In a world that’s constantly evolving, many of us find ourselves drowning in cognitive overload. We absorb more information than ever before, build endless to-do lists, and cling to routines in a desperate attempt to keep up. But our brains haven’t evolved to match this speed. We’re running ancient software on modern hardware.

Social media compounds the pressure. It acts like a giant scoreboard, where everyone’s achievements are on display, inviting relentless comparison. We constantly ask: Am I productive enough? Ambitious enough? Fast enough? This mindset—the maximized brain—urges us to take every idea to its most extreme version. Want to write? Start a book. Want to exercise? Hit the gym daily. Want to create? Launch a startup. This obsessive scaling leads to burnout, overwhelm, or abandonment.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World, suggests a refreshing alternative: run tiny experiments. These are low-stakes, curiosity-driven explorations that prioritize learning over performance. The goal isn’t to succeed, but to discover.

Anne-Laure’s journey is itself a case study. After excelling in school and working at Google, she followed the conventional path of success—but it left her feeling empty. Even launching a startup, supposedly the dream, didn’t bring fulfillment. It wasn’t until her startup failed that she paused and asked, What do I actually want? She went back to what had always intrigued her: the human brain. She pursued neuroscience, earned a PhD, and began sharing her learnings online, one newsletter at a time. That simple, consistent experiment—writing each week—sparked a transformative career.

She introduces the concept of the experimental mindset, a powerful alternative to three common but subconscious mindsets: the cynical (low ambition, low curiosity), the escapist (high curiosity, low ambition), and the perfectionist (high ambition, low curiosity). The experimental mindset blends both high curiosity and high ambition, encouraging exploration without attachment to specific outcomes.

Designing a life around experimentation isn’t about winging it. It’s about approaching life like a scientist. Start with observation. Ask a research question. Design a tiny experiment with a clear action and duration. Collect data, analyze how it felt and what outcomes it produced, then decide: persist, pause, or pivot.

Anne-Laure calls these commitments pacts. A pact is not a resolution or a habit. It’s not about productivity metrics or long-term lifestyle changes. It’s a conscious, time-bound test. For instance, instead of saying, “I’m going to run three times a week forever,” you might say, “I’ll run three times a week for three weeks and see how I feel.” That subtle shift empowers you to experiment, learn, and adjust—without the pressure to succeed.

Success isn’t just measured by external outcomes. Anne-Laure encourages us to look at both external data (feedback, engagement, opportunities) and internal data (how it made us feel). She gives the example of trying YouTube videos—while the metrics were good, she dreaded filming. So she quit, choosing instead the medium she loves: writing.

Her approach applies to every domain: work, relationships, health, creativity. Curious about reconnecting with friends? Try writing one message every Sunday for six weeks. Curious about a new workout? Test it before making it a habit. No pressure, just data.

Much of our anxiety stems from uncertainty. Our brains are wired to seek control—it was a survival mechanism. But today, that urge leads us to hoard information, stick to safe paths, or freeze entirely. The irony? Uncertainty is not the enemy—it’s the birthplace of growth. Scientists know that progress comes from trial and error. Nature evolves through randomness and mutation. Our lives can, too.

One practice that helps navigate uncertainty is affective labeling—naming your emotions. Doing so shifts brain activity from the amygdala (fear center) to the prefrontal cortex (reasoning center), reducing anxiety and increasing clarity. If words fail, describe your emotional landscape like a scene: “a stormy forest,” “a foggy hill.” It helps.

Anne-Laure also warns against blindly following cognitive scripts—those internalized stories about how we’re supposed to live. There’s the sequel script (doing something just because it fits your past), the crowd-pleaser script (living for others’ approval), and the epic script (believing your life must be wildly ambitious to matter). These scripts limit experimentation and creativity.

We can break free by replacing the word “should” with “might.” What might I explore? What might I try? What might bring me joy?

To overcome procrastination, Anne-Laure offers the triple check: ask yourself if the resistance is coming from your head (rational doubt), heart (lack of emotional connection), or hand (lack of practical tools). Each requires a different fix—rethinking the task, making it more fun, or asking for help.

Instead of stuffing every minute with tasks, she advocates for mindful productivity—focusing not just on time, but on energy, emotion, and cognitive capacity. This includes identifying your magic windows—times of peak focus and flow—and learning how to protect and replicate them.

Finally, she introduces the idea of self-anthropology. Observe your life like a curious researcher. What brings energy? What drains it? What makes you lose track of time? Take notes, draw patterns, and experiment.

There’s no fixed formula for success. The world is changing too fast for any script to keep up. The way forward isn’t linear—it’s cyclical. Observe. Hypothesize. Experiment. Reflect. Repeat.

As Anne-Laure puts it, our freedom lies in the gap between stimulus and response. In that gap, we can choose curiosity over certainty, discovery over destination.

Because in the end, life isn’t a goal to be achieved—it’s an experiment to be lived.

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Credit: This blog is based on a talk by Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of “Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World,” originally shared via Big Think.aure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of “Tiny Experiment”