You probably heard that “dreams come true” all throughout your childhood. And while you may have grown a bit more cynical as the years have gone by, it’s important to remember that dreams CAN come true. They just take hard work, focus and drive.

If you’ve got your eyes set on a big dream goal in the future, here are the 4 steps you’ll want to incorporate into your life immediately:

1. Specific Savings Account for Specific Goals:

   If you’re hoping to put a down payment on a house, create a “House” account. Or if you’re saving for a big family vacation, create a “Vacation” account. Having a specific account for a specific goal can help you stay focused and remind you why you’re working so hard to save. Also, having specific accounts for your goals can make it less tempting to dip into those savings accounts:

   If we simply had a large savings account with all of the money co-mingling, it would be easy to take money away for other purposes, since it’s not specifically tied to something we want. Our mental accounting might allow us to “borrow” from an unspecified savings account without a second thought, but it hurts to think about stealing money from the future motorcycle.

2. Make Your Goal SMART:

   Lots of goals tend to fail because of lack of specificity. When you’re just “saving for buying a house one day,” you’re not being specific enough to set yourself up for success. Make sure that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART). Figure out how much you need to save, even if you ballpark the figure. Then figure out how much you’d have to put in per month to attain your goal by a certain deadline.

3. Automate:

   When you automate your savings, you can basically set it and forget it. you don’t have to worry about saving money because it will automatically go to your savings accounts before you can touch it.

4. Find Extra Cash to Put Aside:

   You’ll probably find that it will be hard to reach your goals with savings from your current income alone. And at that point, you’ll need to look into ways to earn extra cash. You might be able to turn a hobby into a job or maybe you can sell some of your stuff. And/or you could take a tip from Wise Bread:

   But my favorite method for increasing savings for big expenses is to stash any savings you see from making smart purchases. Basically, anytime you negotiate a lower rate with your cable company or pick up a pair of shoes for 25% off, you should bank the difference between the sale price and the full price.

Read more over at Wise Bread’s The Simple Way to Save Enough Money for Your Dream Goals.