Opinion – Marcia Dessen: Turn dreams into reality

Do you have a dream that never came true? Or a project that fell by the wayside and was not completed? Lack of money tends to be a good excuse, but it doesn’t always justify it.

So that goals don’t just stay on paper, or in your head, adopt a technique used by successful companies to manage projects.

The word Smart means smart and forms an acronym for the adjectives Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. The method can be adopted to learn how to set goals and objectives to turn dreams into reality.

specific

A specific goal is focused, clearly establishes what is intended and how it will be achieved, and provides an easy understanding of the people involved in the project. Instead of saying “reduce debt,” a specific goal would say, “Repay your $2,000 credit card balance within five months.” This goal will not be complete if you do not define how it will be achieved, where the money to pay off the debt will come from. An example would be: “The card will no longer be used from January; the debt amortization will be gradual, from R$ 500 per month, from January to May, and the money will come from the reduction of expenses with restaurants and superfluous” .

Measurable

It is necessary to measure progress and observe progress in relation to what you want to achieve, finding motivation to continue and achieve the goal. Example: “Buy a computer for R$ 2,300. To accumulate this capital, we will invest R$ 280 monthly in fixed income, with monthly net interest of 0.85% for eight months, from March to November”. Thus, it will be possible to track how much money is available and how much is left to reach the goal.

Realizable

Set challenging but attainable goals. Remember that your planning sets more than one goal and that one competes with the others. Example: “Increase savings capacity to 20% of monthly income starting in February”. To reach the goal, decide together which expenses will be reduced or cut in order to create the surplus cash that you want to accumulate.

Helpful

Set goals that have meaning for the whole family. If the goal is really important, there will be motivation to achieve it. You are likely to find that harder goals are more easily attainable than easy ones. What moves you towards it is its meaning, its importance in your life. If new income is not available to reach the goal, you will need to make cuts in your current budget. Review your current budget and see which items can be reduced or eliminated.

Weather

Define how long the goal must be reached so that it has a sense of urgency. Establish a start and end date for each goal, so you mentally and operationally program yourself to work toward it. Remember that the goal must be attainable within the given time frame. It’s no use setting a goal of accumulating R$100,000 in two years if your monthly income is R$5,000. If your savings capacity is 30% of your income (R$1,500/month) and assuming a monthly net return of 0.65%, the amount of R$100,000 will be reached in about four and a half years. In short, it’s about defining what, how, who, when and how much. Ensure that you will have something to celebrate 12 months from now and that the goals will be achieved or are very well underway.

[email protected]