Category Archives: Experimentation

“You are the laboratory and every day is an experiment. Go and find what is new and unexpected.”

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“You are the laboratory and every day is an experiment. Go and find what is new and unexpected.”

—Joel Elkes, 20th Century father of neuropsychopharmacology

Image from Unsplash by NASA

How often do you feel bored? How have your daily habits and rituals caused you to feel stalled or stopped? Where have you entered a form of hibernation, penned up in your den, waiting for some better day to emerge?

In winter, many of us simply hunker down to wait out the cold, dark days. We often seek out comfort foods and warm blankets until the coast is clear to come out into the newness offered by mother nature’s unfolding of spring.

Imagine you had the opportunity to spend the winter months on the international space station where every moment counts. Instead of sleeping in, you would enter the laboratory of your days to conduct various experiments to unearth new possibilities and discoveries.

EXERCISE:

Where and how can you add more experimentation to your days? How can and will you use your precious time to discover something new and unexpected today?

Friday Review: Experimentation

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Friday Review: Experimentation

Where in your life has experimentation proven fruitful? Where has it not? Here are a few experimentation-related posts you may have missed.

 

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, risk-taking, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

 

 

 

“There is always room in our budget for a little experimentation.”

 

 

 

“If you call failures experiments, you can put them on your resume and claim them as achievements.”

 

 

 

 

“If you call failures experiments, you can put them on your resume and claim them as achievements.”

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“If you call failures experiments, you can put them on your resume and claim them as achievements.”

—Mason Cooley, 20th Century American Aphorist

Image from Unsplash by Christian Fregnan

Are you failing enough?

On a daily or weekly basis, how likely are you to try something new, take a risk, or experiment with something that may work just fine?

Being wrong, looking bad, and of course, losing, is to be avoided at all cost. Due to the potential for striking out, many of us never suit up and step on the playing fields of life, never swing away at our goals.

Today’s quote flips this idea on its head, to empower us to wear our setbacks and failures as badges of courage and honor.

EXERCISE:

How can and will you build an even more impressive resume given this expanded perspective?

“There is always room in our budget for a little experimentation.”

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“There is always room in our budget for a little experimentation.”

—Beth Comstock, American business executive

Image from Unsplash by J. Jordan

Variety is the spice of life, they say. How much variety do you experience on a daily basis in your job and personal life? Whether its your organizational budget, your own financial situation, or your personal habits in spending time, perhaps you would benefit from a bit more experimentation.

Where would spending or perhaps investing more resources — including money and time — provide for potential quantifiable or qualitative value? How might a bit more creativity, innovation, and experimentation spice up your professional and personal worlds?

EXERCISE:

Please reply to this post with the “outside the box” efforts you plan to initiate.

Creativity is Inventing

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“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, risk-taking, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

—Mary Lou Cook, late Peace Activist

During the Personal Excellence Workshop that begins each of my coaching programs, my clients list their personal strengths. I am somewhat surprised that less than half of them include creativity in their list.

When prompted about their level of creativity, they humbly deflect, stating things like, “On Occasion / Not Really,” or “That is why I do _____ for a living.”

I suggest that we all are far more creative than we believe and that we all create our lives each and every day, for better or for worse.

EXERCISE:

How can you take Mary Lou Cook’s coaching to increase your daily level of inventing, experimenting, risk-taking, rule breaking, and mistake making to expand your creative capacity and make your life a lot more fun?