How to move forward in life when you don't know where you are going. Pacts not goals.

The goal of getting better

“Well, that’s not specific enough. What will you actually do this week to get better at planning?”

That’s what I asked a client after we explored a few blind spots that might be slowing him and his company down.

After a pause, he shared something personal:

“These days I don’t feel like I own my days. It feels like they’re decided for me. Things just happen. I’d like to steer my ship more, not just respond to one emergency after another.
Yes, let’s focus on getting better at planning.
And apply what helped me get into the best shape of my life to my work life now.”

And then… he was happy to end the session without a plan.

This happens often when someone sets out to “get better” at something that doesn’t have a clear finish line. How do you know when you're better at planning? What does “winning” look like when there’s no scoreboard?

You define it.

You set your own finish line.
You answer the question:
“How will I know I’ve arrived?”

But, here's a caveat, when you’re just starting, or not sure how to measure it yet, or where it is you end up going, pacts often work better than goals.

"How will I know I'm moving?" - might be a better question to ask.

In "Tiny Experiments: how to live freely in a goal-obsessed world," Anne-Laure Le Cunff defines a pact as a short-term, focused commitment to an action, framed as "I will [action] for [duration]". It's a way to turn curiosity into action and learn from small, repeatable experiments, rather than getting bogged down by rigid goals. 

Here's a more detailed breakdown: 
  • Purposeful:
    A pact should feel meaningful and provide a sense of learning or exploration, not just a rigid task.
  • Actionable:
    The action should be something you can reliably do with your current resources and time.
  • Continuous:
    It should involve a simple, repeatable action that can be tracked over a specific period.
  • Trackable:
    A pact should be easily monitored, often with a simple "yes/no" for completion.
Essentially, a pact is a playful way to test out ideas, learn about yourself, and build habits through consistent action, rather than aiming for specific outcomes.

If you’ve never had a planning habit, then spending 5 minutes each morning mapping your day is the needed, simple move forward. Ask:

  • What matters most today?

  • What do I want to accomplish?

  • Why does it matter?

  • When will I do it - before the world tells me what to care about?

It’s not about chasing some ideal outcome.
It’s about showing up. Consistently.
And then reflecting. Adjusting. Learning. And growing.
That’s how we get better at things we’ve never done before. Because often, it's hard to set goals when you haven't tried something at all.

In the Tiny Experiments Anne-Laure shares a powerful idea: in a fast-changing world, it’s better to commit to a flexible practice, not a rigid goal, which might have to change.

Reflecting on my own life, I see it clearly, when I made a pact with myself to show up, everything changed.

Not when I set the perfect target.
But when I committed to:

  • Write every day (not finish a book).

  • Plan each day (not map the next five years).

  • Train every morning (not “get fit” by summer).

So maybe that’s the way of life?

Start a pact. Not a goal.
Choose what you want to get better at.
Choose your practice.
Choose your time, place, your tools.
And then show up.

Have you ever tried it?

#100DaysOfWriting
#100DaysOfExercise
#100DaysOfMorningWalks
#100DaysOfGratitude
#100DaysOfColdOutreach

...

What could YOUR 100 days be?