Experimentation & The Art of Gathering Intelligence

An excellent way to gather Intelligence about your purpose, what’s next, or any of life’s big questions, is to experiment.

We’ve lost our ability to dabble, to try, to play around with an idea.

We can become paralyzed by the need to know—to have it all figured out—before we even begin. But we can’t figure it out because we don’t have enough info. Circlecirclecircle. 

Experiments are a way of throwing your metaphorical spaghetti of an idea against the wall and seeing if it sticks.

The universe rewards your experimentation with massive amounts of new information in the form of actionable data, synchronicities, and an uptick in creativity.

EXPERIMENTATION TIPS:

1. Keep It Simple
   Seriously. Bootstrap it. Come up with your minimally viable idea. Relentlessly remove extraneous stuff. Do just enough to get data and no more. Use what you learned to create your next experiment. 
2. Detach
   It doesn’t matter if the experiment “worked” or not. That’s not the point. The point is to, a) move forward by doing the experiment, and b) learn. You can have goals for the experiment—but hold them loosely. (Don’t make me come over there and boop you.)
3. Be Open & Playful
   Try something! See what happens! If you get thrown a curveball, awesome! What did that curveball teach you? (Hint: Remember an experiment is about something you're trying to do, not a judgment of your worth.)
4. Don't Commit
   You’re experimenting. Explore lots of ideas. Jump around. Be a little hurly-burly. It’ll all start adding up, promise. Don't commit to a singular path while you're still gathering info. 

I’m being a little cheeky, but here’s the thing: experiments work.

→ Experiments get you moving along your path.
→ Movement creates clarity.
→ Experimentation moves you from the success/failure mindset into creative exploration. 
→ Experiments are a way of telling the universe you're letting go of how you think it should be and are ready to receive info beyond your current knowing. 

Experimenting is what gets you living on purpose now, no waiting.