What if you couldn’t change your mind until you allowed things to run their proper course?
I call it committing to the experiment.
If you want to test for something, construct a hypothesis and establish a window for testing. Consider taking a new job, for example.
I hypothesize one year’s time working at Company XYZ will enhance my career mobility, quality of life, and earning potential.
Focus on specific outcomes.
- How will running this experiment impact my life?
- What is the expected value or return of a successful experiment?
- How will I measure success?
- What am I willing to invest in completing this experiment?
Committing becomes easy when the end goal is both near and under constraints.
The constraints set a clear window of opportunity to satisfy the question you needed answered. These also establish an expiration date to let yourself off the hook.
More importantly, it allows you to quash optionality.
Experiments encounter turbulence. Unaccounted for variables will attempt to trip you up. The fewer you allow to derail you, the better.
Optionality can kill progress.
It’s the voice in your head telling you to turn back. It’s that silent killer asking you, “What’s in this for me?”
By committing to the experiment at the onset, you free yourself from this bondage. Experiments eliminate the cognitive overheard of wondering what else you could be doing.
Give yourself the freedom to run tests uninhibited. Commit to the experiment.