Setting Personal Goals
Senior 2 · Entrepreneurship
Setting Personal Goals
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Ask ten S2 students about their goals and most will say something like “I want to do well” or “I want to have my own business one day”. Those are wishes, not goals. Nobody can tell when a wish has been reached, so nobody can plan for it. Entrepreneurs, coaches and managers all use the same tool to turn a wish into a goal you can act on: the SMART test. In one study reported by Michigan State University Extension, people who wrote their goals down with action steps, and sent a friend a weekly update, reached them far more often (76%) than people who did not write them down (43%).
A goal is a result you want in the future, which you plan for and commit to reaching within a set time. A wish has the result but not the plan or the deadline.
The idea was published by George T. Doran in 1981. His original letters were Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related. Today the most common version, and the one used in this course, is:
| Letter | Meaning | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Specific | States exactly what you will do or achieve. | What exactly? Where? Who? |
| Measurable | Has a number or clear sign of progress. | How much? How many? How will I know I have done it? |
| Achievable | Can be reached with the time, money and skills you have or can get. | Can I really do this? |
| Relevant | Matters to your bigger plans and values. | Why does this goal matter to me? |
| Time-bound | Has a deadline. | By when? |
This case is written by Ganzaa. Habimana keeps hens and sells eggs at weekends. He says: “I want a solar lamp so I can study at night.”
His SMART goal: “I will save 1,500 Frw from my egg sales every week for 24 weeks, so that I can buy a 36,000 Frw solar lamp by the end of the second term.”
Check the deadline against the rate: if he wanted the lamp in 20 weeks instead, he would need 36,000 ÷ 20 = 1,800 Frw a week, more than he can spare. The A and the T must agree with each other.
Tip
Memory hook. Read your goal aloud and ask five quick questions: What? How much? Can I? Why? By when? Any question with no answer in the sentence shows the missing letter. In exams, when asked to “make this goal SMART”, rewrite the whole goal as one sentence containing a number and a date.
Solution: Time-bound. There is no deadline. Add one: “I will read 12 novels by the end of this school year.”
Solution (one good answer): “I will learn 10 new English words each week and use them in my diary, so that I raise my English test mark from 55% to 65% by the end of term.” It now has a specific action, measures (10 words, 65%) and a deadline.
Solution: Still needed = 85,000 − 15,000 = 70,000 Frw. Per month = 70,000 ÷ 10 = 7,000 Frw.
Solution: Achievable. In 2 months she earns only 6,000 Frw in total, so 50,000 Frw is impossible.
Summary
Sources and credits
The egg-seller case, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
