Rating: 5 of 5
**Type: Lifestyle
I read Tiny Experiments on a recommendation from the podcast Bookworm. It is categorized as a Productivity book. However it’s more lifestyle book in my opinion.
The rest of the review are the notes I took while reading the book. Therefore I would have these notes for reference when I want to review the book’s principles.
1. Goal Setting Broken
Linear Goals
Linear goals are not the answer. What’s wrong with them? Here’s a short list:
- Stimulate Fear – Overwhelm you with choices and to the point where you are unable to take action
- Encourage Toxic Productivity – Provide a justification for you keep busy. In the end you work long hours and feel guilty for taking breaks
- Work while sick
- Breed competition & isolation – Everyone climbing the ladder breeding competition for all the wrong reason. It’s a win-lose scenario
You can’t win the Linear Goal race. Because of social media we compare ourselves to our peers. This is sometimes called the Red Queen Effect. In Through the Looking Glass they all, including Alice, had to run hard to stay in the same place. To go anywhere they had to run twice as hard. Linear goals have the same effect. No matter how many hours you put in the never ending list of linear goals never gets shorter.
Typical responses to linear Goals include:
- Cynicism – pass up opportunities, make fun of innocent people, …
- Escapism – retail therapy, binge watching, …
- Perfectionism – rising early, working long hours, going to bed late, no rest
What do they all have in common? They are all negative. What’s the remedy? Don’t fall for linear progression.
Use a “loop” mental model using iterative cycles of experimentation with each loop building on the last cycle.
Shift from an “outcome” mindset to a “process” mindset.
This is more of a Stoic model where we focus on getting up every day and doing the “”right thing”.
2. Escaping the Tyranny of Purpose
We all have a set of Cognitive Scripts. For example when we visit the doctor we expect to check in, go an examine room, see the doctor, check out, and pickup a prescription.
The act like programmed instructions that we follow in certain situations based on our experience.
These scripts can be bucketed into three categories:
- Sequel – Do something the same way over and over
- Crowdpleaser – Follow the crowd and conform to established definitions of success
> For example we are all pushed to finish school, get a job, meet a partner and start a family whereas you are conforming to a defined path instead of following your curiosity - Epic – Follow your passion. Pursue a linear goal focused more on the goal than the journey
Unlearn your script
How do you unlearn your script. Start by asking yourself these questions:
- Are you following your past or discovering your path
- Are you following the crowd or discovering your tribe
- Are you following your passion or discovering your passion
Remember: A little unlearning is a dangerous thing!
The number one barrier to self-renewal is not lack of time or lack of money; it’s not knowing how to begin
One method suggested by author is to record your thoughts for a day. Then take time to read and study them. What am I curious about? What topics make me feel better or worse? For each question develop a hypothesis. These are candidates for your first Tiny Experiments.
Once you have a hypothesis, you can design an experiment and turn your life into a giant laboratory for self-discovery.
3 Create a Pack
After you’ve recorded your thoughts and analyzed them you are ready for the next step –>
The Pact: I will[action] for [duration]
You commit to an action for a set period.
Example: I will exercise every weekday for 4 weeks
A pack is
- Purposeful
- Actionable
- Continuous
- Trackable
A pack is not
- Habit
- New Year’s Eve Resolution
- Performance Metric
- Resource Intensive Project
How do you choose your pact? Choose based on your curiosity. What excites you? What do you want to learn?
Here I must admit my first couple experiments were based not on curiosity but on habits I wanted to start and habits I wanted to break. I’m in the middle and don’t know if this will work but I’m hopeful.
4. A Deeper Sense of Time
We will not live forever. We all have around 4100 weeks.Our lives are governed by our calendars and todo lists. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The ancient Greeks had the concept of different types of time:
- Chronos -Quantity – How we normal think of time – the blind march of time
- Kairos -Quality – not all time is the same. We all have good productive days and not productive days.
Put another way, with Chronos all time is equal while in Mario’s all time is not equal and the value of time depends on the situation.
To live in Kairos time, we need to shift the focus from what we do with our time to how we experience each moment – what you might call mindful productivity. Time is the most critical resource in traditional productivity. On the other hand, mindful productivity is centered around managing your physical, cognitive, and emotional resources.
Physical Resources
- Align tasks with natural rhythms
- Daily cycles matter
- Sleep matters
- Energy levels are different at different times of the day / week / month /seasons
- Respect your natural rhythms
Cognitive Resources
- Avoid multitasking
- -Once you have identified your *magic windows” what belongs there
Emotional Resources
- Adapt stress response – pay attention to your emotions and adapt
- Stress builds upon stress. Not all stress is bad stress but it’s additive and will at some point turn into distress
- Movement decreases stress, especially movement in nature
How can you get into the magic window to focus on one task and do your best? Kairos Rituals* are a method to reset your focus.
The Kairos Ritual is small act to open magic window for something you want to direct all your resources towards. Everyone is different but some examples are:
- mediation
- walking
- cup of tea
- Listen to a favorite piece of music
5. Procrastination is not the enemy
When it comes to productivity, procrastination is public enemy No. 1.
The Buddha says procrastination has two arrows:
- No. 1 – procrastination itself
- No. 2 – your emotional reaction to it – anxiety, same, and feeling bad
Procrastination is not doing what you think you should be doing. When you are procrastinating, ask yourself whether it’s coming from the head, the heart, or the hand:
- Head – Is this task appropriate? If no then redefine the strategy
- Heart – Is the task exciting – Fear, boredom, or irritation? If no redesign the experience.
- Hand – Is the task doable? If no then request support or get training
6. Intentional Imperfection
Intentional Imperfection means being deliberate about where you invest your efforts, recognizing that you cannot be at the top all the time and across all areas of life. It’s about striving for sustainable excellence rather than fleeting perfection
At any given moment ask yourself: What is important right now? In which domain do I strategically chose short-term mediocrity to enable long-term excellence?
To practice Intentional Imperfection you must:
- Identify perfectionist patterns -Become aware of where you are striving for unrealistic perfection
- Challenge your unrealistic targets – How long will it take to achieve all these goals?
- Choose progress over perfection – Determine where to achieve excellence and where to lower the bar
7. Creating Growth Loops
Trial and Error coupled with self-reflection are a time tested process to growth.
An excellent method of self-reflection is Metacognition which is usually defined as “thinking about thinking”. What does that mean? My understanding is when evaluating a trial and error cycle we use the results and including our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs to formulate the next trial instead of trying something different. \
Note - the term is very popular in educational settings especillay in England where the author resides
+, -, —> (Plus, Minus, Next)
A way to review the – Week, Month, 0r …
Plus: Write any accomplishments that made you proud, moments that brought you joy
Minus: ID challenges or obstacles you faced. Are there tasks you intended to complete but did not? Did you stray from healthy habits?
Next: Use your insights from both the Plus and the Minus to shape you actions for the upcoming period
+, -, —> works because it’s
- Fast: takes a few minutes
- Flexible: works for all areas of your life
- Future-focused: Don’t dwell on the past – use lessons learned for the future
Mistakes are good: You don’t improve if you don’t make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to make them. Reflect on them and refine your approach for attempts in the future
8. The Secret to Better Decisions
The pact is complete. What comes next? The alternatives are:
- Persist
- Pause
- Pivot
Persist: Taking a Stand – persist on the current pact but extend the time.
Pause: Take a Break – Quit for a period which could be but doesn’t have to be forever. This is not an admission of failure. It’s an exercise in adaptability.
Pivot: Taking. Turn – It’s sometime advantageous to ask yourself if you should adjust parameters of the experiment. Are you curious but you need to make changes to complete the pact? Remember, the primary goal is to learn, grow, and discover more about the world.
9. How to Dance With Disruptions
Disruptions are painful and test our mettle.
Eastern religions teach a form of “letting do”. For example, Taoism which means acting in harmony with the flow of life. Hindu philosophy teaches to practice detachment allowing tranquility with the “Flow of life”.
Or Don’t resist chaos, but embrace it.
Embracing the chaos is a two step process:
- Processing the subjective experience – it helps to write your emotions
- Managing the Objective Consequences – confront the practical implications
10. How to Unlock Social Flow
As part of the experiments you should join or create a community to share your experiment. By joining a community:
- You access a collective set of knowledge greater than your own
2.The community may reveal additional impacts - Communities can help when you have new or difficult situations
11. Learning in Public
You need to share your experiments in the public arena in for:
- Early feedback – Learn faster and connect with people
- Increased creativity – more likely to connect the dots between your ideas and other people’s ideas
- Clarity – Instead of rushing through the experiment with little thought you will put effort into your strategy and execution
How to share your learning journey in public:
- Public Pledge – Choose and inform your public about your experiment
- Public Platform – Choose the appropriate platform. The platform could range from Twitter, to blogs, to podcasts, to YouTube, to …
- Public Practice – Run the experiment and document what you’ve learned along the way
12. Life Beyond Legacy
The desire for legacy is the desire for evidence that your life, in the end, held meaning. The problem is your are dead then.
Instead focus on generatively which emphasizes using your personal growth to positively impact the world around you.
Focus on the present moment and ask yourself: How can I use my skills and experiences to positively impact the people around me right now?
John Keats:
Life is fleeting and sometimes filled with darkness, the beauty to be found offers a perpetual source of wonder to those who seek it.
Do the Work First
Be proactive and do the work – play and experiment without worrying about milestones – focus on having fun and learning.
Grow lateral Roots
Expand you knowledge across disciplines by focusing in serial on new areas you discover while experimenting
Prioritize Impact Over Image
Allow you life to evolve with your curiosity opening yourself up to new ways of creating value for others
Close the Loop to Open Doors
Finish what your start and reflect on the lessons learned
Play Along the Way
Find joy in what you are doing. We played all the time when we were young and along the way we learned. When did we stop and there is no reason can’t start playing aging.
Stop the experiment if you are not having fun
Conclusion
Principles:
- Forget the finish line – enjoy the journey
- Unlearn your scripts – Be curious and break the bonds we have learned since childhood
- Turn doubts into experiments -when in doubt, run a personal experiment
- Let go go the chronometer – shift your focus from Chronos to Kairos ( Quantitative to Quality)
- Make friends with procrastination- Its a signal something is amiss mismatch between your emotional needs, rational aspirations, emotional needs, and practical skills
- Embrace imperfection – you cannot be excellent at everything in parallel
- Design growth loops – Do, reflect, and repeat
- Broaden the decision frame – persist, pause, or pivot
- Dance with disruption – when life throws you a curveball, stop, and explore the experience before staring to confronting the disruption
- Seek fellow explorers – be an active participant in communities
- Learn in public – share the journey as it unfolded both the successes and the failures
- Let go of your legacy – You will be dead when it happens and you won’t care
Remember:
- Pact: Commit to Curiosity
- Act: Practice Mindful Productivity
- React: Collaborate with Uncertainty
- Impact: Grow with the World
Posted by molson46 
Number 6's Blog 