This is the third blog post in a series about my experiences working through the Productivity Field Guide by David Sparks, available in the Plus and the Standard editions.
In this post, I want to help you move beyond the intellectual exercise of identifying your roles and writing your Arete “best possible version of yourself” statements to use projects and habits to implement your vision.
Putting Your Arete Statements Into Action
After you complete the hard work of identifying your roles and writing your Arete statements, it’s normal to feel a sense of accomplishment. It would be nice to stop there, kick back, and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.
But that would miss the point. We want our Arete statements to drive our life agendas. Having roles and Arete statements without implementing them would be worthless.
We put our Arete statements into action by implementing projects and habits. As David Sparks says in the Productivity Field Guide, “The roles and arete are the destination. Your projects and habits are the wind in your sails.” They get you to your destination.
In Sparks’ system, you choose your projects and habits to implement your Arete in your roles during your quarterly review. My next post in this series will talk about the process of doing quarterly and monthly reviews.
Using Projects and Habits to Further Your Arete
Projects are used when you have a specific goal that can be completed within a specified time.
For instance, I have a project now that falls under my “Serving Altruist” role. One of my Arete statements says, “It’s important for me to volunteer some time to serve my community.” I’ve identified the means of that service as volunteering at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, run by the National Park Service.
To do that service, I must learn to give public tours at a launch control facility preserved in the Historic Site. That’s a project I’ve committed to and intend to complete by the end of this quarter. There are a series of steps I must go through to complete this project.
But not everything fits the model of a project. Sometimes, especially in relationship roles, habits work better than projects. For instance, in my role as Husband, I have an Arete statement that states, “I look Lanette in the eyes and listen intently to her when she speaks to me.” That’s a habit I need to develop, not a project.
We need to look at both projects and habits to implement our Arete. Projects work better for some Arete statements; habits work better for others. Sparks writes, “The trick is in recognizing that habits are just as important as projects in getting to your ideal you. For every role, you should be actively considering projects and habits that can help you make progress.”
Using Projects to Implement Your Arete
I have several ongoing projects that serve to further my Arete.
Under my “Enthusiastic Teacher” role, I write and publish weekly blog posts. Each post has a process to develop and write and an ending when it’s posted. Under my “Serving Altruist” role, I volunteer for the National Park Service. To fulfill that role, I must learn how to lead public tours of a Historic Site facility. Learning to give tours is a current project.
There are two types of projects: forward-looking and backward-looking.
1. Forward-Looking Projects
“Forward-looking” projects are projects that you repeat over and over again following the same steps. My blog posts fall into this category.
Each week, I go through the same process to research, write, format, and publish a blog post. I’ve developed checklists for each stage of the process.
I don’t have to think about and decide how I will complete the project each week; my checklists already have the process lined out for me. All I have to do is follow the plan.
2. Backward-Looking Projects
“Backward-looking” projects are projects that you haven’t done before. Before you can complete the project, you need to think about what it will require to complete the project and how you will work through it to completion.
My project to learn how to give tours at the Minuteman Missile NHS is an example of a backward-looking project. I had to start with my goal of being ready to give tours and work backward, figuring out what I would need to do to get to that point.
I realized I’d need to do several things to prepare myself to give tours:
• Go on tours to observe others giving tours.
• Learn the basic facts about the site.
• Learn the mechanics of unlocking doors, turning on lights, running an elevator, using electronic and chart visual aids, and closing the site after a tour.
• Develop a tour “map” of what I will discuss at specific locations.
• Practice giving a tour.
3. How to Track Projects
Most people develop ways of tracking projects that work best for them. Some apps are developed specifically for managing projects, but they tend to be designed for much more complicated projects than mine.
I typically set up a folder for each current project in the Obsidian Notes app. I have one primary project document in which I describe the project and the steps I intend to take to complete the project.
I’ll often include links to other related documents I’ll need to use to complete the project, both within and outside of Obsidian. If it’s inside Obsidian, I’ll use the built-in linking system. If it’s outside Obsidian, I’ll use the Hookmark app to copy and paste links.
If I want to put a lot of different types of documents in the project file instead of linking to them, I’ll create a folder in the Mac finder. Obsidian can’t handle many types of files.
If there are specific tasks I need to complete within a project, I’ll move those into my task manager, Things.
I review the progress of my projects during my weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews. This ensures nothing falls through the cracks because I forget about it.
Using Habits to Implement Your Arete
I’ve found that habits often fit better with relationship roles than projects. I sometimes have projects under relationship roles, but that’s not the norm.
I’ve already described how I have a habit of implementing my Arete of giving my full attention to my wife and looking into her eyes when she speaks to me. It doesn’t make sense for that to be a project because I don’t intend for that behavior ever to end. Instead, it’s a habit I’m working on developing.
There are different approaches and understandings about how to develop habits best. Two excellent books about this topic are Atomic Habits by James Clear and Tiny Habits, by BJ Fogg.
What everyone agrees on, however, is that repetition is critical. To learn a new habit and have it stick, we have to repeat it repeatedly.
How to Remind Yourself to Repeat Habits
There are tools you can use to track your habits:
• Habit trackers. You can use digital habit trackers or analog habit trackers.
An example of a digital habit tracker is the Streaks app. Some people find this works for them. I tried it for a while but eventually stopped using it. But perhaps it will work for you.
Some people successfully use analog methods such as a page in a journal with boxes to check off for each habit or a whiteboard on the wall.
• Task Managers. When I stopped using a habit tracker app, I started using repeating tasks in my task manager. I use them to remind me of certain habits, such as contacting my daughters periodically, exercising, and doing household chores. If it reminds me of a weekly habit (like contacting my daughter), I’ll either do it when it shows up or calendar it for that week.
At some point, after enough repetition, a habit you’re working on hopefully becomes an ingrained habit, and you no longer need the help of a habit tracker.
Putting Your Arete Statements Into Action: Implementing Projects and Habits
“The exercise of figuring out what roles matter to you and what the ideal version of you is in that role is essential. But that only gives you clarity of purpose. To get there, you need action.” David Sparks. Productivity Field Guide
Identifying your roles and writing your Arete statements is just the first step. Putting these statements into action by implementing projects and habits is essential.
Projects are useful for specific goals that can be completed within a specified time, while habits work better for ongoing behaviors. By actively considering projects and habits aligning with your Arete, you can make progress toward your ideal self in each role.
Remember, clarity of purpose is essential, but action is what will truly get you there.