The Great Experiment

I view my life as a continuous series of experiments. Each experiment serving to increase my self-awareness.

Some of these experiments are forced upon me by life. Others, I choose to pursue with (sometimes) reckless abandon.

Human beings were made to evolve through experimentation. The greatest breakthroughs in technology, science, and medicine were all made through experimentation.

What I call experimenting, others may call testing, or even playing.

I’m talking about the process by which information becomes knowledge, and then knowledge becomes wisdom. That magical experience when information goes into the hat as a rabbit and comes out as wisdom.

As babies, we fumble (and flail) around, barely staying alive, as we roll from one daring experiment to the next.

Is she ready for real food? Time to experiment.

Is that burner still hot? Time to experiment.

What happens if I put my finger in that socket? Yep, you guessed it, time to experiment.

The higher the stakes of the experiment, the more (and faster) you learn. The more you learn, the more you grow. A purposeful life exists in the land of risk and growth (otherwise known as milk & honey).

And here’s the deal: We learn by design or default.

Most choose default. I dare you to choose to learn by design.

Here’s the problem. As we get older, the more risk averse we become. The more risk averse we become, the less we experiment. And the less we experiment, the less we learn.

Or at least we don’t learn the necessary things. The right things.

And there lies the tragedy.

We are creatures made for playful experimentation. We were made to examine the boundless curiosity that grows inside us when we ask “What would happen if…?”

“Let’s find out” leads to wisdom.

“That’s a bad idea” leads to nothing.

I don’t want nothing. I’m playing for wisdom.

The overwhelming majority of people experience less joy, less fun, less meaning, and less learning as their lives progress.

So, what does it look like to reverse that trend? What experiments are calling to you?

You won’t learn what exercises work best for you unless you experiment.

You won’t know what nutrition plan works best for you unless you experiment.

You won’t know how to get better results at work unless you experiment.

You won’t learn how to be a better friend unless you experiment.

You won’t learn a new skill unless you experiment.

Experiment. Try different things. Fail, it’s okay. You just might rediscover the joy of play.