BECOME AN EXPERIMENTALIST

BECOME AN EXPERIMENTALIST.

An experimentalist is curious, inquisitive, and has questions but they don't wait for answers to come to them, the go after them head on! They don't read the instruction manual and they don't ask "what are the rules?." They simply start doing something because they want to.

Retraining your brain to become an experimentalist has a profound influence on my own learning, creativity, and my overall mental health. It's important to note that being an experimentalist is a journey and not a destination. This is the part of the equation where you'll do all of your testing.

You can test anything, really. You can test what happens to you in a week after you've focused on encouragement, to use the previous section as an example. You can test what objects will (or won't) float in a tub of water. You can test what happens when you tell your significant other to "calm down" in the middle of a heated argument. Inevitably, each of these "tests" will provide you with a result that you can measure and derive data to help you make important decisions.

For the sake of our purposes, I'm going to give you something else to test. And that is, routine… Do you have a routine?

I'm specifically talking about a morning routine, cause those are easy and most people have them. And if you don't have one, let's get started with another exercise:

GRAB A NOTEPAD:

First, list your current morning routine.

Here's mine:

1. I get out of bed, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth.

2. Make myself a morning latte

3. Eat a small breakfast, check emails + text messages, and create a to-do list.

4. Take a look at my to-do's for work and take note of what needs to get done first.

5. Begin my work day.

*I work from home, so I don't have a commute, thankfully.

NEXT:

I want to you think of something that you can do, that you WILL actually do to add to your list - and I mean, something healthy.

So for example, I want to add a 45min walk in the morning to my routine. So, I need to wake up (at least) 45min earlier than normal to do this.

Another example, I want to add drinking a glass of water with lemon/lime first thing in the morning. So, I need to make it to a grocery store and stock up on lemons and limes for the next week.

The point is to add another (simple) item to your morning routine list and start to incorporate this additional (simple) habit to your morning routine!

After about a week, write down your thoughts. How does it makes you feel? Journal it and note any differences in the way it's making you feel.

It doesn't have to be additive, it also be reductive. For instance, do you have a bad habit to get rid of or replace in the morning? How about scrolling on your phone first thing in the morning? Let's cut it from the list.

It takes about 30-days of anything to make something new an actual "habit" so give your new morning routine element some time to actually take root and become 2nd nature.

This is what I mean by experimentation. Experimenting with yourself -OR- on yourself (again in a healthy way) is an essential key to breaking out of that prison of lies.

I want to provide you with some interesting points about the psychological effects of experimentation that I found in my research for this:

1. Neural Plasticity: Trying new activities or solving novel problems, promotes neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize and form new neural connections. This enhances cognitive flexibility, learning capacity, and problem-solving abilities.

2. Dopamine Release and Reward Pathways: It activates the brain's reward system and in particular the release of dopamine. Dopamine provides a sense of pleasure and motivation that reinforces the behavior and encourages further experimentation.

3. Reduction of Fear and Anxiety: Even a small amount of experimentation can desensitize the brain to fear and uncertainty. This can lead to increased resilience and a more positive approach to life's challenges.

4. Enhanced Creativity: Experimentation encourages the brain to form novel associations between ideas. So it can form a kind of "mental cross-pollination" in your creative ideas and projects. This "mental cross-pollination" stimulates creativity and innovation because your brain begins to explore uncharted territories. *This is why visualizations and thought experiments promote creativity, see: "Go For A Swim”

5. Growth Mindset Development: It fosters a mindset focused on learning and improvement rather than fearing failure. This can improve perseverance and self-efficacy, reducing the psychological stress of perfectionism.

There are too many other benefits to experimentation to list so if you want to research this on your own I encourage you to do so. I’ve made a short video for you to check out here where I dive into more of this:

SO NOW, BECOME AN EXPERIMENTALIST.

Thank you so much for joining me on a journey to become a better creative!

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Watch the Video Now

Stay inspired everyone!
Josh Schroeder
Founder, Thousand Echoes