A study was done in 1953 at Yale University where they interviewed the graduating class just before they left school.

They were asked amongst other things, how many of them had a clearly defined set of goals with a written plan for its attainment. As the story goes, 3% of them pulled out of their wallets a 5×7 card whereon was written their specific short and long term goals. They had a plan for their future.

In 1973, 20 years later, they went back to interview the surviving class members of 1953 and they found that the 3% that had a set of written down goals seemed more happy, more well adjusted and more excited about their lives. The one very measurable thing was that 3% were worth more financially than the other 97% combined.

I don’t know about you, but I have lots of [what I consider] good things I plan to do with money, so I’d like to have lots of it — in order to help others. Sparing you the lecture on how to set goals, I’ll be thinking about my SMART goals between now and New Years and I’ll post my goals here on Jan 1.