SMART Goals Examples: 15 You Can Copy and Adapt

By Planning editorial team · Updated November 2, 2026

A SMART goal is a goal written so that you can picture it, count it and put a date on it: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Most people understand the idea and still get stuck at the blank line, so this page is built around examples. You will find fifteen, grouped by area of life, each with the vague version first and the rewritten version after it. Borrow the ones that fit, and use the short method below to write your own.

What a SMART goal sounds like

The wording of the five letters varies from source to source. Some write "attainable" for achievable, others "realistic". The point is the same: a goal that tells you what to do, how much, by when and why.

A quick way to test any goal is to ask five questions:

1. Specific: could a stranger tell what I will actually do?
2. Measurable: what number, count or finished thing shows I did it?
3. Achievable: is it realistic for the time, energy and money I have right now?
4. Relevant: does it matter to me, or am I doing it because I feel I should?
5. Time-bound: is there a date, or a number of weeks, where I stop and look at the result?

If you can answer all five in a sentence, you have a SMART goal. If one answer is "not sure," that is the part to fix.

Work and career examples

Work goals go vague quickly because "do better" has no edge. Each of these names an action, a measure and a point in time.

1. Finish a portfolio. Vague: "Update my portfolio." SMART: "Publish three case studies on my portfolio site by 15 December, one written each week, so I can apply for new roles in January."

2. Speak up in meetings. Vague: "Be more confident at work." SMART: "Make one prepared comment in each weekly team meeting for the next eight weeks, and note afterwards how it went."

3. Clear an inbox backlog. Vague: "Get on top of email." SMART: "Check email at 10:00 and 15:00 only, and reach zero unread in the main inbox by Friday of each week for the next month."

4. Build a skill. Vague: "Learn spreadsheets." SMART: "Complete one 30-minute spreadsheet tutorial three times a week for six weeks, and build one working budget sheet at the end."

5. Prepare for a review conversation. Vague: "Ask for more responsibility." SMART: "Write down three projects I led this quarter and book a 30-minute talk with my manager by the end of the month to discuss one new responsibility."

Notice that the SMART versions are longer but easier to start. You know what to do on Monday morning.

Health and energy examples

Health goals work best when they are about what you do rather than what the scale says, because actions are in your control.

6. Move more. Vague: "Get fit." SMART: "Walk 30 minutes, four days a week, for six weeks, so I have more energy in the afternoon. First step: put four walks in my calendar."

7. Sleep. Vague: "Sleep better." SMART: "Be in bed with the screen off by 22:30 on weeknights for the next four weeks, and keep a one-line note each morning on how I feel."

8. Eat with a plan. Vague: "Eat healthier." SMART: "Plan dinners on Sunday for the week ahead and cook at home at least five nights a week for the next six weeks."

Health goals are a good place to be gentle. If you live with a medical condition, check your plan with your own doctor before changing what you do. These examples describe habits, not medical advice.

Money examples

Money goals are the easiest to make measurable, since the numbers already exist.

9. Build a small cushion. Vague: "Save more." SMART: "Move a fixed amount, say 150, to a separate savings account on the first of each month until 1 June, so I can cover a car repair without borrowing."

10. Track spending. Vague: "Stop wasting money." SMART: "Write down every purchase for 30 days, then sit down on the 31st day, total the categories and choose one to trim."

Learning, home and relationships examples

11. Read. Vague: "Read more." SMART: "Read 20 pages a day, before the phone comes out, until I finish the book on my shelf by the end of January."

12. Declutter. Vague: "Sort out the house." SMART: "Clear one drawer or shelf every Saturday morning for eight weeks, ten minutes each, until the hallway cupboard is done."

13. Study. Vague: "Do well in my exam." SMART: "Do two 45-minute study blocks on weekdays for the next five weeks, finish three past papers and book a check-in with my tutor in week four."

14. Stay in touch. Vague: "Be a better friend." SMART: "Call or message one friend I have not seen in a while every Sunday for the next ten weeks."

15. Be present. Vague: "Be more patient." SMART: "Take a ten-minute pause before answering any message that irritates me, on weekdays, for the next three weeks."

That last one shows how to handle a soft goal. You cannot count "patience," but you can count a pause.

The one-page method behind every example

Every rewrite above followed the same short routine. It is also the layout of the Clear Goal Builder page, so you can do it on paper.

1. My goal, in one sentence. Write it in positive terms, as what you want rather than what you want to avoid.
2. What exactly will I do, how often, for how long? This is the specific and measurable part.
3. By when? A date gives the goal an edge.
4. Why this matters to me. Two or three lines. The reason carries you on the days motivation is low.
5. What I already have. Time, people, skills. You are not starting from zero.
6. What could get in the way. Be honest now, so there are fewer surprises later.
7. My first step, and when. The smallest action that moves you forward, with a day attached.

Score it before you commit

The builder also asks you to rate three things from 1 to 10: how much you want this, how realistic it is for you right now, and how clear the goal is. If "how realistic" lands below five, shrink the goal or extend the date. A six or seven is a good place to start. You will usually find that the number moves after one small edit, such as three walks instead of four, or eight weeks instead of six.

Common mistakes with SMART goals

Making the goal too big for the date. "Write a book in a month" is specific and time-bound, and still unlikely. Use a ladder instead: write the big goal at the top, and keep asking what step sits just below it until the bottom rung is something you can do this week. A goal of running a 5K can step down through running without stopping, running 20 minutes, alternating run and walk, and finally buying shoes and walking 20 minutes on Monday.

Listing goals that are really wishes. If you cannot say what you will do on Monday, it is not ready. Return to the method and complete the "first step" line.

Writing goals only in the negative. "Stop snacking" asks your brain to think about snacks. "Have fruit and a glass of water at 15:30" gives it a plan.

Forgetting the "why." A goal without a reason belongs to someone else. If you cannot write two lines on why it matters, choose a different goal. The values worksheet and the wheel of life worksheet are useful for finding what matters enough to be worth the effort.

Never looking back. Choose one day a week to check in. Ask whether you did what you planned, what helped, what got in the way and what the one small step for this week is. A missed date is information, so adjust the step or the date and carry on.

Plan for the week the goal breaks

Most goals fail in week three, not week one. Before you start, list the three likeliest obstacles and decide in advance what you will do, in "if... then..." form:

• If it rains, then I will walk the indoor route or do a 20-minute video.
• If I am too tired after work, then I will do a ten-minute stretch instead.
• If I miss a day, then I will do the next planned session and not try to double up.

Planning the Plan B ahead of time makes it much more likely that you use it. If daily action is what you want to track, a habit tracker works well alongside a goal, and the time management worksheet shows where the hours go when time is the constraint. For the full walk-through of the worksheet fields and a 90-day plan, see the goal setting worksheet guide.

Turn your own examples into a 90-day plan

Once you have one goal you like, divide the time into three stages of about a month each:

• Month 1, set up: remove friction, gather what you need, begin small.
• Month 2, build: raise the amount or difficulty a notch.
• Month 3, consolidate: hold the pace, check the result, adjust.

Give each stage one checkable milestone, such as "have walked 24 times" or "finished the first draft," so you know before the end date whether you are on the way.

The ready-made pages

The ReadyCoach Kit includes the pages used in this guide within its 50 coaching worksheets. Worksheet 11, the Clear Goal Builder, has the fields and the 1-to-10 scales described above, with a filled-in example. Next to it you will find the Goal Ladder (12), Vision Planner (13), 90-Day Roadmap (14), Priorities Matrix (15), Milestone Map (17), Weekly Planning Page (18), Obstacle and Plan B (19) and Year-in-Review (20). Each page has a how-to box, a worked example, space to write and reflection prompts. They are editable in Word and Google Docs, with printable PDFs, so you can fill them in on screen or print them and write by hand.

The sample at the top of this page is the Clear Goal Builder as it appears in the kit. Fill it in once with one of the examples above and you will see how little time it takes to turn a vague intention into a sentence you can act on.