bound. Since we’ve made these calculations based on the time between now and when Ramon plans to go to college, does this goal count as being time-bound?It does! This is a time-bound goal. This is what a SMART goal looks like in real (pretend) life!