Hi! I’m Veronica Deraleau, a financial coach, author, opera singer, commercial business professional, first-generation American, Army spouse, and Veteran. Since graduating with my MBA in 2017, I paid off over $100K of debt in 3 years on a median salary, multiplied my income, purchased a home and investment property, increased performance opportunities in my opera career, and published my first book “Making Money Is Simple.”
Not starting with the end in mind when it comes to setting money goals
For years, I’ve been praising ‘working backward from a deadline’ while managing a team of data project managers in my corporate career. Then, I started working with a music business coach to increase performance opportunities in my classical singing career, and we applied the same logic to my entrepreneurial goals and BAM, it hit me! I needed to do this to achieve my money goals, too.
I feel silly for not realizing it sooner—to achieve your goals in life, you have to know not only what you want to accomplish but also when you want to accomplish it. Otherwise, it’s all just happening ‘someday,’ and we’re discontented when things aren’t happening fast enough (or ever).
Is the ‘T’ missing from your SMART goals?
Many are familiar with the SMART Goals framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), which involves identifying a specific end goal, working backward from your target, and breaking your goal into chunks. However, are we being specific enough when it comes to the ‘T’ for time-bound? Down to the very day?
We gain clarity when we add the last variable of time restriction.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What specific tasks need to happen in the allotted amount of time?
- Are these tasks reasonable to complete in the given timeframe with my current capacity or resources? If not:
- Can I increase my capacity or resources?
- Do I need to make room or divert resources by deprioritizing other activities (a.k.a. Do I need to make tradeoffs)?
- Based on the answers to the above questions, do I truly want to accomplish this goal?
- Am I willing to invest the time, effort, and resources or tradeoffs identified above to make it happen?
You can either move forward or recalibrate your goals from there.