setting objectives: 10 ways to stimulate your creativity

Setting Objectives10 ways to stimulate

your creativity to objectivize

your life and

business goals

www.codacoach.comYour Partner for Project Success

David Colliquet

http://www.codacoach.com

”Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. ”

Tony Robbins



When to use it?You already have a broad understanding of what you want to achieve - indeed you know your overall goal…



When to use it?You already have a broad understanding of what you want to achieve - indeed you know your overall goal…

…but you need inspiration to put words on it and make it a workable objective

(ideally a SMART one: Simple, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic,Time-related)



Context

• Personal development

• Business context

• Alone or with a team as

part of a brainstorming



Technique 1 - ”Puzzle Mode”1. Catch all keywords

collected from your reflexions, interviews or brainstormings:

• nouns • action verbs • adjectives • figures





• nouns • action verbs • adjectives • figures 2. Put them together

randomly on a wall, on a piece of paper or with the help of a

mind mapping software





• nouns • action verbs • adjectives • figures 2. Put them together

randomly on a wall, on a piece of paper or with the help of a

mind mapping software

3. Now they look like pieces of a

puzzle that you will solve by connecting relevant information

together until you recognize it as your

objective



1. Start by thinking about an objective that goes WAY beyond what you need and want, something really impossible to achieve. If you can easily define it, write it down.

Technique 2 - ”Mission: Impossible”112 stairs



1. Start by thinking about an objective that goes WAY beyond what you need and want, something really impossible to achieve. If you can easily define it, write it down.

2. Now, consider the more reasonable yet challenging target you want : you may find it easier to start from the impossible objective to “make it possible”.

Technique 2 - ”Mission: Impossible”

10 stairs

112 stairs



Impossible: We want to launch a search engine which will be as popular as Google within less than 6 months

Wanted: We want to launch a search engine for executive education with above 25% market share within one year

Example



You don’t know the end, but you how to start… From this first step, you may find a second one, and so forth until you have reached what you really want.

Technique 3 - ”Tentative Steps”



Step 1 : “ We want to leverage the high amount of executive education information we have collected”.

Step 2 : “ We want to transfer all our executive education information in a single database ”.

Step 3 : “ We want to launch a search engine for executive education with above 20% market share within one year ”.

Example



You may not know exactly what you want, but you know precisely what you don’t want to:

Make yours a goal that defines what you want to stop doing!

Technique 4 - ”No Way!”



“I don’t want to spend my weekends and nights handling emails and correspondence that I could have handled within working hours.“

Example



1. Start from the current situation and note the main elements in it which you like and/or which are working well

2. Then think them “ bigger ” : they are your next objectives!

Technique 5 - ”Enhanced Reality”



Why define alone a target yourself if others can do it for you?

1. Ask a colleague or a friend how he/she would define the objective if he/she would be in your position.

2. You will most probably not keep this wording as is - but you can use it as a starting point.

Technique 6 - ”Call a Friend”



If you know at least what you want to avoid, you can reword it in a positive manner and keep that as your objective.

Technique 7 - ”Reword Positively”



Example


“I don’t want to spend my weekends and nights handling emails and correspondence that I could have handled within working hours.“

“I want to enhance my personal organization in order to be able to handle all my email and correspondence within the working hours.“


Instead of focusing on “what” you want to achieve, you can figure out “how” you want to do it, describing your target by its traits and features.

Technique 8 - ”Features and Qualities”



“I want to have a smooth and efficient personal organization with a systematic and timely email handling.“

Example



Famous and less famous people can be inspiring examples and be used as models to define the target you want to reach. It also works with companies, organizations, …

Technique 9 - ”Do It Like…”

Example: “ I want to be able to deliver keynotes in the manner of Steve Jobs “.



Visualize yourself and your environment in the desired situation, mentally scanning how your achievement looks like.

Have you found some key elements in that? They would probably found their place in your definition of a motivating objective!

Technique 10 - ”Visualize Success”



- Some of those techniques (#4, #5, #7, #8, #9, #10) are described further in From Coach to Awakener by Robert Dilts

- The others are personal tips I use mostly to help customers during coaching sessions to translate goals into objectives

References



setting objectives: 10 ways to stimulate your creativity

Self Improvement