How to get out of a rut by running tiny experiments

Executive overview

Traditional goal-setting demands certainty about where you're going — but most situations don't offer that. When you treat an uncertain stretch as an experiment rather than a failed goal, you stop fighting the process and start learning from it.

A tiny experiment needs only two things: an action and a duration. Run it, watch the signals, and decide at the end whether to continue, adjust, or stop.

The shift that matters: treat uncertainty as data, not as a problem to escape.

Why goals fail in uncertain conditions

• Goals assume you already know the destination — a small subset of real situations.
• Rigid frameworks like SMART goals create an illusion of certainty that limits adaptability.
• Focusing only on outcomes (lagging indicators) crowds out internal signals: enjoyment, energy, fit.
• Hitting every KPI while burning out is not sustainable success.

What a tiny experiment looks like

• Two ingredients: an action and a duration (the trial period).
• Example: "I will publish a weekly newsletter until the end of the year" — not "I will reach 20,000 subscribers."
• During the experiment, withhold judgment but pay attention to both external signals (numbers) and internal signals (does this feel right?).
• At the end: keep going, tweak the approach, or redirect to a different experiment.
• Experiments can also be subtractive — e.g., "I won't bring my phone into the bedroom for 10 days."

Developing an experimental mindset

• People comfortable with experimentation treat uncertainty as exciting, not threatening — a signal that growth is possible.
• You don't need to experiment with everything at once. At any given time, maintain at least a small space for experimentation.
• The amount of space you give to experimentation should reflect your current psychological safety and stress level.
• When bandwidth is near zero, keep experiments tiny — one small behavior change is enough.

The plus-minus-next tool

• A simple three-column metacognitive practice: Plus (what went well), Minus (what didn't), Next (what to focus on next).
• Run it daily, weekly, or quarterly — five minutes is enough.
• The power is in iteration: it's not a static snapshot, it surfaces lessons to carry forward.
• Patterns emerge over weeks: recurring items in the minus column reveal underlying issues worth designing an experiment around.
• Useful in 1:1s: team members prepare it in advance, enabling more constructive conversations.

Growing in circles, not going in circles

• Success is not the straight line from A to B. It is completing cycles of experiment, observation, and learning.
• Each cycle yields more self-knowledge — about your work, preferences, and context.
• Consistency of practice matters more than intensity. A weekly five-minute review compounds over months.
• Highly educated leaders sometimes treat prior knowledge as a crutch. The real skill from education is learning how to learn, not the accumulated frameworks.
• The most adaptable leaders update their mental models as context changes, rather than clinging to what worked before.

Applying tiny experiments in organisations

• The framework originated as personal-life guidance but has proven more immediately useful in business contexts.
• Most leaders currently applying it at work are improvising — there is an opportunity to translate it more directly.
• Sharing your work surfaces directions you didn't anticipate, which is itself a growth loop.