I expected big things from this book. It exceeded my expectations.
I’ve lived my life believing that trying things out was the best way to learn if they worked. I’ve read most of the books about experiments in business and life. None of them captured the practicality or excitement I felt when I tried things out.
Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World by Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a tool to help me do what I already do better. It’s also a book I can hand to friends, protégés, and clients to help them become more effective. I’ve already given away two copies. There will be more.
Goal setting is great and I’ll continue to do it. However, traditional goal setting, which is often about predefined outcomes and predictable timelines, doesn’t work as the only tool to guide activity in today’s world. Life is not linear.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s simple system is easy to use to find out what works and what doesn’t in your business and your life. As a bonus, it can help you clarify your purpose and change it when appropriate.
Here’s how the system works. It starts with a “pact.” A pact is a pledge to do a specified activity for a specified time. Acting is doing the activity. Reacting is doing something with what you learn. In this section, the author outlines a tool she calls “Plus Minus Next” to incorporate the learning into your life. I’ve started using it in my regular weekly performance review, and it helps me zero in on what’s most important.
Impact is about what happens next. It guides you through the process of integrating tiny experiments and learning into your life. You’ll discover what it means to “learn in public” and “unlock social flow.”
Bottom Line: Life is not linear. Tiny Experiments gives you tools to master flow and minimize the frustration of attempting to make linear systems fit reality.
