Tiny Experiments Quotes

“As Adam Grant puts it, “The clearest sign of intellectual chemistry isn’t agreeing with someone. It’s enjoying your disagreements with them.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you,”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“This is how you discover your life’s meaning—by focusing on your daily actions rather than the content of your future eulogy. When generativity becomes your focus, the immediate impact of your actions is all the motivation you need. Every pact you make, every shift, every “What if?” becomes not just a step in your own journey, but a chance to inspire and elevate others. Your career is no longer a linear ladder you climb alone, but a nonlinear path of shared discovery.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Ride the wave of chaos instead of vainly trying to contain it. The point is not to create a master plan that gives you the illusion of power over the situation; rather, it is to de-escalate the consequences of any setback so you can move forward rather than give up.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Our ancestors’ daily routines included organic opportunities to shape their inner world—on long walks, in meditative moments while completing repetitive tasks such as sewing and tending to crops, or in nightly reflection when praying before bed. But we in the present day have largely lost those quiet natural pauses. Instead, we grind on a near-constant flood of social media and emails. This leaves little space for thinking, let alone thinking about thinking.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“We fancy ourselves adept multitaskers, but studies show that our performance drops dramatically when we attempt to focus on more than one thing at a time. That’s because the human brain has an attentional bottleneck impacting both perception and action. In short, our efforts to get more done actually slow us down.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Keeping track of your energy levels is an easy way to start managing your physical resources better. For a week or two, make a note of your energy levels at different times of the day so you can identify your energy peaks and troughs.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“It’s about striving for sustainable excellence rather than fleeting perfection.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“As theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking once said: “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist. Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Whatever the trigger, this toxic form of productivity becomes a hidden motive that influences our choices and actions, pushing us toward constant output while downplaying the value of rest, reflection, and meaningful engagement. Each project needs a clear outcome. Conversations become transactional. So-called unproductive moments of playful curiosity and quiet contemplation where our most profound insights can arise are eliminated. There is no space for the mind to wander and make unexpected connections.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“I call this phenomenon the self-consistency fallacy: the assumption that “I have always acted in a certain way; therefore, I must continue to act in this way.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“The educator and political leader John W. Gardner wrote, “As we mature we progressively narrow the scope and variety of our lives. Of all the interests we might pursue, we settle on a few. Of all the people with whom we might associate, we select a small number. We become caught in a web of fixed relationships. We develop set ways of doing things.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Uncertainty becomes fuel for anxiety. In fact, uncertainty has been found to cause more stress than inevitable pain. When we don’t know what’s coming, we overthink every possibility and we conjure worst-case scenarios.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“When we fixate on finding one singular purpose, we rule out the side quests that help us grow the most. Your life doesn’t need to follow predictable acts and arcs. The best stories are full of surprises, with colorful characters and unexpected plot twists.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“As Anaïs Nin said, there will be a day when the risk to remain tight in a bud will feel more painful than the risk it takes to blossom. Then, despite any fears, you will know learning in public is worth it when you experience your first beautiful moment of connection that came from something you shared. Start small and go (grow!) at your own pace. There is no need to maintain a facade of expertise. Don’t hide your uncertainty, your experiments, and your acts of becoming. Put them out there for others to learn from and weigh in on. Instead of flexing your expertise, flex your curiosity. And if you find yourself in need of a final dose of courage, consider the perspective someone once shared with me moments before I stepped onstage: in a hundred years, you’ll be dead, and so will every single person in the audience. So quit worrying and get out there.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“When we use trial and error, we set in motion a series of growth loops where progress emerges in conversation with our environment. Each cycle adds a layer of learning to how we understand ourselves and the world around us. Instead of an external destination, our aspirations become fuel for transformation. We don’t go in circles; we grow in circles. Our ancestors instinctively knew of this circular model of growth. In many cultures, the wheel is a symbol of growth and success. It combines the idea of progress and wholeness: It is complete, and yet it keeps on moving. It represents the perpetual change and transitory nature of life. The cyclic ages of Hindu cosmology, the wheel of life in Buddhism…The dynamic dance of the Chinese yin and yang also recognizes cycles of life that encompass opposites, the dual craving we have for discovery and comfort, and the desire to find balance in accommodating both phases into our lives. In Greek mythology, the phoenix cyclically regenerates so that every ending is a new beginning. This cyclic, experimental model also aligns with the way our mind naturally works. The brain is thought to be built on a giant perception-action cycle, with a circular flow of information between the self and the environment, where the system constantly conveys whether a signal should be intensified or stopped. In essence, we don’t just set our mind on a target and blindly power through. Instead, our brain converts the information it perceives into action; it uses feedback loops to constantly adjust our trajectory as we make progress. This feedback loop is so well established, it is considered the theoretical cornerstone of most modern theories of learning.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“The Pressure to be Perfect Perfectionism comes in many shapes and sizes: being afraid of making mistakes, setting sky-high standards, constantly feeling the weight of others’ expectations, or overanalyzing our every move. This unhealthy pursuit of perfection doesn’t emerge in a vacuum. It’s rooted in our past experiences, family dynamics, and beliefs about ourselves. Perhaps as a child, you were surrounded by critical parents or caregivers with rigid high expectations. Perhaps you mostly received praise based on your achievements and never for your effort or progress. Or perhaps you strived to be perfect as a way to create some sense of safety in a chaotic home. These experiences can lead us to tie our self-esteem to our accomplishments. When love, acceptance, and attention seem conditional on our achievements, it creates a deep-seated sense of inadequacy that makes us feel that we’re never quite good enough. We tirelessly strive toward unattainable perfection, which not only stifles our curiosity but inevitably leads to disappointment when we fall short of our own unrealistic expectations. Self-criticism becomes the default response to perceived failure. But failure is an integral part of growth, and embracing imperfection is necessary to live a life of creative adventure. As theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking once said: “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist. Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.” Fortunately, we can adopt a more compassionate approach to life—one that celebrates our efforts and embraces intentional imperfection rather than striving for impossible perfection.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“When we fixate on finding one singular purpose, we rule out the side quests that help us grow the most.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Luck isn’t an independent variable but increases super-linearly with more surface area—you meet more people, make more connections between new ideas, learn patterns,” said entrepreneur and investor Sam Altman.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“According to Buddhist legend, on the night Gautama Buddha was conceived, his mother dreamed of a white elephant. And so for many centuries, white elephants were sacred in many Southeast Asian countries. Receiving a white elephant as a gift from a monarch was a great honor. But it was also a curse, as the animal was extremely expensive to maintain, protected from labor by local laws, and impossible to give away. People were stuck with this beautiful but useless possession with ruinous maintenance costs.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Metacognition might feel uncomfortable at times. It’s easy to write about what went well, regardless of the specifics that led to that success. It is more difficult to write about what went wrong. And it is even harder when, as is sometimes the case, we ourselves must take sole responsibility for why things didn’t go so well.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“When I stopped trying to shoot the messenger—to “just do it” and plow through—then procrastination turned out to be a helpful friend. When I treated resistance as evidence, it helped me to understand why it was so hard to write this chapter in the first place. And once I started talking to people, it became impossible to keep on delaying the work.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“ Writer Tasshin Fogleman makes the distinction between cold curiosity, which is functional and calculating, and burning curiosity, which is feverish and irrational. Your pact should sit in the in-between: warm curiosity, the kind that both pragmatically aligns with your existing interests and fiercely drives you to explore new ones.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Alvin Toffler, the futurist who coined the term information overload in the 1970s, wrote that the illiterate of our times will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“Since then, researchers have expanded on this idea, discovering a virtually infinite number of internalized patterns that govern our thoughts, actions, and decision-making—from work to relationships and education—giving rise to a branch of cognitive science known as Cognitive Script Theory.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“French philosopher Rene Girard called this phenomenon mimetic desire: we desire something because we see others desiring it. In other words, our goals mimic the goals of others.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

“This process of deliberate reflection resulted in the creation of his 3-2-1 newsletter—three ideas from James, two quotes from others, and one question for the reader to ponder—a much shorter format that has now amassed millions of readers.”
― Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World