In the first article in this series, we looked why Objectives are so important – they create an immediate prioritisation process for your time management system.  Any task associated with an Objective gets priority over any other task.  The problem for most people isn’t just a lack of Objectives, but a failure to review those Objectives…and not leave them at the back of your mind or buried in a KPI document which is only reviewed once a year.  Hence the second step was to have written Objectives in a position you can review them.

In this second article, let’s examine some inspiration on setting better Objectives.

Setting better Objectives

According to Amazon.com there are 1003 books on “Goal Setting” alone.  No doubt each of them will have a variety of different ways or methodologies to devise and write objectives.  It just goes to show how tricky this can be.  Perhaps you have already had the experience of writing Objectives – often in January – with all the good intentions in the world.  Six months later and I bet you can’t remember what those Objectives were...  This is a big topic, but let’s begin with two critical rules to help you set better Objectives.

Rule 1:  Objectives are meant to be big

The concept of S.M.A.R.T. goals has you set a series of smaller incremental, achievable Objectives.  In comparison, something like BHAG (“Big Hairy Audacious Goals”) has you dream long and large. Are these two common methods mutually exclusive?  No, because they are actually not the same thing.

Objectives should be BIG.  Objectives set direction.  Objectives inspire you.  Objectives give you a course to chart.  Objectives are dreams.   Objectives are the ends you seek.

Goals – we call them Projects in In Time – are the incremental or short-term steps you take to achieve your Objectives.  Goals/Projects are the means.  They need to be specific, have timeframes and all the S.M.A.R.T. stuff.

Don’t confuse Objectives and Goals/Projects.  You don’t need to worry about the size or scope of your Objectives…because it actually doesn’t matter if you achieve them.  That last bit is the critical message by the way.  The primary mission of an Objective is to light the way – not measure how far you have gone.  So if, in a given timeframe, you only achieve 40% of a great big Objective, you are still WAY better off and MUCH closer to your desired situation than before.

Big Objectives really only have upside as a result.  A big Objective gives you the opportunity to achieve more than you thought possible – more than a smaller Objective.  You may find that if you get 70-80% towards a big Objective, you feel the inspiration to push on for that last 20-30%.  Small Objectives just don’t deliver that same level of inspiration.

Big Objectives also become better forward looking, aspirational Objectives rather than short-term, measurement setting goals.  Make the Objective so big that measurement is impossible.  Then set a series of smaller Projects to help you get there.

Rule 2:  Objectives should have a fixed goal and variable timeframe

When thinking about Objectives, think big, think ideal situation.  Then adjust the timeframe to suit.  Think What do I want to achieve? Don’t think What can I do this year? Set the Objective first, timeframe second.  Then set incremental Goals/Projects to achieve along the way to get you there.

This Rule is often an epiphany for many people.  Too many businesses (and people) operate on a 12 month schedule.  Budgets and bonuses are often set over a 12 month period.  This conditions you to look first at the timeframe and then at what you can achieve.  But what a limiting procedure!  There is only so much you can achieve in 12 months so naturally your goals become smaller.  Indeed, you end up only with Goals/Projects and without real Objectives.

Perhaps Anthony Robbins sums it up the best.  I don’t normally subscribe to Anthony’s stuff, but this is a highly insightful statement… Most people over-estimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.

Think about that for a moment.  Your life and business will last for much longer than 12 months, so why work in that increment?  Think about what you could achieve in 3-5 years and then think about what Objectives you could set yourself.  Only after that should you start to breakdown the Objective into its 6-18 month Projects.

In the third and final article in this series, we will look at classic do’s and don’ts with Objective settings to give you the final edge in making them work.  In the meantime, our lessons so far are…

• Realise that Objectives help prioritise your tasks;
• Objectives needs to be written and visible;
• Objectives are meant to be BIG and to inspire;
• Set the Objective first and the timeframe second.