Understanding PACTs: Tiny Experiments for Personal Growth

What is a PACT?

A PACT is a Personal Action Commitment Tracker - a small, focused experiment designed to help you make meaningful changes in your life. Let me explore this concept in detail based on the available information.

Understanding PACT: A Comprehensive Guide

What is a PACT?

A PACT is a simple yet powerful approach to personal experimentation and growth. The term stands for a commitment that is Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable. At its core, a PACT is defined as “a simple and repeatable activity that will inevitably bring you closer to achieving your authentic ambitions”.

The fundamental formula for a PACT is straightforward:

“I will [action] for [duration].”

This structure emphasizes doing over planning, focusing on outputs rather than outcomes. For example, instead of saying “get 5,000 newsletter subscribers in 25 weeks” (an outcome), a PACT would be “publish 25 newsletters over the next 25 weeks” (an output).

Key Characteristics of a PACT

A well-designed PACT has several important characteristics:

1. Time-bound: A PACT has a specific duration, which forces you to wait until after a pre-agreed number of iterations before making a decision. For something completely new, a ten-day pact is a good starting point.

2. Action-focused: A PACT emphasizes doing over planning. By regulating the action, which is under more direct control of your will, you can indirectly regulate feelings, which are not.

3. Binary tracking: You should be able to track your PACT with a simple yes/no question: Have you done it or not?

4. Output-oriented: A PACT focuses on your outputs (what you can control) rather than outcomes (which often depend on external factors).

5. Experimental: A PACT is fundamentally about experimentation and learning, not about perfection or immediate success.

How to Create a PACT

Creating an effective PACT involves several steps:

1. Start with curiosity: Use your curiosity as a compass. Pay attention to what genuinely interests you rather than what you think you “should” be doing.

2. Think tiny: Many people fail because they set overly ambitious goals. Instead, think small and manageable. This helps avoid the planning fallacy and overconfidence effect that often lead to abandonment.

3. Focus on action: Frame your PACT around a specific action you will take, not a result you hope to achieve.

4. Set a specific duration: Define exactly how long your experiment will last. This creates a container for your experience and prevents premature quitting.

5. Make it trackable: Ensure you can easily determine whether you’ve fulfilled your commitment each day or session.

Examples of PACTs

Here are some examples of well-formulated PACTs:

• “I will write for 30 minutes every day for the next 10 days.”
• “I will publish one article per week for the next 8 weeks.”
• “I will practice drawing for 15 minutes daily for the next 14 days.”
• “I will try one new recipe each weekend for the next month.”
• “I will meditate for 5 minutes every morning for the next 21 days.”

Notice how each example specifies both the action and the duration, making it clear exactly what commitment is being made.

The Benefits of Working with PACTs

Working with PACTs offers numerous benefits:

1. Building evidence of capability: Every time you act, you bet on yourself and gather evidence that you can do what you set out to do.

2. Learning through iteration: The serial-order effect shows that later responses to a creative problem are often better than earlier ones. PACTs leverage this by encouraging multiple attempts.

3. Embracing failure as learning: The most reliable way to be successful is to try, fail, learn, and try again. A PACT creates a safe container for this process.

4. Testing before committing: A PACT can be useful before deciding on a new habit. It allows you to experiment with a behavior before making an unbounded time commitment.

5. Focusing on process over outcomes: By shifting focus from end results to the process itself, PACTs reduce anxiety and increase enjoyment of the journey.

Evaluating and Evolving Your PACT

After completing your PACT, you have three main options:

1. Persist: If the experiment was rewarding, you can ride the wave of momentum and prolong your PACT.

2. Pause: If you need time to reflect or if circumstances have changed, you can take a break before deciding next steps.

3. Pivot: If the experiment revealed new insights, you might adjust your approach while maintaining the core intention.

A helpful reflection tool is “Plus Minus Next”:

• Plus: What went well?
• Minus: What didn’t go well?
• Next: What will you do differently going forward?

The Long-Term Impact of PACTs

Over time, working with PACTs can transform your approach to growth and achievement:

1. From fixed ladders to growth loops: Instead of seeing progress as climbing a predetermined ladder, you begin to experience growth as iterative cycles of experimentation.

2. Developing metacognition: PACTs help you become better at thinking about your own thinking, which is crucial for long-term development.

3. Building confidence through action: Confidence is built through action rather than through planning or positive thinking.

4. Creating a culture of experimentation: You begin to see your life as a laboratory where doubt becomes a source of inspiration rather than paralysis.

5. Embracing imperfection: You learn that perfection isn’t the goal; growth and learning are. This reduces anxiety and increases enjoyment.

6. Connecting with others: PACTs can be enhanced by learning in public and connecting with fellow explorers, creating opportunities for shared growth and community.

By consistently working with PACTs, you develop the ability to navigate uncertainty with curiosity rather than fear, turning life’s challenges into opportunities for experimentation and growth.

Linking

• Source: [[Cunff-Tiny Experiments]]
• Pomodoro Pact
• [[SMART goals are not so smart- make a PACT instead]]

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