Goal #2: Increase My Annual Income by 20%
If you’re interested in watching me set my goals, go back and read these two articles:
Goal #1 was a short-term goal for some immediate success. This week’s goal is a mid-term goal. There’s not a finite deadline that describes “mid-term.” If anything, mid-term will depend on your age and where you are in life. For me, as a 20-something, mid-term goals are goals that you want to accomplish in, say, 2 to 10 years. Obviously then, “short-term” would mean anything less than 2 years, and “long-term” anything past 10 years.
Onto this week’s goal, again following the steps in my “Setting Goals” post.
Step 1. Set goals that motivate you.
This goal is all about increasing my annual income. Let’s face it, I would like to make more money. The motivation behind making more money is to increase my ability to give and to save. In order to achieve this goal, I will also have to work extra hard at my primary job, put in extra effort with this blog, and work a second job.
Step 2. Be SMART about your goals.
This goal is SMART because it is:
- Specific: Again, this goal is sweet and simple. It clearly defines what I want to achieve.
- Measurable: My goal is to increase my annual income by 20%. Here, I identify a specific percentage.
- Attainable: I have multiple sub-goals, all of which I hope to accomplish in order to accomplish my main goal.
- Relevant: Making more money is always relevant!
- Time Bound: I am shooting for September 5, 2013, 3 years from today.
Step 3. Write them down.
Goal #2 for me is:
To increase my gross annual income by 20% by September 5, 2013. All of my extra earnings will be used for giving and saving. None of the extra earnings will be used for lifestyle inflation.
Step 4. Develop smaller steps to achieve your overall goal.
In order to get a 20% increase in 3 years, I will need to increase my income at a rate of 6.25% a year.
(Just as a side note, since I’m dealing with percentages, it doesn’t matter what my current annual income is. The numbers all work out the same way. For those curious, I make $63,720 as my base, gross annual income.)
Now, for some smaller steps to achieve my 20% goal. All-in-all, I will increase my income by getting a promotion at my primary job; working a steady, well-paid second job; and blogging on this site and possibly a few more.
- Sub-goal #1: Work a second job that will provide a ~6.25% (~$4,000) increase in my current income. Identify this job and begin working by September 5, 2011, at the latest. Additionally, part-time at McDonald’s does not count. I will need to find a meaningful job that will improve myself, my life, or my career.
- Sub-goal #2: Get a promotion at my primary job by September 5, 2012. Negotiate a pay increase that is at least 6.25% ($4,250) of my primary and secondary incomes. This is the most difficult sub-goal to achieve since it is hard to predict when or if upper management will offer promotions. Obviously, I won’t just sit around and wait for this to happen: I will work harder, meet all of my project deadlines, and volunteer for projects above my pay grade. There’s no standard pay increase, but 6.25% is fairly modest with promotions.
- Sub-goal #3: Establish a regular income stream through blogging resources by September 5, 2013. This blogging income will be ~6.25% (~$4,500) of my primary income (after promotion) and secondary income.
A couple of notes.
I am basically finished with sub-goal #1. I will be doing some nighttime instruction. I get paid per class, so income is likely to change throughout the year. I can expect probably around $5,600 a year, though.
I do have some expectations that I will get cost-of-living allowance at my primary job. We have not received COLA in the past few years, but this should come back sooner or later.
Step 5. Stick with it!
Again, this step is part of the on-going process. I’m certainly motivated enough to stick with my goal.
Some last comments.
When I originally wrote this goal, 20% seemed like an awfully high goal. But I started to develop my sub-goals in Step 4. I realized with income coming in from multiple sources will make this goal must easier to achieve. Twenty percent still seems high, but I think that it is a very realistic goal for me for the next 3 years.
Also, this is exactly why we develop sub-goals. A seemingly insurmountable goal is made easier by establishing smaller steps that are each attainable.
