Welcome to Part 3 of my Learning by Doing series—an exploration of how we grow through curiosity, exploration, and action. Over four posts, I’ll unpack the value of self-directed learning, share a practical mental model to guide your journey, and show how experimentation (with a real-life example) can turn ideas into lived experience.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this post, you’ll understand:
- Why experimentation matters — and how it accelerates both personal and professional growth.
- How to design small, low-risk experiments to test ideas, habits, and assumptions in your everyday life.
- How to turn failure into feedback, using reflection and iteration to build real-world wisdom.
Why Experimentation Matters
You can’t outthink uncertainty — you can only outlearn it.
Whether you’re leading a team, building a creative project, or rethinking your personal habits, growth depends on your ability to test what you believe against what’s true. Once everything in your life or work becomes efficient and predictable, learning slows down. Experimentation brings movement back — it’s how you stay curious, adaptable, and alive to change.
If self-directed learning is about owning your path (as explored in The Case for Self-Directed Learning) and “the map is not the territory” [add link] reminds us to explore and gain experience, then experimentation is how you put both ideas into action. It’s where knowledge becomes lived experience. It’s not trial and error; it’s a disciplined way to explore reality, guided by curiosity and reflection.
Learning by Doing
At its core, experimentation draws on constructivism — the idea that we build understanding through action. You don’t truly learn by reading, planning, or theorizing. You learn when you engage, make choices, and see what happens next.
Running small, intentional experiments helps you grow faster with less risk. Each test becomes a data point that refines how you think and act. You stop fearing mistakes because you learn how to extract insight from them.
Over time, experimentation builds confidence — not the false kind that comes from certainty, but the real kind that comes from knowing you can adapt, learn, and recover.
When I launched Bold New Quests, it wasn’t a finished idea — it was an experiment in learning in public. I wanted to test whether sharing my process of growth would deepen both my understanding and others’ engagement.
At first, I aimed for polished pieces that revealed little about me personally. The response was polite but distant. When I began writing openly about what I was still figuring out, everything changed. Readers connected more when I shared the questions, not just the conclusions.
That’s when I realized Bold New Quests itself is the experiment — testing how honesty, iteration, and reflection turn learning into something alive.
The Power of Experimentation
Growth, in any dimension, requires friction with reality. Experimentation creates that friction safely. Without it, your beliefs go unchallenged, your skills plateau, and your worldview hardens into routine.
Every real experiment contains a quiet act of courage — a willingness to be wrong. That humility is the foundation of growth. Through small, disciplined trials, you train your mind to observe clearly, adjust intelligently, and make decisions based on evidence, not assumption.
In both life and work, experimentation exposes bias, clarifies values, and helps you see what actually aligns with your principles rather than what merely fits your comfort zone. When guided by integrity and structure, uncertainty becomes a teacher — and failure becomes refinement.
How to Run a Personal Experiment
You don’t need a lab or a spreadsheet to experiment — just curiosity, honesty, and structure. Try this simple six-step process:
Step 1
Start with curiosity.
Ask: What do I want to understand better? It might be a work process, a creative practice, or a personal habit.
Example: “What if I walked outside for 10 minutes each afternoon to reset my mood?”
Step 2
Form a hypothesis.
Write an “if–then” statement to make your assumption testable.
Example: “If I take a short walk every afternoon, then I’ll feel less drained in the evenings.”
Step 3
Design the experiment.
Make it small, realistic, and time-bound. Choose something you can test within days or weeks, not months.
Example: “For 10 days, I’ll take a 10-minute outdoor walk between 3 and 5 p.m.”
Step 4
Observe and document.
Record what happens — honestly. Notice both results and emotions.
Example: “Most days the walk lifted my mood, but I skipped it when I felt overwhelmed — which tells me those are probably the days I need it most.”
Step 5
Reflect and analyze.
Ask what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised you.
Example: “The walk helped, but it worked best when I treated it as a pause, not another task to check off.”
Step 6
Iterate.
Refine and repeat. Small cycles build reliable insight over time.
Example: “I’ll shift my walk earlier and set a reminder on tough days.”
Whether your focus is career growth, creativity, or self-awareness, the goal is the same: honest feedback over wishful thinking. That’s what makes experimentation transformative.
Learning in Context
The best experiments happen in real environments — where results matter and feedback is immediate. You learn faster when your ideas collide with life.
- Trying a new morning routine to boost energy.
- Testing a new communication style with your team or partner.
- Exploring different learning methods — journaling, mentorship, creative challenges.
Each one reveals something unique about how you operate, what drives you, and where you get in your own way. When you combine reflection with real-world testing, you turn everyday situations into learning labs.
Conclusion: Learning as a Way of Being
Learning doesn’t end with school or formal training — it simply becomes your responsibility. Experimentation is how you keep that process alive.
Each time you try something new and pay attention to the results, you refine your understanding of who you are and what works for you. Over time, these micro-experiments form a living map — not of fixed knowledge, but of evolving wisdom.
Whether in your work, relationships, or self-development, the people who grow fastest aren’t the ones who plan best — they’re the ones who experiment continuously.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How can I apply experimentation to personal growth?
Start small. Choose one habit, mindset, or routine you want to understand better. Frame it as a test, observe the results, and adjust. The key is curiosity over perfection. - What if my experiments fail?
They’re supposed to. Failure provides data. Reflect on why something didn’t work, and use that insight to refine your next step. Each “failure” is a faster route to clarity. - How is experimentation different from random trial and error?
Experimentation is intentional. It’s guided by hypotheses, observation, and reflection. Trial and error is reactive; experimentation is structured curiosity — a disciplined way to turn uncertainty into knowledge.
Conclusion: Learning as a Way of Being
Learning doesn’t stop when school ends—it just becomes your responsibility. By teaching yourself, venturing off the map, and experimenting through action, you reclaim the joy and curiosity that once came naturally.
Each time you step into the unknown, you stretch the boundaries of your potential. Over time, these small experiments form a living map of who you are becoming—one built not from instruction, but from exploration, effort, and the courage to keep learning.
I invite you to read the fourth and final post in this Learning by Doing Series in which I will share my latest experiment and put the first three posts in this series into action.
This post is part of my Learning by Doing series. Explore the full series:
