Creating the life design you want takes work.
Objectives are the pieces required to build your life design.
Objectives capture the major milestones required for building your life design.
There are 5 keys to creating and achieving objectives.
- Key #1: Clarity in Your Objectives
- Key #2: Measure Your Objectives
- Key #3: Design Objectives for Your Capability
- Key #4: Align Your Objectives with Your Goals
- Key #5: Design Objectives for Your Time
What are Objectives in the Life Design Framework
What are Objectives in the Life Design FrameworkThe part of your life design plan that you will start executing starts with your objectives.
Where goals are the high-level broad statements about outcomes you want to have in your life, objectives are the major steps you are taking towards the goals. Objectives will be further broken down into tactics or actions. Actions are basically your to-do list. Actions should be single tasks that can be accomplished in a short period of time.
The specific tasks to achieve an objective should be well understood. If you don’t know the specific steps required either take the time to figure out those steps or break up the objective, one objective to research and make a plan, and the next objective to carry out the steps of that plan.
Objectives are the big pieces required to reach your goal. Don’t worry if you don’t know all the objectives required to reach your goal. As you achieve each objective it will become clearer what additional objectives are required.
Key #1: Clarity in Your Objectives
The first key for creating strong objectives is to have clarity in your objectives. Clarity consists of knowing exactly what needs to be done and how it will be done in order to complete the objective.
When creating your objectives make sure you have control in reaching the objective.
If your objective has a component that is out of your control you need to refine your objective to remove that component. As an example, if your objective is to lose 10 pounds, it would be better to have the objective changed to specify what you are going to eat, or how much exercise. You can use the weight as a metric to help determine how much exercise or whether changes are required in your diet.
Create your objectives so you know and understand exactly what you need to do to complete the objective. When you know what you need to do you can focus on doing the work to complete the objective.
Key #2: Measure Your Objectives
Measuring your objectives is a key principle to achieving your objectives. The better you can measure your progress towards completing an objective, the better you will be at completing the objective.
Some objectives such as losing weight, or financial objectives have clear metrics that can be used to measure progress.
Other objectives are more difficult to measure. Take any opportunities to change the objective to make it more measurable.
Key #3: Design Objectives for Your Capabilities
Create your objectives based on your capabilities. If your objectives are too difficult based on your capabilities there is a chance you will give up.
When an objective exceeds your capabilities, split the objective into multiple objectives where one objective is to increase your capability. In this way, you will be able to complete objectives and therefore create momentum.
Key #4: Align Your Objectives with Your Goals
The reason you have objectives is to achieve your goals.
If you have objectives that don’t align with your goals then drop the objective. There is no need to spend effort on objectives that do not get you closer to your goals. Use this effort on objectives that align with your goals.
If you have objectives that partially align then refine the objective so that it aligns with your goals.
The ultimate goal of your objectives is to reach your goals. Evaluate all your objectives to determine where best to spend your time to achieve your goals.
Key #5: Design Objectives for Your Time
The one resource you have in life that is finite is your time. You cannot create more time, or save time for a later date.
When designing and working on your objectives keep the time component in mind. You want to have objectives that can be achieved in a reasonable time frame. Too long and you will lose momentum, too short and less can be achieved by each objective.
A good rule of thumb is to have objectives that can be achieved within a quarter (3 months). Each quarter you can take the time to reassess all of your objectives.
Objectives are Your Map to Your Ideal Life
Your objectives are the roadmap to your ideal life. As you complete your objectives you are closer to achieving your goals. Achieving your goals means achieving your ideal life.
The keys to effective objectives can be summarized by the S.M.A.R.T. paradigm
Objectives follow the S.M.A.R.T. paradigm
- S-Specific – The objective is one part of the overall goal the objective is for.
- M-Measurable – The objective is measurable so that you know exactly when you have achieved it
- A-Achievable – The objective is within your power to achieve
- R-Relevant – The objective is relevant to the overall goal and the goal is relevant to your [vision] and [purpose]
- T-Timely – The objective can be completed in a reasonable time frame.
Create and continually refine smart objectives in order to achieve your life goals.