Hey Reader,

A few years ago, I had this goal to run a half-marathon. I printed the training plan, bought the shoes, and committed to race day.

Halfway through, I realized something: I hated it.

Every long run felt like a chore. Instead of building joy and resilience, I was dragging myself through miles I didn’t want to run.

Eventually, I admitted what I really wanted wasn’t to run 13.1 miles, it was to feel more energized and connected to my body. The “goal” had distracted me from the real intention.

Ironically, it wasn’t until I gave myself permission to quit that I stumbled into other forms of movement, yoga, hiking, cycling, that actually stuck.

That experience taught me something I wish I’d known earlier: goals can blind us, while experiments can guide us.

Why Experiments Beat Goals

Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff calls this the arrival fallacy: the belief that happiness lives at the finish line.

But often, the finish line feels empty, or misaligned with who we’ve become.

Traditional goals push us into tunnel vision. Experiments, on the other hand, open doors we didn’t know were there.

How to Run Your Experiments

Instead of setting fixed outcomes, Le Cunff suggests running tiny experiments, small, curiosity-driven tests.

Each one should be:

• Purposeful → guided by a clear question (“What happens if I write for 20 minutes each morning?”)
• Actionable → focused on concrete behaviors
• Continuous → repeated long enough (7–30 days) to see patterns
• Trackable → easy to measure follow-through

The point isn’t to succeed. It’s to gather data. Every result, pleasant or not is useful to learn from.

Shifting Into an Experimental Mindset

To live experimentally, you have to adjust your relationship with progress in life:

• Curiosity over anxiety. Instead of “What if I fail?” try “What might I learn?”
• Data over disappointment. Experiments don’t fail. They generate information.
• Aspirations over rigid goals. Hold dreams lightly, letting them evolve as you do.
• Forget deadlines. Growth unfolds in opportune moments, not arbitrary deadlines.

This mindset lowers the stakes. You’re no longer betting your identity on a single outcome, you’re simply running a series of small, learnable tests.

What You Can Try This Week:

1. Pick one area of curiosity, something you’ve been resisting or postponing.
2. Design a tiny experiment. Make it small (15–30 minutes daily), time-bounded (7–14 days), and easy to track.
3. At the end, reflect: + (what worked), - (what didn’t), next (what to adjust).

Life rarely rewards the ones who map it perfectly. It rewards the ones who are curious enough to explore.

What’s one experiment you’d like to run this week? Hit reply and let me know, I’d love to hear what you’re curious about.

To curiosity and growth,

Laurie 💛

🎥 It Took Me 30+ Years to Learn This​

Some lessons only come with time.

In my latest video, I share the insights that took me over three decades to understand and helped me to start living a life true to myself.

It’s the kind of shift that changes how you see your work, your choices, and the way you grow. I hope that this video will help you too on your journey.

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I’d love to know, what’s one life lesson that took you years to realize? I'm a forever student, and I have so much to learn from each and everyone of you.

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