“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980
I run at least 55 experiments a day.
- Some drain me
- Some light me up
- Some change everything that comes after them
An experiment is anything new and/or uncomfortable. Three types cover most. Two attributes give some extra weight.
Mental experiments involve your mind. Meditate. Read a book you disagree with (or think you do). Test a new mental model. Challenge a belief you’ve held for years.
Physical experiments push your body. Run. Lift. Cold plunge. Change how you eat.
Social experiments involve other people, reputation or public exposure. Send a Notion document to eight founders before writing code. Publish a post. Ask for feedback in a mastermind. Cold outreach to someone you admire.
For me, mental experiments are easiest. They give me energy. Physical experiments sit in the middle. Social experiments cost me the most. Processing social signals drains me.
For an extrovert the ranking might flip.
Five years ago, social experiments cost me more than they do now. The more I ran, the easier the next one became. Reps reduce anxiety.
Some experiments carry extra weight. Two attributes worth watching.
Infrastructure experiments make other things possible or easier. Setting up a daily cron job. Building a deployment pipeline. Creating a reusable template. The output stays in the system and shows up in every experiment that comes after.
Removal experiments take something away to see if the system still works without it. Cut a meeting. Drop a tool. Archive a habit you’ve outgrown. If the system holds up, the removal is permanent. The gain compounds every day you’re free of the thing you removed.
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Which type of experiment costs you the most energy?
