Anne-Laure Le Cunff: The 3 cognitive scripts that rule over your life | Full Interview

Real growth requires both trial and error; if you keep repeating the same trial with expected results, you're not growing, you're just repeating what you know works; it's only through errors that you adjust your path, try new approaches, and discover that some of your assumptions were wrong.

“All scientists know that real growth requires both trial and error. If you keep on repeating the same trial and everything works as expected, it means that you're not growing, you're not learning anything. You're just repeating the same thing that you know is working already. It's only through errors that you can adjust your path, that you can try new approaches and that you can discover that some of your assumptions were wrong...”

Affective labeling means putting words to feelings and is incredibly helpful because it allows you to better connect with and understand your emotions so you can manage them better.

“Affective labeling means labeling your emotions. It really just means putting words to feelings, and it's incredibly helpful because it allows you to better connect and understand your emotions so you can manage them better.”

Research shows that uncertainty causes more stress than individual pain, because when we know we will experience pain, we can mentally prepare for it, whereas uncertainty about the type or level of pain is more stressful than knowing exactly what will happen.

“In studies, uncertainty has been found to cause more stress than individual pain. The reason why is because when we know we're going to experience pain, we can mentally prepare for it, whereas when we're facing uncertainty, the doubt of not knowing what kind of pain, what level of pain is actually more stressful than knowing exactly what's going to happen.”

The great thing about mindsets is that they can actually change, but the first step is to make them conscious.

“The great thing about mindsets is that they can actually change, but the first step is to make them conscious.”

Some people hide emotions underneath thinking, logic, and the rational brain where they frame themselves as looking for a solution, being proactive, dealing with the problem, and everything being fine—without actually feeling or processing complex, unmanageable emotions.

“Or sometimes that might look like hiding the emotion under thinking, logic, the rational brain where we feel like we are looking for a solution, we're being proactive, we're dealing with the problem and everything is fine. We're not feeling anything too complicated or unmanageable here.”

We see stories of success of people who found their passion and are happy as a result, but we don't see all the thousands of other people who tried the exact same thing and failed—this is called survivorship bias, and it's unfortunate that we're basing all our decisions and self-worth on that incomplete information.

“We see all of those stories of success of people who have found their passion and who are very happy as a result of this. We see the entrepreneur that followed their passion and was very successful, but we don't see all of the thousands of other ones that have tried the exact same thing and failed. This is called survivorship bias, and it's very unfortunate how nowadays we are basing all of our decisions and even our self-worth based on that incomplete information.”

Research shows that uncertainty causes more stress than individual pain because when you know you'll experience pain, you can mentally prepare for it, whereas with uncertainty the doubt of not knowing what kind or level of pain is more stressful than knowing exactly what will happen.

“In studies, uncertainty has been found to cause more stress than individual pain. The reason why is because when we know we're going to experience pain, we can mentally prepare for it, whereas when we're facing uncertainty, the doubt of not knowing what kind of pain, what level of pain is actually more stressful than knowing exactly what's going to happen.”

We prefer getting bad news to waiting for an answer because once we know, even if it's negative, we feel like we're in control.

“This is also why we prefer getting bad news than waiting for an answer. This feels better, now we know, even if it's negative, we feel like we're in control.”

Affective labeling means labeling emotions by putting words to feelings, and it's incredibly helpful because it allows better connection and understanding of emotions so you can manage them better.

“Affective labeling means labeling your emotions. It really just means putting words to feelings, and it's incredibly helpful because it allows you to better connect and understand your emotions so you can manage them better.”

A mindset is a default way of seeing the world that influences decisions, relationships, thoughts, and feelings, and when unaware of mindsets, they impact the direction of life without conscious realization.

“A mindset is a default way of seeing the world and our mindsets influence so many things in our lives. They influence our decisions, they influence our relationships, they influence the way we think, and even the way we feel. When we're not aware of our mindsets, they can impact the direction of our life, the path that we're taking without us even realizing it.”

These three problematic mindsets are fluid and may change depending on the situation, different triggers, and different ambitions at the moment, which is good news because it means these mindsets are not fixed personality traits.

“Those mindsets are actually very fluid and they might change depending on our situation and different triggers and different ambitions that we might have at the moment. This is actually really good news because that means that these mindsets are not fixed personality traits.”

We have infinite access to information, making us feel that if we keep reading, listening, and watching, we might finally get the key information that will give us the elusive sense of certainty.

“to make it worse, we have infinite access to information which makes us feel like if we just keep on reading, on listening, on watching, we might get that key information that is going to give us finally this sense of elusive certainty.”

Our modern hyper-connected online world has made the epic script very popular, with mentions of 'find your purpose' surging 700% in the past two decades, and we see survivor stories of people who found passion and succeeded while not seeing the thousands who tried and failed.

“Our modern hyper-connected online world has made the epic script unfortunately very, very popular with people. We have become overly obsessed with finding our purpose. Mentions in books of the phrase 'find your purpose,' have surged 700% in the past two decades only. We see all of those stories of success of people who have found their passion and who are very happy as a result of this. We see the entrepreneur that followed their passion and was very successful, but we don't see all of the thousands of other ones that have tried the exact same thing and failed.”

A mindset is a default way of seeing the world that influences decisions, relationships, thinking patterns, and emotions, and when people are not aware of their mindsets, those mindsets unconsciously drive the direction of their life.

“A mindset is a default way of seeing the world and our mindsets influence so many things in our lives. They influence our decisions, they influence our relationships, they influence the way we think, and even the way we feel. When we're not aware of our mindsets, they can impact the direction of our life, the path that we're taking without us even realizing it.”

Viktor Frankl's concept is that 'Our freedom lies within the gap between stimulus and response'—meaning whenever we face a situation or trigger, there is a little gap between that trigger and our response where freedom to make a choice exists.

“There's a famous quote that has been attributed to a lot of different psychologists including Viktor Frankl, and that says that, 'Our freedom lies within the gap between stimulus and response.' What that means is that whenever we find ourselves in a situation or whenever we face a trigger, there is a little gap between that trigger and our response, and in that gap lies the freedom to make a choice.”

Procrastination has become a dirty word because of hundreds of years of moralization around productivity and work—being productive means you're a good, useful, helpful contributor to society, and so not being productive means you're lazy, not contributing, and not being useful.

“Procrastination has become a little bit of a dirty word, and that's because we have just been through hundreds of years of moralization around productivity and work. Being productive means that you are a good, useful, helpful contributor to society. In a way, we have all agreed to tie our self-worth to our productivity, and so not being productive means that you're being lazy, you're not contributing, you're not being useful and helpful to society.”

'Magic windows' are moments of high productivity, creativity, and focus where there is zero effort involved, time is flowing, and attention is completely locked onto the task, and whether you've noticed it or not, everyone has experienced these.

“Your magic windows are those moments of high productivity, creativity, and focus where you feel like there is zero effort involved, time is flowing and your attention is completely locked onto the task that you're working on. Whether you've noticed it or not, we have all gone through those kinds of magic windows in our lives.”

Like a scientist, you should start with observation before jumping into designing the experiment, and it's tempting to jump straight into action when you're a doer, but the observation phase is important.

“Just like a scientist, you need to first start with observation, and it can be really tempting when we're a doer and we like to get things done to jump straight into designing the experiment, but it's important to have that phase of observation.”

Our brains are the same as they were thousands of years ago, but we now face exponentially more information and comparison pressures through social media, creating a fundamental mismatch between evolutionary design and modern environment.

“In essence, there is a lot more to think about on a daily basis, but our brains haven't evolved. They're still the same that they were thousands of years ago. We're all staring at a giant leaderboard with social media where we can see how other people are progressing, their success, and where we keep on comparing ourselves to each other.”

Social media creates anxiety by making people compare themselves constantly, leading to persistent questions of adequacy: 'How am I doing? Am I doing better? Am I being fast enough? Am I being productive enough? Am I being ambitious enough?'

“This creates anxiety because we keep asking ourselves, how am I doing? Am I doing better? Am I being fast enough? Am I being productive enough? Am I being ambitious enough?”

Neuroscientific research shows that when we experience thirst for water, the same parts of the brain activate as when we experience thirst for information—so the phrase 'I'm thirsty for knowledge' is neurobiologically accurate.

“This all might sound philosophical, but there's actually a lot of neuroscientific research showing that when we experience thirst for water, the same parts of the brain activate than when we experience thirst for information. So when we say, 'I'm thirsty for knowledge, I wanna learn more, I wanna know more,' we couldn't be more right.”

The pace of technological and societal change has accelerated massively, and we can no longer rely on traditions and institutions that once provided stability.

“The pace of technological and societal change has accelerated massively. We feel like we cannot rely anymore on those traditions and institutions that used to give us a sense of stability.”

Research shows that when we experience uncertainty our neural activity intensifies, our brains are basically on high alert getting ready for any threat, and that happens even when there's no actual danger.

“Uncertainty fuels anxiety. Research shows that when we experience uncertainty, our neural activity intensifies. Our brains are basically on high alert, getting ready for any threat that we might face, and that happens even when there's no actual danger.”

A pact is purposeful—it needs to be something you care about, and when each pact has purpose imbued into it, you don't need to have a grand purpose in life.

“A pact is purposeful. It needs to be something you care about and what's great is that when each pact you design has purpose imbued into it, you don't need to have a grand purpose in life.”

An entire productivity industry has grown up around efficiency worship, providing online courses, task-tracking templates, wearables, and calendars designed to optimize every minute, making it very hard to resist societal messages that you must be more productive.

“This has propped up an entire industry of productivity, whether it's online courses telling you how to manage your life and your time, and how to make the most of every single minute. Templates for you to track all of your tasks, wearables to tell you whether you've been using your time in the right time and making sure that you're not missing any notifications. Calendars are ruling the way we spend our time, so even if at a personal level you don't feel like productivity is the most important thing you want to optimize for, it's very hard to resist the sirens of our society telling you, 'You must be more productive.'”

When asking happy people how they discovered their passion, if they give an honest answer, they'll tell you they stumbled upon it.

“When you ask happy people how they discovered their passion, and if they give you an honest answer, they'll tell you they stumbled upon it.”

Sometimes you'll go through the triple check and everything feels in alignment and still you're procrastinating; in this case it might be worth looking outside of yourself for systemic barriers, having conversations with stakeholders, redesigning your environment, or sometimes completely removing yourself from that work environment.

“Sometimes you'll go through the triple check, head, heart, hand, and everything feels in alignment and still you're procrastinating. In this case, it might be worth looking outside of yourself for systemic barriers, and that means having honest, sometime difficult conversations with other stakeholders, redesigning your environment if it is not conducive to you being focused and productive, or sometimes completely removing yourself from that work environment and doing something else because you might not be able to change that situation every time.”

A cognitive script is an internalized behavioral pattern that tells us how we're supposed to act in certain situations, and they were first discovered in a seminal 1979 study where researchers found people follow very similar scripts in similar situations like going to the doctor or restaurant.

“A cognitive script is an internalized behavioral pattern that tells us how we're supposed, or at least how we think we're supposed to act in certain situations. They can be very helpful for routine tasks and decisions in everyday life. Cognitive scripts were first discovered in a seminal 1979 study where researchers found that people are following very similar scripts in similar situations such as going to the doctor or going to the restaurant...”

There is a famous quote attributed to several psychologists including Viktor Frankl that says 'Our freedom lies within the gap between stimulus and response.'

“There's a famous quote that has been attributed to a lot of different psychologists including Viktor Frankl, and that says that, 'Our freedom lies within the gap between stimulus and response.'”

Cognitive scripts were first discovered in a seminal 1979 study where researchers found that people follow very similar scripts in similar situations such as going to the doctor or going to a restaurant, and since then, researchers have found cognitive scripts in all areas of life.

“Cognitive scripts were first discovered in a seminal 1979 study where researchers found that people are following very similar scripts in similar situations such as going to the doctor or going to the restaurant, and since then, they have found those cognitive scripts in all areas of your life.”

Information is data that may be valid or invalid, from any source, based on unknown context and circumstances, whereas consuming information without action prevents collecting personal data and knowledge through real-world experimentation.

“Information is just a piece of data, it could be valid, it could be not valid, it could come from any kind of source. It could be based on different context and circumstances that we're not aware of. And by consuming all of this information, we might actually not take action to go in the real world and collect our own data, our own knowledge, that would be much more helpful in order to make our own decisions.”

The 'maximized brain' is a pervasive mindset where any goal someone pursues must be the biggest and most ambitious version possible, such as going to the gym every day rather than occasionally, or starting a book rather than exploring writing casually, which leads to overwhelm and burnout when projects become unmanageable.

“What I call the maximized brain is this belief that we have, that whatever we do, it has to be the biggest, the most ambitious version of this goal. When we want to exercise, we decide that we have to go to the gym every single day. If we wanna start writing, we decide that we're going to start writing a book. If we wanna explore a new project, we decide that this has to be a startup. The problem with the maximized brain is that it very often leads to overwhelm and burnout, and sometimes just completely abandoning our projects because they're just too big.”

To design an experiment, one must commit to curiosity, using what is called a 'pact'—a commitment device where one chooses one action, decides on a duration, and commits to performing that action for that specific duration.

“To design an experiment, you need to commit to curiosity. A great way to do this is to design what I call a pact. This is a commitment device where you say, 'I am going to run this experiment.' The way it works is that you choose one action and you then decide on a duration and you say, 'I will perform this action for this specific duration.'”

A pact is not a New Year's resolution (which is ambitious at the year's start and then abandoned), not a habit (which is an indefinite commitment you're sure will be good for you), not a KPI/OKR/performance metric (which is about success and outcomes), but rather about learning something new.

“A pact is not a new year resolution. This is not something that you decide on that is very ambitious at the beginning of the year and that you're going to abandon. This is something small and achievable that you can start doing at any point during the year. A pact is not a habit either... With a habit, you're very clear that this is something that's going to be good for you, and so you commit to it for an indefinite amount of time... And a pact is not a KPI, an OKR, a performance metric, or however people call them in the corporate world, it's really just about learning something new.”

When analyzing experiments, it is important to consider both external data (whether something is worth pursuing in terms of financial success or career), and internal signals (whether it feels good to work on), because success that feels horrible is unsustainable, and something that feels good but cannot be sustained is also worth reconsidering.

“A lot of us tend to only pay attention to external data or internal data when we're analyzing our experiments... both are very valuable in order to make the right decision when it comes to your next steps. The external signals might show you whether this is something that is worth pursuing in terms of financial success or career or any ambition that you might want to explore, but the internal signals are also very important. There's no point being successful externally if it feels horrible to work on this project, and equally if it feels really good, but you have no way to sustain yourself with this project, it might be worth reconsidering the parameters to find a way where you can have an overlap between external success and also internal positive feelings and emotions of working on this.”

When you ask happy people how they discovered their passion, those giving honest answers say they stumbled upon it, which teaches that finding passion and purpose is not about seeking or obsessing over it or applying a plan, but about following curiosity, experimenting, exploring, and trusting you will figure out what excites you.

“When you ask happy people how they discovered their passion, and if they give you an honest answer, they'll tell you they stumbled upon it. What we can learn from that is that finding your passion, finding your purpose in life is not really about seeking it, obsessing over it, or applying a plan where you are going to go and figure out what it is, but instead it's about following your curiosity, experimenting, exploring, trying new things and trusting that you will figure out what is the thing that makes you excited to wake up in the morning.”

Once you have identified the cognitive scripts that rule your life, you can break free from them by seeing them as stories you tell yourself rather than truths you need to follow blindly, and a good way is to stop and listen for the word 'should' which is a signal that a cognitive script may be at play.

“Once you have identified the cognitive scripts that rule your life, you can actually break free from them, and it really starts by seeing them as stories we tell ourselves rather than truths that we need to follow blindly. A really good way to do this is to stop for a second every time you hear yourself saying, 'I should do this.' This word should is actually a really good signal that there might be a cognitive script at play somewhere here.”

The triple check tool is not just diagnostic but prescriptive: if the problem is rational (head), redefine the strategy and brainstorm with colleagues; if emotional (heart), redesign the experience to be more fun; if practical (hand), raise your hand and ask for help, mentoring, coaching, or training.

“What's great about the triple check tool is that it's not just a tool for a diagnosis, it also tells you what to do for each of those situations. So if the problem is rational coming from the head, it means that you might want to redefine the strategy, maybe reach out to your colleagues and tell them, 'Hey, I'm not quite convinced this is the way we should go about this. Do you want to go and brainstorm together and see if there's a better approach that we could use?' If the problem is emotional, coming from the heart, you might want to redesign the experience so it's more fun... And if the problem is practical where you feel like you don't have the right tools or resources or skills, then raise that hand. Ask for help, tell people around you...that maybe you need a bit of mentoring or coaching, or you need to take a course in order to be able to do that task.”

Tiny experiments offer an alternative to the maximized approach by focusing on discovery, fun, enjoyment, and curiosity-driven exploration rather than external definitions of success, enabling people to learn something new without the pressure to achieve something big.

“Tiny experiments offer an alternative to this maximized approach where instead of going for the bigger thing, you go for the thing that is most likely to bring you discovery, fun, enjoyment, and that is based on your curiosity rather than an external definition of success. When you're running a tiny experiment, you're not trying to do something big, what you're trying is just to learn something new.”

Whenever we face a disruption in our life, it's tempting to immediately solve the objective consequences and actual problems, which causes us to completely ignore the emotional experience of that disruption, but affective labeling is about making space for emotional processing before dealing with objective consequences.

“Whenever we face a disruption in our life, it's very tempting to try and immediately solve the objective consequences, the actual problems that arise from that disruption, and what we do when we do that is that we completely ignore the emotional experience of that disruption. Affective labeling is really about making space for that emotional processing before you deal with the objective consequences.”

The 'maximized brain' is a belief that whatever one does must be the biggest, most ambitious version of that goal—exercising must mean daily gym, writing must mean a book, exploring a project must mean a startup—and this often leads to overwhelm, burnout, and project abandonment.

“What I call the maximized brain is this belief that we have, that whatever we do, it has to be the biggest, the most ambitious version of this goal. When we want to exercise, we decide that we have to go to the gym every single day. If we wanna start writing, we decide that we're going to start writing a book. If we wanna explore a new project, we decide that this has to be a startup. The problem with the maximized brain is that it very often leads to overwhelm and burnout, and sometimes just completely abandoning our projects because they're just too big.”

What's great about the triple check tool is that it's not just a diagnosis tool, it also tells you what to do for each situation: if the problem is rational, redefine the strategy; if emotional, redesign the experience; if practical, ask for help.

“What's great about the triple check tool is that it's not just a tool for a diagnosis, it also tells you what to do for each of those situations. So if the problem is rational coming from the head, it means that you might want to redefine the strategy, maybe reach out to your colleagues and tell them, 'Hey, I'm not quite convinced this is the way we should go about this. Do you want to go and brainstorm together and see if there's a better approach that we could use?' If the problem is emotional, coming from the heart, you might want to redesign the experience so it's more fun. That could look like going to your favorite coffee shop or grabbing a colleague and say, 'Hey, let's do a little bit of coworking while I work on this task.' And if the problem is practical where you feel like you don't have the right tools or resources or skills, then raise that hand. Ask for help, tell people around you, the people you're working with that maybe you need a bit of mentoring or coaching, or you need to take a course in order to be able to do that task.”

With the sequel script it's quite obvious why it limits the possibilities we might explore in life because we feel that whatever decision we're making next needs to make sense in relation to decisions we made in the past, so we ignore a lot of more left field, unexpected type of decisions that might be opportunities for growth and exploration and self-discovery.

“With the sequel script, it's quite obvious why it limits the possibilities that we might explore in life because we feel like whatever decision we're making next needs to make sense in relation to the decisions we made in the past, we ignore a lot of more left field, unexpected type of decisions that might be opportunities for growth and exploration and self-discovery.”

Tiny experiments offer an alternative to the maximized approach: instead of going for the biggest thing, one goes for the thing most likely to bring discovery, fun, enjoyment, and that is based on curiosity rather than external definitions of success.

“Tiny experiments offer an alternative to this maximized approach where instead of going for the bigger thing, you go for the thing that is most likely to bring you discovery, fun, enjoyment, and that is based on your curiosity rather than an external definition of success.”

In the escapist mindset, one is still curious but has decided to let go of ambitions, attempting to escape responsibilities through retail therapy, binge-watching, or dream-planning vacations instead of taking action to change their life.

“In the escapist mindset, we're still curious, but we have decided to let go of our ambitions. We're trying to do everything we can to escape our responsibilities. That can take the form of retail therapy, binge watching, or dream planning our next vacation instead of doing something right now to change our lives.”

An experimental mindset means embracing the fact that you might not have a plan and you don't know what's coming, and this is great because you can design your life in a way that is conscious and connected.

“It means embracing the fact that you might not have a plan, that you don't know what's coming, and this is great. It means that you can design your life in a way that is conscious and connected.”

To design an experiment, you need to commit to curiosity through what Le Cunff calls a 'pact': you choose one action, decide on a duration, and commit to performing that action for that specific duration.

“To design an experiment, you need to commit to curiosity. A great way to do this is to design what I call a pact. This is a commitment device where you say, 'I am going to run this experiment.' The way it works is that you choose one action and you then decide on a duration and you say, 'I will perform this action for this specific duration.'”

The epic script is very insidious because it's celebrated in society—it says that whatever you do, it needs to be big, very ambitious, and impactful, with anything less being failure.

“Finally, there's the epic script, and this one is very insidious because it's actually celebrated in our society. It's the script that says that whatever you do, it needs to be big, it needs to be very ambitious, it needs to be impactful. Anything less than that is failure.”

The epic script is an extreme version of following your dreams, and because of that, it has created a stigma around having a small, simple life—a life focused on being happy in the moment, being present, being connected, and exploring curiosity—because without external signs of success, are you really living a meaningful life?

“The epic script is an extreme version of the idea of following your dreams, and because of that, it has created a form of stigma around having a small, simple life, a life that is focused on just being happy in the moment, being present, being connected, and exploring your curiosity because if you don't have those external signs of success, if you're not following your grand passion, then are you really living a meaningful life? This is the anxiety-inducing question that is created by the epic script.”

What's amazing is that once you learn to identify magic windows, you can start becoming a bit more intentional and opening those magic windows at will during your daily life.

“What's amazing is that once you learn to identify them, you can start becoming a bit more intentional and opening those magic windows at will during your daily life.”

We have infinite access to information, making people feel that if they keep reading, listening, and watching, they might finally get the key information that gives them elusive certainty.

“and to make it worse, we have infinite access to information which makes us feel like if we just keep on reading, on listening, on watching, we might get that key information that is going to give us finally this sense of elusive certainty.”

Sometimes after running through the triple check, everything still feels in alignment and you're still procrastinating, in which case you should look outside yourself for systemic barriers through honest conversations with stakeholders, redesign your environment, or completely remove yourself from the situation.

“Sometimes you'll go through the triple check, head, heart, hand, and everything feels in alignment and still you're procrastinating. In this case, it might be worth looking outside of yourself for systemic barriers, and that means having honest, sometime difficult conversations with other stakeholders, redesigning your environment if it is not conducive to you being focused and productive, or sometimes completely removing yourself from that work environment and doing something else because you might not be able to change that situation every time.”

An experimental mindset completely reimagines the relationship to ambition and goals by replacing the pursuit of linear goals (which provide an illusion of certainty) with the design of experiments, shifting from a focus on specific outcomes to starting from research questions and treating non-understanding as an opportunity for curiosity rather than fear.

“Having an experimental mindset helps us completely reimagine a relationship to ambition and to goals. When you have an experimental mindset, instead of chasing those linear goals that give you the illusion of certainty, you're open to designing experiments. Instead of trying to get to a specific outcome, you start from a research question. Anytime you don't understand something, it doesn't create fear, it creates curiosity.”

A pact allows detection of when you are falling prey to the maximized brain by keeping your experiment tiny enough that you can actually complete it, achieved by choosing a reasonable duration that is achievable so you can collect all necessary data.

“The second reason is that it allows you to notice when you're falling prey to the maximized brain. You can make sure that you're keeping your experiment tiny enough that you're actually going to complete it by choosing a duration that is reasonable, something you can actually achieve, so you can collect all of the necessary data.”

In relationships, the sequel script is interesting because you may want the next person to connect to the previous experience, either by dating the exact same type of person or by choosing someone who is the complete opposite as a reaction to the previous relationship, but the truth is you still picked them based on continuity with the previous experience.

“In relationships in particular, what's very interesting is that we want the sequel to connect to whatever the previous experience was, so that might mean dating the exact same type of person or choosing the next person in response to whoever we were dating before, and they might look like the complete opposite, but the truth is we still picked this person based on the sense of continuity with whatever the previous experience was before.”

There are three problematic subconscious mindsets that prevent people from living happy conscious lives: the cynical mindset, the escapist mindset, and the perfectionist mindset, each defined by different combinations of curiosity and ambition.

“There are three subconscious mindsets that get in the way of us living happy conscious lives. These three mindsets are called the cynical mindset, the escapist mindset, and the perfectionist mindset.”

If you want to start writing your own scripts in life, you can ask three questions while designing your next experiment: (1) Am I following my past or discovering my path? (2) Am I following the crowd or discovering my tribe? (3) Am I following my passion or discovering my curiosity?

“If you wanna start writing your own scripts in life, there are three questions that you can ask yourself while designing your next experiment. The first one is, am I following my past or discovering my path? The second one is, am I following the crowd or am I discovering my tribe? And then finally, am I following my passion or am I discovering my curiosity?”

Instead of ignoring procrastination and pushing through with willpower, experiencing self-blame and self-judgment, there is a tool called the 'triple check' that uses self-discovery and scientific thinking to understand what signals procrastination is sending.

“As a result of this society that keeps on telling us that we need to be productive to be a good person, whenever we find ourselves procrastinating, we just try to ignore it. We push through using our willpower and we feel self-blame and self-judgment. Instead, there's a very simple tool that you can use whenever you experience procrastination, a tool that is based on self-discovery, on thinking like a scientist and trying to understand what the signals are. This tool is called the triple check...”

Mindfulness and productivity may seem antithetical but they belong together, because mindfulness is about paying attention to your experience in the present moment without self-blame, and mindful productivity is about cultivating awareness in the way you work and direct your focus.

“You might think that mindfulness and productivity are kind of antithetic and don't really belong together, but when you go back to the very definition of mindfulness, it's really about paying attention to your experience in the present moment without self-blame or self-judgment. Mindful productivity is about cultivating this awareness in the way you work and direct your focus.”

The traditional definition of productivity only focuses on time as the most important resource, assuming every minute is a box to fill with as much stuff as possible, but mindful productivity considers physical, emotional, and cognitive resources—emotions, energy, and executive function.

“The traditional definition of productivity only focuses on time as the most important resource, and the assumption here is that every minute is a little box that you need to fill with as much stuff as possible in order to be productive. With mindful productivity, you consider other very important resources, your physical resources, your emotional resources, and your cognitive resources, and that really means thinking about your emotions, your energy, and your executive function.”

Instead of fearing uncertainty, people should learn to collaborate with it by seeing it as opportunity for learning and growth; absence of uncertainty indicates stagnation.

“Instead of fearing uncertainty, we should learn to collaborate with it. What that looks like is seeing uncertainty as an opportunity for learning and form growth. When there is no uncertainty, when we know exactly what we're doing, that means we're not growing anymore, so we should actually seek uncertainty, embrace it, and every time we face it, saying, 'Hello, welcome back. Let's work together.'”

Once you've identified where you're using the word 'should' in your life, you can replace it with the word 'might'—asking 'What might I want to do?' instead of 'What should I do?'—and 'What might I want to explore?'

“And once you've identified the places in your life and the situations in your life where you're using that word should, you can then decide to replace that word with another word, might. What might I want to do instead of what should I do? What might I want to explore? What might I want to experiment with?”

When there is no uncertainty and you know exactly what you're doing, that means you're not growing anymore, so you should actually seek uncertainty, embrace it, and every time you face it, welcome it and ask to work together.

“When there is no uncertainty, when we know exactly what we're doing, that means we're not growing anymore, so we should actually seek uncertainty, embrace it, and every time we face it, saying, 'Hello, welcome back. Let's work together.'”

The less control we have, the more we seek it, which can take many forms: consuming information for clarity, sticking to the safe path where we think we understand all parameters, or doing nothing out of fear.

“The less control we have, the more we seek it, and that might take a lot of forms. For example, trying to consume as much information as possible just so we feel like we have the sense of clarity as to what is going on. That could also look like sticking to the safe path, the more obvious one where we feel like we understand all of the parameters, or sometimes that could even look like doing nothing because we're too afraid to do something dangerous.”

The experimental mindset is the alternative to the three problematic mindsets: it is characterized by high curiosity and high ambition, where one is open to uncertainty as an opportunity to explore, grow, and learn.

“There is an alternative to those three mindsets, which is called the experimental mindset. This is a mindset where your curiosity and your ambition are both high. In an experimental mindset, you're open to uncertainty. You see it as an opportunity to explore, to grow, and to learn.”

The problem with putting all eggs in one basket is that if we fail at this particular project or goal, we feel like we have failed at life entirely, and another problem is that the basket sometimes becomes too heavy and we drop it all together.

“The problem with this is that if we fail at this particular project, this particular goal, we feel like we have failed at life entirely, and the other problem with putting all of our eggs in the same basket is that then sometimes the basket just becomes too heavy and we drop it all together.”

To break free from goal-obsessed life, people need to go from rigid linearity to fluid experimentation—letting go of focus on outcome and embracing the joy found in the process.

“To break free from this goal-obsessed life, we need to go from rigid linearity to fluid experimentation. That means letting go of the focus on the outcome and instead embracing the joy that we can find in the process.”

The sequel script limits possibilities by requiring decisions to make narrative sense relative to past decisions, ignoring unexpected left-field opportunities for growth and self-discovery.

“With the sequel script, it's quite obvious why it limits the possibilities that we might explore in life because we feel like whatever decision we're making next needs to make sense in relation to the decisions we made in the past, we ignore a lot of more left field, unexpected type of decisions that might be opportunities for growth and exploration and self-discovery.”

The crowd pleaser script drives decisions based on pleasing others (parents, friends, partners, colleagues) rather than personal desires and wellbeing.

“Another cognitive script that rules our life is the crowd pleaser script. This is the script where we make decisions based on whatever is going to please people around us the most. Quite often, those other people are our parents. We might make decisions based on whatever is going to make them feel like you're safe and successful. But the audience, for the crowd pleaser script, can also be your friends, can be your partner, can be your colleagues, and what you don't realize when you follow the crowd pleaser script is that you're not making decisions based on what you want and what would make you happy, but based on what will make others around you happy.”

After her startup failed, Le Cunff returned to studying neuroscience at university and began writing a public newsletter where she translated neuroscience insights into practical tools, which became the foundation for her work on experimental living.

“So I decided to go back to university to study neuroscience. I completed my graduate studies and I got a PhD in neuroscience. Throughout this journey, I decided to learn in public, and this is how I started my newsletter. Every week I would pick a topic that I had discovered in my studies in university, and I would take those neuroscience insights and turn them into practical tools that I would write about in the newsletter to help other people apply them in their life and work. This tiny experiment of starting to write online and sharing what I was learning in public was the beginning of my work of trying to understand how we can live more experimental lives.”

Committing to curiosity ensures you live an intentional life—your life, not the life others expect you to live—keeps you adaptable and nimble in an ever-changing world, and makes life more fun.

“In essence, committing to curiosity is ensuring that you're going to live a life that is intentional, that you're going to live your life, not the life that other people are expecting you to live. Curiosity keeps you adaptable and nimble in an ever-changing world. It ensures that you stay open to new possibilities, and frankly, it just makes life more fun.”

Things are changing very fast and the world is evolving, so people should allow themselves to change the direction of their ambitions as the world changes, rather than remaining locked to ambitions set at an earlier point.

“Things are changing very fast. Our world is evolving and you should allow yourself to change the direction of your ambitions with the world, as the world changes.”

The escapist mindset maintains curiosity but abandons ambition, manifesting as retail therapy, binge-watching, or dream planning vacations instead of taking present action.

“In the escapist mindset, we're still curious, but we have decided to let go of our ambitions. We're trying to do everything we can to escape our responsibilities. That can take the form of retail therapy, binge watching, or dream planning our next vacation instead of doing something right now to change our lives.”

After observation of energy sources (e.g., giving presentations creates energy and anxiety), formulate a testable hypothesis (e.g., public speaking classes would help).

“Let's say that you observe that you get a lot of energy from giving presentations at work, but also a little bit of anxiety. Then in the second step, you need to formulate a hypothesis. Maybe you would benefit from taking public speaking classes. Maybe you would benefit from being coached, or maybe you would benefit from just practicing more and giving more presentations at work.”

Le Cunff's personal path consisted of two chapters: first, a linear success-driven chapter where she pursued prestigious goals (good grades, Google job, corporate promotion) but felt internally empty and burnt out, then discovering happiness only after her startup failed and she asked what would make her happy without external success.

“I divide my life in two separate chapters. In the first one, I had a very linear approach that was driven by traditional definitions of success... from an external standpoint, I should have been happy, but I wasn't. Instead, I was feeling empty inside, I was both bored and burned out... It's only when my startup failed and that for the very first time in my life I didn't have a clear idea of what I was supposed to do next in order to be successful that I finally asked myself, 'What is it that I wanted to do? What would make me happy even if I forgot about the traditional definition of success?'”

With experiments, you don't make assumptions about whether something will work for you; testing something like running three times a week for three weeks allows you to decide if it's right for you rather than blindly adopting habits from others or committing indefinitely to practices that might not suit your nature.

“With an experiment, you're not making any assumptions as to whether this is going to work for you or not. A habit that a friend has, for example, going for a run three times a week might not be that good for you. Maybe when it comes to your health and body movement, you prefer dancing or something else. That's why it's interesting to run an experiment before committing to a habit.”

Even without knowing final destination, people can trust they will grow through each cycle of experimentation via the iterative scientific method.

“What's great about that is that even though you don't know where you're going, you can trust that you're going to grow through each cycle of experimentation.”

Post-pact analysis decisions include: persisting with the pact as-is (because it works), pausing it (if you want to stop), or pivoting (making a small tweak before the next cycle).

“Based on that, you can make the decision to either persist with your pact as is because it works for you. You can also pause it if you feel like that's not really something you want to keep going with or you can pivot, which means making a little tweak and changing something before you start your next cycle of experimentation.”

By reconnecting with emotions around procrastination instead of ignoring them, people not only understand themselves better and their relationship to work, but become more productive.

“By reconnecting with these emotions instead of trying to ignore them, not only are we going to understand ourselves better, but also better understand our relationship to work and become more productive in the process.”

Problems with the linear model of success: it assumes you know where you're going (which may not be true), and it assumes that where you want to go now is where you will want to go in a few years (but the world changes fast and you should allow yourself to change direction with the world).

“There are lots of problems with a linear model of success. One of them is that it assumes that you know where you're going, which might not always be the case. Another one is the assumption that wherever you wanna go right now is where you will wanna go in a few years from now. Things are changing very fast. Our world is evolving and you should allow yourself to change the direction of your ambitions with the world, as the world changes.”

Once you've completed your pact and gone through the entire duration of the data collection phase, you can look at the data by reviewing little notes you took (bullet points on phone or in journal) about whether you did it and how it felt.

“Once you've completed your pact and you've gone through the entire duration of that data collection phase, you can finally look at the data. I highly encourage you while you're running your pact to take little notes. It can be very simple, a few bullet points on your phone, something in your journal, but just to keep track of whether you did it or not and how it felt.”

Linear goals breed toxic productivity and unhealthy comparison because when people are all climbing similar ladders in parallel, they compare themselves to each other asking whether others are faster, work harder, or are more successful.

“Another problem is that linear goals breed toxic productivity and unhealthy comparison. When we're all climbing similar ladders in parallel next to each other, we might compare ourselves to each other looking to the right and to the left and asking, 'Is this person being faster? Is this person working harder? Is this person being more successful?'”

Every time we pause and ask 'What do I actually want to do?' instead of automatically reacting, we prove to ourselves that we have agency and are able to make our own choices.

“Every time we use that freedom, every time we pause and we ask ourselves, 'What do I actually want to do,' we prove to ourselves that we have agency, that we are able to make our own choices”

This doesn't mean every choice is the correct choice, because we don't have all the information and things are changing so fast; but at least we know we don't have to go for the automatic response.

“And that doesn't mean this is always the correct choice. In many cases, there is no such thing as making the right choice because we don't have all of the information and things are changing so fast, but at least we know that we don't have to go for automatic response”

The sequel script makes people choose careers aligned with what they studied at university and makes them keep dating the same kind of people or choosing the next person in response to the previous one, in general making them repeat the exact same behaviors and patterns from the past.

“This is the script that makes people choose careers that are aligned with whatever they studied at university. That is the script that makes people keep on dating the same kind of people they've been dating before, and this is, in general, the script that makes us repeat the exact same behaviors and patterns that we've had in the past.”

The crowd pleaser script is one where people make decisions based on whatever will please people around them most, often parents, but the audience can also be friends, partners, or colleagues.

“Another cognitive script that rules our life is the crowd pleaser script. This is the script where we make decisions based on whatever is going to please people around us the most. Quite often, those other people are our parents. We might make decisions based on whatever is going to make them feel like you're safe and successful. But the audience, for the crowd pleaser script, can also be your friends, can be your partner, can be your colleagues”

In modern environments, the brain's evolved drive to get to an answer as quickly as possible often leads people to choose the most obvious answer rather than the most interesting one.

“In our modern environment, we try to get to an answer as quickly as possible, which means we sometimes go for the most obvious one rather than the most interesting one.”

Mindful productivity answers three key questions: When is my magic window? What belongs in this window? How can I keep that window open?

“Mindful productivity is really about answering three key questions. When is my magic window? What belongs in this window and how can I keep that window open?”

A great way to start reimagining what your life could look like is to practice self-anthropology—becoming an anthropologist with your life as your topic of study, observing what gives you energy, what drains your energy, conversations you enjoy, and projects you like working on.

“A great way to start reimagining what your life could look like is to practice what I call self-anthropology, becoming an anthropologist with your life as your topic of study. Just imagine like an anthropologist that goes somewhere and studies a new culture. They know nothing about this culture, everything is new to them, so what do they do? They take their notebook out and they start taking field notes. They ask questions like, why are people doing things the way they're doing them? Why do they care about this? Why is this thing so important to them? You can do the same thing with your life.”

The cynical mindset occurs when one has lost all curiosity and ambition in life and is sometimes even making fun of earnest people with high curiosity and ambition; it involves survival mode, doom scrolling, negative news cycles, and discussing those negative topics with others.

“The cynical mindset is when we have lost all curiosity and ambition in life, and we're actually sometimes even making fun of earnest people who still have this high level of curiosity and ambition. When we're cynical, we feel like there's no point trying because we're in survival mode all the time, so things that we might be doing instead is doom scrolling, sitting on the sofa going through negative news, being stuck in this cycle, and then maybe even spending a lot of time and energy discussing and debating those negative news with other people.”

There are three subconscious mindsets that get in the way of living happy conscious lives: the cynical mindset, the escapist mindset, and the perfectionist mindset.

“There are three subconscious mindsets that get in the way of us living happy conscious lives. These three mindsets are called the cynical mindset, the escapist mindset, and the perfectionist mindset.”

Instead of ignoring procrastination, there is a simple tool based on self-discovery and scientific thinking called the triple check—asking 'Why am I procrastinating? Is it coming from the head, from the heart, or from the hand?'

“Instead, there's a very simple tool that you can use whenever you experience procrastination, a tool that is based on self-discovery, on thinking like a scientist and trying to understand what the signals are. This tool is called the triple check, and it's about asking yourself, why am I procrastinating? Is it coming from the head, from the heart, or from the hand?”

A pact is trackable, not measurable—you don't need complicated metrics, only the ability to say whether you did the action or not (yes or no).

“And finally, a pact is trackable, not measurable. You don't need complicated metrics. You only need to be able to say whether you did it or not. Did you do the action? Did you perform it? Yes or no? That's the only tracking you need.”

Mindful productivity is about answering three key questions: When is my magic window? What belongs in this window and how can I keep that window open?

“Mindful productivity is really about answering three key questions. When is my magic window? What belongs in this window and how can I keep that window open?”

Affective labeling is simple, free, and immediately actionable; when unable to find a single word, describing an emotional landscape (e.g., 'stormy day over dark forest') is effective.

“What's great about effective labeling is that it's very simple, doesn't cost anything and can do it straight away whenever you want to better regulate your emotions. It's really just about picking a word to describe your current emotion, and if you can't find the right word, there is research showing that describing a landscape is also a great way to practice affective labeling. So you could say, for example, that it's a stormy day over a dark forest, or you could say that it's a scary cliff over a beautiful sea.”

In transitional situations like being on an airplane with no Wi-Fi, there are two possible responses: Response 1 (anxiety-driven) involves trying to sleep, ignoring the plane's presence, drinking alcohol, and wanting it over quickly; Response 2 (opportunity-driven) involves enjoying the freedom, watching a movie, reading, journaling, or letting your mind wander and enjoying the transitional space.

“Imagine that you're on a plane 30,000 feet up in the sky with no Wi-Fi. There are two different responses that you can have. The first response, response one is to feel anxious, and because of that you might try to sleep the entire time, just ignore that you're on that plane. You might drink alcohol to dull some of the anxiety, and, in general, you just want it to be over as quickly as possible. Then there's response two where actually you feel like, 'This is great, no Wi-Fi, nobody to contact me. This is freedom,' and you might decide to watch a movie that you've been meaning to watch for a long time, maybe crack a book open that you wanted to read, maybe journal or just let your mind wander and really enjoying that space of transition...”

Cognitive scripts are very practical and useful for routine everyday decisions where they save cognitive effort, but the problem arises when we use them for more important life decisions in careers and relationships, letting choices be driven by internalized stories and scripts rather than asking if these are truly our decisions.

“For routine everyday decisions, cognitive scripts are actually very practical and useful... The problem with cognitive scripts is when we use them to make more important decisions in our lives, in our careers, in our relationships, instead of asking ourselves, 'Is that really what I want to do? Is that my decision?' We let our choices being driven by those stories that we have internalized, by those scripts that tell us how we're supposed to behave in a certain situation.”

The epic script creates an anxiety-inducing question: if you're not following your grand passion or showing external signs of success, are you really living a meaningful life?

“This is the anxiety-inducing question that is created by the epic script. When you think about it, this is a very myopic definition of success where we try to put all of our eggs in the same basket.”

The epic script reflects a myopic definition of success where all eggs are put in one basket, so if you fail at that particular project or goal, you feel you have failed at life entirely, and sometimes the basket becomes too heavy and you drop it all together.

“When you think about it, this is a very myopic definition of success where we try to put all of our eggs in the same basket. We choose this one thing, and we say, if I succeed to this, then I'm successful in life. The problem with this is that if we fail at this particular project, this particular goal, we feel like we have failed at life entirely, and the other problem with putting all of our eggs in the same basket is that then sometimes the basket just becomes too heavy and we drop it all together.”

Head procrastination indicates rational non-conviction that you should work on the task; heart procrastination indicates emotional non-enjoyment; hand procrastination indicates practical lack of tools/resources.

“If it's coming from the head, it means that at a rational level, you're not fully convinced that you should be working on that task in the first place. If it's coming from the heart, it means that at an emotional level, you don't think this is going to be quite fun or enjoyable to work on. And if it's coming from the hand, that means that even though, at a rational level, you feel like I should be working on this, at an emotional level, you feel like, 'That looks like fun,' at a practical level, you feel like you're not equipped with the right tools or you don't have the right resources in order to get the job done.”

The modern environment has made distinguishing information from knowledge increasingly difficult and important.

“The problem today is that it's become really, really hard to know the difference between information and knowledge.”

Both external data (metrics of success, career, financial) and internal data (feelings, emotions) are very valuable for making the right decision about next steps.

“A lot of us tend to only pay attention to external data or internal data when we're analyzing our experiments. For example, we might only look at the external metrics of success or only at the internal feelings that we might be experiencing, but both are very valuable in order to make the right decision when it comes to your next steps.”

With an experiment, you're not making assumptions about whether something will work for you, whereas a habit a friend has (e.g., running three times a week) might not suit you—you should experiment before committing to a habit.

“With an experiment, you're not making any assumptions as to whether this is going to work for you or not. A habit that a friend has, for example, going for a run three times a week might not be that good for you. Maybe when it comes to your health and body movement, you prefer dancing or something else. That's why it's interesting to run an experiment before committing to a habit.”

By consuming information rather than taking action in the real world to collect one's own data, people miss the opportunity to gather knowledge that would be much more helpful for making their own decisions.

“And by consuming all of this information, we might actually not take action to go in the real world and collect our own data, our own knowledge, that would be much more helpful in order to make our own decisions.”

There are two different responses to being on a plane 30,000 feet without Wi-Fi: Response 1 is to feel anxious and try to sleep, drink alcohol to dull anxiety, and just want it over quickly; Response 2 is to feel this as freedom (no Wi-Fi, nobody to contact) and use the time to watch a movie, read, journal, or let your mind wander while enjoying the transitional space.

“Imagine that you're on a plane 30,000 feet up in the sky with no Wi-Fi. There are two different responses that you can have. The first response, response one is to feel anxious, and because of that you might try to sleep the entire time, just ignore that you're on that plane. You might drink alcohol to dull some of the anxiety, and, in general, you just want it to be over as quickly as possible. Then there's response two where actually you feel like, 'This is great, no Wi-Fi, nobody to contact me. This is freedom,' and you might decide to watch a movie that you've been meaning to watch for a long time, maybe crack a book open that you wanted to read, maybe journal or just let your mind wander and really enjoying that space of transition”

Your 'magic windows' are those moments of high productivity, creativity, and focus where you feel zero effort involved, time flows, and your attention is completely locked onto the task.

“Your magic windows are those moments of high productivity, creativity, and focus where you feel like there is zero effort involved, time is flowing and your attention is completely locked onto the task that you're working on.”

You might think that mindfulness and productivity are antithetical and don't belong together, but when you return to the definition of mindfulness—paying attention to your experience in the present moment without self-blame or self-judgment—mindful productivity is about cultivating this awareness in the way you work and direct your focus.

“You might think that mindfulness and productivity are kind of antithetic and don't really belong together, but when you go back to the very definition of mindfulness, it's really about paying attention to your experience in the present moment without self-blame or self-judgment. Mindful productivity is about cultivating this awareness in the way you work and direct your focus.”

We have a very negative relationship with procrastination—online you find articles on how to 'beat procrastination,' but if we start seeing it as a useful signal, it allows us to better connect with emotions around procrastination and understand it as our brain sending a signal.

“We have a very negative relationship with procrastination. If you go online trying to find solutions as to how to deal with procrastination, you're going to only find articles that tell you how to beat procrastination, very violent, but instead, if we start seeing it as a useful signal, it allows us to better connect with the emotions that are around that procrastination and to understand that this is really just our brain trying to send us a signal.”

This YouTube example shows why it is so important to consider both external and internal signals before making a decision; even though the YouTube channel was fairly successful in such a short amount of time, Le Cunff decided to stop and keep writing her newsletter instead.

“This is a typical example showing why it is so important to considering both the external and the internal signals before making a decision. Based on this, even though the YouTube channel was fairly successful in such a short amount of time, I decided to stop. I realized that I was not going to be a YouTuber and I prefer to keep on writing my newsletter.”

The great thing is that you can just pick one of those hypothesis and start testing it; the other ones will still be there if you wanna try them later.

“The great thing is that you can just pick one of those hypothesis and start testing it. The other ones will still be there if you wanna try them later.”

The cynical mindset is characterized by low curiosity and low ambition, where people have lost all curiosity and ambition, mock earnest people, feel there is no point trying due to survival mode, and may engage in doom scrolling, negative news consumption, and debate.

“The cynical mindset is when we have lost all curiosity and ambition in life, and we're actually sometimes even making fun of earnest people who still have this high level of curiosity and ambition. When we're cynical, we feel like there's no point trying because we're in survival mode all the time, so things that we might be doing instead is doom scrolling, sitting on the sofa going through negative news, being stuck in this cycle, and then maybe even spending a lot of time and energy discussing and debating those negative news with other people.”

A linear model of success is based on a fixed outcome you try to get to, implying first do A, then B, then C, and then you'll be successful, which is problematic because it assumes you know where you're going and that where you want to go now is where you'll want to go in a few years.

“A linear model of success is based on a fixed outcome that we try to get to. It implies that first you do A, then B, then C, and then you'll be successful. There are lots of problems with a linear model of success. One of them is that it assumes that you know where you're going, which might not always be the case. Another one is the assumption that wherever you wanna go right now is where you will wanna go in a few years from now.”

Le Cunff designed a tiny experiment of writing and sharing neuroscience insights in a weekly newsletter during her studies, which became the beginning of her work understanding how to live experimental lives.

“Throughout this journey, I decided to learn in public, and this is how I started my newsletter. Every week I would pick a topic that I had discovered in my studies in university, and I would take those neuroscience insights and turn them into practical tools that I would write about in the newsletter to help other people apply them in their life and work. This tiny experiment of starting to write online and sharing what I was learning in public was the beginning of my work of trying to understand how we can live more experimental lives.”

Despite the YouTube channel being fairly successful, Le Cunff decided to stop creating videos because she realized she was not going to be a YouTuber and preferred to continue writing her newsletter instead, illustrating how internal signals should override external success.

“Based on this, even though the YouTube channel was fairly successful in such a short amount of time, I decided to stop. I realized that I was not going to be a YouTuber and I prefer to keep on writing my newsletter.”

Field notes for self-anthropology should be guided by curiosity with examples including insights from reading/listening, mood captures, energy level captures, or results of conversations with others.

“There's no fixed role when it comes to that you can include in your field notes. It should really be guided by your curiosity, but here are some ideas for inspiration. You could include some insights that you have during the day after reading something or listening to something. You can capture your mood, you could capture your energy levels, or you could even capture the result of some encounters and conversations with other people.”

Tiny experiments can be applied to all areas of life: work (publishing an internal newsletter weekly), relationships (sending weekly notes to a friend), and health (walking for 20 minutes for 20 days to observe how you feel).

“You can run tiny experiments in all areas of your life. In work, for example, you could say, 'I'm going to write an internal newsletter every week for the next six weeks where I share the most interesting links that I find.' In relationships, you could say, 'I'm going every Sunday to sit down and send a note to a friend I haven't talked to in a while.' And even when it comes to your health, you could say, 'I'm going to go for a walk for 20 minutes for 20 days to see how I feel at the end of that experiment.'”

A pact is actionable: it must be something doable immediately without extra resources or help from others.

“A pact is actionable. This is something that you need to be able to do right now. You don't need extra resources. You don't need help from other people. This is something you can try straight away.”

When facing a disruption in life, it's tempting to immediately solve the objective consequences, but affective labeling is about making space for emotional processing before dealing with objective consequences.

“Whenever we face a disruption in our life, it's very tempting to try and immediately solve the objective consequences, the actual problems that arise from that disruption, and what we do when we do that is that we completely ignore the emotional experience of that disruption. Affective labeling is really about making space for that emotional processing before you deal with the objective consequences.”

Once you've identified the cognitive scripts that rule your life, you can break free from them, starting by seeing them as stories you tell yourself rather than truths you need to follow blindly.

“Once you have identified the cognitive scripts that rule your life, you can actually break free from them, and it really starts by seeing them as stories we tell ourselves rather than truths that we need to follow blindly.”

A pact is designed in advance with a predetermined number of trials; one doesn't stop mid-trial if results don't match expectations—instead, all data is collected, analyzed, and then decisions are made.

“There's several reasons. The first one is that when a scientist designs an experiment, they design in advance on the number of trials. You don't simply stop in the middle if the results don't really look like what you expected. You collect all of the data and once you have all of that data, you can analyze it and decide what the answer is.”

A linear model of success is based on a fixed outcome one tries to reach—it implies doing A, then B, then C to be successful.

“A linear model of success is based on a fixed outcome that we try to get to. It implies that first you do A, then B, then C, and then you'll be successful.”

The experimental mindset is based on the scientific method: observe your current situation, ask a research question, design a tiny experiment to collect data, analyze the results, and decide on your next step.

“The idea of cultivating an experimental mindset is based on the scientific method, and this is very simple. First, you start by observing your current situation by looking at the world around you. Then you ask a research question, and you design a tiny experiment to collect data which you can then analyze. Based on those results, you can decide what your next step is.”

Modern hyper-connected online world has made the epic script very popular, and there has been a 700% surge in mentions of the phrase 'find your purpose' in books over the past two decades.

“Our modern hyper-connected online world has made the epic script unfortunately very, very popular with people. We have become overly obsessed with finding our purpose. Mentions in books of the phrase 'find your purpose,' have surged 700% in the past two decades only.”

If procrastination comes from the head, it means that at a rational level, you're not fully convinced that you should be working on that task in the first place.

“If it's coming from the head, it means that at a rational level, you're not fully convinced that you should be working on that task in the first place.”

The hardest part of knowing what to do next is often getting started, and the reason is because we focus on the outcome rather than the process.

“The hardest part of knowing what to do next is often to get started, and the reason why is because we focus on the outcome rather than the process.”

Let's say you observe that you get a lot of energy from giving presentations at work but also a little bit of anxiety; then in the second step you need to formulate a hypothesis—maybe you would benefit from taking public speaking classes, being coached, or just practicing more.

“Let's say that you observe that you get a lot of energy from giving presentations at work, but also a little bit of anxiety. Then in the second step, you need to formulate a hypothesis. Maybe you would benefit from taking public speaking classes. Maybe you would benefit from being coached, or maybe you would benefit from just practicing more and giving more presentations at work.”

By building confidence in your ability to change as the world changes around you, you develop resilience and adaptability.

“This allows us to build the confidence in our ability to change as the world changes around us.”

The exhaustion and ambivalence from climbing linear goal ladders has led some people to adopt the mantra 'no goals, just vibes' as an antidote to goal-obsessed culture.

“and having this exhaustion from constantly comparing ourselves to each other that for some people the new mantra has become no goals, just vibes.”

After her startup failed—the first time she didn't have a clear idea of what she was supposed to do next to be successful—Le Cunff finally asked herself 'What is it that I wanted to do? What would make me happy even if I forgot about the traditional definition of success?'

“It's only when my startup failed and that for the very first time in my life I didn't have a clear idea of what I was supposed to do next in order to be successful that I finally asked myself, 'What is it that I wanted to do? What would make me happy even if I forgot about the traditional definition of success?'”