Make PACTs Instead of Goals

There are new conversations bubbling up around goals, goal setting, and their achievement. SMART goals are becoming passe, a fading but persistent cliche.

I see updated, forward thinking curriculum that includes SMART Goals, not because it's still relevant, but because it appears to be relevant due to its ubiquitousness. It's almost as if there's a need to use it to bridge the gap between the Old World of Finish Line Focus and the New World of Living a Life of Meaning and Purpose that includes both linear goals along with increasing flexibility.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of Tiny Experiments, suggests that we make PACTS instead.

She calls a PACT a "commitment device" with an experimental attitude. You may have seen hashtags for these commitments, usually starting with #100daychallenge.

I see a PACT as a staircase, that once we've reached the top gives us new perspective, at which point, we can pivot accordingly.

A PACT allows for experimentation and discovery, especially when we don't know what we really want. Goals, SMART or otherwise, may give us temporary satisfaction, but they can also cause tunnel vision that keep us from more meaningful experiences that enrich our lives both personally and professionally.

In my work with clients, I recommend a healthy mixture of PACTs and goals, though I use different models than the SMART one.

The PACT: Purposeful Action, Continuous & Trackable

Purposeful

Choose something exciting, that will provide meaning through a learning-focused journey. Focus on output not outcome. That means showing up every day for the duration of your pact, eager to see what happens as a result.

I recently wrote an article that emphasizes this concept, framed as "Positive," as a starting point for goals, and it works for PACTs too!

Actionable

The core of the pact is the intentional action you will take every day for the duration of your commitment. The idea is that the action will lead you deeper into a desire or show you that the path might not be what you'd hoped and also illuminate other possibilities.

The action you choose should be one you can perform with reliable resources at your disposal. If you are scrambling for resources after a few days, you may find yourself scrambling unnecessarily and bail too soon to form an assessment on the imPACT!

Continuous

Simple, repeatable actions taken daily or other measurable consistent effort for the express purpose of gathering data. You might do it every week, for example, or every 3 days, although our minds work better with standardized time frames for this purpose. Daily is powerful, but if it feels like too much, start with smaller time frames for your PACTs. 10 days instead of 100 for example. You can always extend the PACT if you're finding you need more feedback.

Use the data to guide you in your decisions about your direction. There are no straight lines in nature or in life. The PACT allows you to gain a flexibility not taught in our society.

Trackable

Trackable does not mean measurable, certainly not in the sense of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) we're taught in business.

You simply want to answer initially the binary question, "Have I done this today or not?" Yes or No. While it gives us that satisfaction of checking something off our to-do list or marking a fat X on a calendar or grid, the PACT is purposeful in its repetition AND in its double intention: 1. to enact the experiment by doing the thing, and 2. to gain valuable feedback along the way.

The Staircase

In a future post, I will lay out the steps for setting a PACT.

For now, think of a PACT as a staircase, as I mentioned in the introduction. One step after another of Purposeful Action, Continuous and Trackable. The staircase provides the framework image of a repeated action, instead of progressive and different steps.

When you reach the top, at Day 10 or Day 100 or whatever timeframe you committed to, you'll have a better view of the path ahead. You'll likely have gained skills and abilities, while also having gained valuable information to lead you on.

I recently made a PACT to publish a podcast episode every day for 100 days. As of this writing, 91 episodes have published!

♥ Michele Jennae
Transformation happens at the EDG!