Once upon a time, I was in a bit of a rut…

I’d always considered myself a night owl.

So when everyone in the house went to bed… I stayed up until the wee small hours, reading, watching obscure cult films, editing photos and listening to music.

But often, I’d overdo it…

I’d drink wine, get carried away with what I was doing, go to bed really late, then oversleep and feel groggy all day.

So I tried something out.

I decided to start getting up early – REALLY early – and see what happened.

It was astonishing.

The amount I got done in those early hours surprised me, and I felt a lot more creative and productive during the entire day.

That sealed the deal for me!

My early rising became an ingrained habit… my all-nighters stopped…. and I’ve never looked back.

This is how it is, sometimes.

It can take one small decision to change everything.

But you never know what decision will be the important one UNTIL you experiment a bit.

For instance, I didn’t KNOW I needed to try an ‘early-to-rise’ approach until I actually tried it.

Similarly, there might be something in your life that you could do right now… a switch in your routine, a new habit, or a change of approach… that could have a massive effect.

But how would you know?

You won’t unless you carry out some tests.

And this is where you could take inspiration from the world of science.

The Problem With Fixed Goals

Last month, neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff wrote in The Guardian about the problem with goals.

“Goals work brilliantly under very specific conditions”, she says. “You want to buy a car that fits three kids and costs under £25,000? Set a goal, do the research, buy the car. The destination is known and the path is clear.”

But she points out that most of the things we care in life about don’t work like that.

For example, figuring out the best home business to start… judging whether you’re in the right job or career… working out how to be healthy or more productive.

You can set a big goal, sure…

But as you progress towards it, the destination can shift or your situation can change.

So you need to adapt.

Le Cunff says that if you fixate on a specific goal, “it’s like locking in your answer before you have understood the question.”

She adds: “When we cling to a destination and try to push through the uncertainty we set ourselves up for frustration and self-blame.”

As I pointed out in a recent email, we’ve all got a tendency to fixate on metrics, to the point where we only care about the numbers.

When we fail to hit the scores we want, we feel sad, disappointed and demotivated.

The same goes for our approach to a big goal.

We make a plan, set a course, and head towards it – but sometimes that course might not be the right one for us.

And following the plan, without deviation, will only result in exasperation and potential failure.

This is why Le Cunff suggests that we adopt the ‘experimental mindset’ of a scientist.

You see, a scientist testing a proposition will begin with a sense of uncertainty.

They make a prediction that something will work – like a chemical reaction, for example – but they don’t KNOW it will work.

So they design an experiment to test it out.

Whatever the outcome, good or bad, their only goal is to learn the answer.

If the prediction fails, then that doesn’t mean they have failed, or that they are failures.

It’s just an experiment that produced a certain result.

They can make a new prediction, go back into the lab, then test that out.

We humans also make predictions….

CONSTANTLY.

Every second of the day, our brains generate expectations and then adjust them based on the feedback.

Most of the time, these predictions are accurate.

You know that when you turn on the tap, water will flow… when you sit on the sofa the cushions will be soft… and when you put an apple in your mouth it will taste like an apple.

But those predictions will occasionally be wrong.

Particularly when you go from everyday activities like eating fruit to larger, more complex goals like getting fit, setting up a Shopify site or becoming a freelance tutor.

You might expect that the process will go one way…

Perhaps because you’ve been given a blueprint, followed a course or seen someone else do it….

But when you get going, you might find that it’s not unfolding as you predicted, or as you were told it would.

So your instinct is to blame yourself. (“I’m stupid”, “I’m lazy”, “I’m too distractable”, “I’m too old.”)

Or it’s to get angry with the system (“This doesn’t work”, “It’s a scam”, “It’s out of date.”)

But what you should actually do is adjust, recalibrate or change direction.

That way you create your own personalised roadmap, rather than blindly following someone else’s blueprint.

How to ‘Anthropologise’ Your Life

In her Guardian piece, Anne-Laure Le Cunff suggests that when you are faced with a big life decision, you should behave like an anthropologist.

Act as if you are a human subject in a laboratory and take field notes about yourself.

Start with these questions.

• What gives you energy?
• What drains your energy?
• What are the top three things you like to do?
• What kind of people do you most like to talk to?
• What are the ideas you can’t stop thinking about?

Write down your answers and add any other thoughts that occur to you – or perhaps other research questions you might pose yourself.

You might spot that:

• You always feel more driven and focussed when you’re collaborating with someone else.
• Doomscrolling before bed leaves you emotionally flat the next morning…
• The part of your business you dread isn’t the work itself, but the admin, or the tech, or worrying what people will think..
• The most happy and creative hour of your day is the one spent walking the dog, not the one spent at your laptop ‘being productive….’
• Writing emails for work gives you anxiety
• You cannot stop thinking about recipes…
• Eating a big lunch makes it hard to concentrate in the afternoon

Once you’ve got down a few honest observations, you can then start testing them, one at a time.

Pick a single change like…

• “I’ll switch my phone off after 8pm for two weeks.”
• “I’ll make sure I talk to this inspirational friend every week.”
• “I’ll read for 30 minutes a day instead of scrolling.”
• “I’ll ask if I can get my boss to delegate the one task in my business that stresses me out most.”
• “I’ll exercise first thing in the morning instead of squeezing it in at night.”
• “I will cut out sugar for a month.”

Then give it a timeframe for testing (a couple of weeks is usually enough).

Now you can see what actually happens.

The point isn’t to overhaul your whole life in one go. It’s to run a small experiment and pay attention to the result.

I’d recommend writing a diary so that you can track what happens…

It could include results, stats and figures…

Or it could simply be a measurement of your mood and energy levels.

Remember, if the test fails, it’s not a failure.

You’ve simply tried something to see if it works and it hasn’t… this time anyway.

So move onto another test!

When you do find that a change brings a result, then make that part of your plan going forwards!

Give it a try this month, and if any experiments bear fruit, please let me know!