Setting Personal Goals

Lessons

Senior 4 · Entrepreneurship

Setting Personal Goals

4 lessons

Lesson 4 of 4

SMART goals and plans for an entrepreneurial career

25 min

Two ways to say the same thing

Two S4 students in Kayonza write down their goals.

Mugabo: "I want to start a business one day and be successful."

Keza: "By the end of December next year, I will have 100 laying hens in a chicken house at my family's home and sell at least 60 trays of eggs a month to two shops in our trading centre, using Frw 600,000 that I will save from holiday work and from selling vegetables."

A year later, Mugabo is still waiting for "one day". Keza knows every month whether she is on track. (Illustrative case.)

Think about it: list everything Keza's goal tells you that Mugabo's does not.

Definition

SMART goal: a goal that is Specific (clear about what will be achieved), Measurable (progress can be counted), Achievable (stretching but possible with the resources available), Relevant (serves the person's values and larger goals) and Time-bound (has a deadline). The idea was published by George T. Doran in the journal Management Review in November 1981; his original letters stood for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related.

Testing a goal letter by letter

Letter	Test question	Mugabo's goal	Keza's goal
Specific	Exactly what, where, who?	"A business": which one?	Laying hens, eggs sold to two shops in her trading centre
Measurable	What number will show it is done?	"Successful": no number	100 hens; at least 60 trays a month; Frw 600,000 saved
Achievable	Possible with my time, skills and money?	Cannot be judged	Small scale, family land, savings plan
Relevant	Does it serve my values and long-term goals?	Unclear	First step to her long-term goal of a poultry business
Time-bound	By when?	"One day"	End of December next year

Tip

Write goals as finished results with a date: "By [date], I will have [measurable result] by [method]." If you cannot fill in all three gaps, the goal is not yet SMART.

Steps for setting a SMART goal

Start from values and vision. Ask what matters to you and what life you want (Lesson 1).
Draft the goal in a sentence, however vague.
Make it SMART by testing it against each letter and rewriting until it passes.
Break it into milestones: smaller goals with their own dates, each one SMART.
Plan the actions and resources: who does what, when, with what money, skills and help. A Gantt chart shows the plan on a timeline.
Write it down and share it with someone who will ask about your progress.
Monitor and review: measure progress at fixed times; if you fall behind, change the actions, or adjust the goal for a good reason.

From a long-term goal to this month's actions

Level	Keza's SMART goal
Long-term (by age 30)	Own a registered poultry business with 1,000 layers supplying shops and schools in Kayonza District
Medium-term (by end of next year)	100 laying hens; at least 60 trays of eggs sold a month to two shops
Short-term (this year)	Save Frw 600,000 in 12 months; complete a poultry-keeping course by the end of March
This month	Save Frw 50,000; visit two poultry farmers to learn from them

Definition

Action plan: a list of the activities needed to reach a goal, with who will do each, when, and the resources needed. Milestone: a point in the plan that marks an important step completed, used to check progress. Gantt chart: a chart that shows activities as bars along a timeline, so that their order and overlaps can be seen at a glance.

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Worked example 1: making "Measurable" real

Keza expects her 100 hens to lay on 80% of days on average (an assumption to check with experienced farmers). A tray holds 30 eggs. Is "at least 60 trays a month" achievable in a 30-day month? (Illustrative figures.)

\text{Eggs per day} = 100 \times 0.80 = 80, \qquad \text{Eggs per month} = 80 \times 30 = 2\,400

\text{Trays per month} = \frac{2\,400}{30} = 80

Judgement: 80 trays are expected, so a target of 60 trays sold leaves room for a lower laying rate or eggs used at home. The goal is stretching but achievable. If the hens laid on only 60% of days, production would be $100 \times 0.60 \times 30 = 1\,800$ eggs, exactly 60 trays, with no margin.

Worked example 2: monitoring progress

Keza's savings target is Frw 600,000 in 12 months. After 5 months she has saved Frw 210,000. Is she on track, and what must she save each month from now on?

Planned monthly saving and the amount planned by now:

\frac{600\,000}{12} = 50\,000 \ \text{Frw}, \qquad 5 \times 50\,000 = 250\,000 \ \text{Frw}

Progress against time:

\frac{210\,000}{600\,000} \times 100 = 35\%, \qquad \frac{5}{12} \times 100 \approx 41.7\%

New monthly saving for the remaining 7 months:

\frac{600\,000 - 210\,000}{7} = \frac{390\,000}{7} \approx 55\,714 \ \text{Frw}

Interpretation: she has used 41.7% of the time but reached only 35% of the target, so she is behind by Frw 40,000. To stay on schedule she must raise her saving to about Frw 55,700 a month, for example by selling more vegetables, or else move the deadline. Monitoring turns a missed target into a decision instead of a surprise.

Warning

Common faults in goals. Too vague ("be successful"); no number ("improve sales"); no deadline ("soon"); unrealistic ("Frw 10 million in my first month"); or someone else's goal, not linked to your own values. Also avoid having too many goals at once: three well-planned goals beat ten forgotten ones.

Helpful Professor Explains!, "SMART Goals (Explained)". Notice the history of the idea and the examples of goals rewritten to pass each letter.

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Practice

State what each letter of SMART stands for and give the test question for each.
Rewrite as SMART goals: (a) "I will work hard in mathematics"; (b) "I want to earn money in the holidays"; (c) "I will start a business after school".
List the seven steps for setting a SMART goal.
A student plans to save Frw 360,000 in 12 months. After 4 months she has saved Frw 100,000. Calculate (a) the amount planned by now; (b) her percentage progress against the percentage of time used; (c) the monthly saving needed for the remaining months.
A farmer has 60 hens laying on 75% of days. How many trays of 30 eggs are produced in a 30-day month?
Draw a Gantt chart for a six-month plan to start a small phone-accessories stall.
"SMART goals make people less ambitious because they must be achievable." Evaluate this view.

Show answersHide answers

Specific (exactly what, where, who?); Measurable (what number shows it is done?); Achievable (possible with my resources?); Relevant (does it serve my values and long-term goals?); Time-bound (by when?).
Examples: (a) "By the end of term 2, I will raise my mathematics mark from 55% to 70% by doing 10 exercises every evening." (b) "During the December holidays, I will earn Frw 40,000 by washing cars at my uncle's garage on weekdays." (c) "Within two years of finishing S6, I will open a registered phone-repair stall in our town, after completing a repair course and saving Frw 500,000."
Start from values and vision; draft the goal; make it SMART; break it into milestones; plan actions and resources; write it down and share it; monitor and review.
(a) $\frac{360\,000}{12} \times 4 = 120\,000$ Frw. (b) Progress $= \frac{100\,000}{360\,000} \times 100 \approx 27.8\%$ ; time used $= \frac{4}{12} \times 100 \approx 33.3\%$ : she is behind. (c) $\frac{360\,000 - 100\,000}{8} = \frac{260\,000}{8} = 32\,500$ Frw a month.
Eggs $= 60 \times 0.75 \times 30 = 1\,350$ ; trays $= \frac{1\,350}{30} = 45$ .
Answers vary; bars might show: market survey (month 1), save capital (months 1–5), choose suppliers (month 3), register with RDB (month 5), open the stall (month 6).
Against: "achievable" means stretching but possible, not easy; a SMART goal can be ambitious if it has the plan and resources behind it, and reaching it builds confidence for bigger goals. For: if people set only safe targets, they may aim too low. A good answer concludes that SMART goals should be set at the edge of what is possible, as Atkinson's moderate-risk idea suggests.

Quick check

Match each part of this goal to the SMART letter it satisfies: "By 31 December, I will sell 60 trays of eggs a month to two shops in my trading centre."

Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.

Key points

A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (idea published by George T. Doran, 1981).
Steps: values and vision, draft, make SMART, milestones, actions and resources, write and share, monitor and review.
A long-term career goal breaks into medium-term, short-term and monthly SMART goals; a Gantt chart shows the action plan.
Monitor by comparing the share of the target reached with the share of the time used.

1Two ways to say the same thing

2Testing a goal letter by letter

3Steps for setting a SMART goal

4From a long-term goal to this month's actions

Two ways to say the same thing

Testing a goal letter by letter

Steps for setting a SMART goal

From a long-term goal to this month's actions