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The Difference Between Goals and Objectives

It’s amazing how many people just throw up a website without having a clear idea about their Goals and Objectives. While a website is a necessity, you’ve got to ask yourself a few, very important questions before you begin. Even if you only take a few minutes, use those minutes and really think about why you’re doing something and what you want to accomplish. After all, you wouldn’t cook your Thanksgiving turkey using a recipe for sushi.

What’s the Difference Between Goals and Objectives?

A lot of people will use the terms “Goals” and “Objectives” interchangeably.

Don’t.

Well, you can, but they actually mean different things as the following definitions show:

• Goals: A general, high-level and longer-term result of actions.
• Objectives: Specific actions that are measurable in the mid to short-term timeframe.

So, your goal may be: Cook the most amazing Thanksgiving turkey ever!

This could lead to your objective of: Having each your guests gain ten pounds and pass out by eight o’clock with smiles on their faces.

Note: This leads to selecting your strategies and tactics (the recipes you will use to cook), but that’s a conversation for another day.

How to Determine Your Goals and Objectives?

At its most basic, what you need to ask yourself is, “What do I want to accomplish?”

This is your goal. 

Then, follow-up with, “How much do I want to (do, sell, whatever)?” and “When do I want to finish by?”

I know, this is very basic, but if you apply this thinking to your projects you should be able to determine if you’re using the right tools in the right ways to achieve what you want to accomplish.

And this is the beginning of developing your strategy.

If you need help developing your strategy, reach out to me. I can help.