Tiny Experiments offers a way to reframe goal setting in a way that sidesteps counterproductive emotions like shame not because they aren’t legitimate but because they aren’t helpful. (View Highlight)
At one point, Anne Laure posits that not knowing where to start is the biggest barrier for most people. This may be a bubble effect, but in my own life and that of my friends, the problem isn’t not knowing what to do, it’s not getting off my butt to do it! (View Highlight)
There’s a lovely chapter of Tiny Experiments devoted to procrastination. One of my favorite lines was:
The problem with procrastination is not that you’re being lazy. The problem is that you’ve shot the messenger. The key is, as I’ve written about myself, metacognition. Paying attention to what your body and mind are telling you is key. Interpreting these signals is hard, of course. (View Highlight)
when I find myself stuck writing an article, or unenthusiastic about dinner, or reluctant to exercise, typically “powering through” results in significantly worse results than taking a moment and really thinking (critically, carefully) about what is interfering with my enthusiasm, and then taking steps to mitigate those unconscious concerns. (View Highlight)
getting good at identifying interesting problems, gathering data on them, and writing up your findings in accessible language is a pretty marketable and widely applicable skill (View Highlight)
Anne’s whole point is that the scientific method of notice a problem, make a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, evaluate the results is extremely useful for figuring out our own lives. (View Highlight)
Reframing our lives not as a series of time blocks in which we have limited opportunities to get things done is important for living anything resembling a good life. (View Highlight)
One can be curious about a wide variety of things, and having curiosity as a driver instead of a pathological need to “be productive” is a much nicer way to start the day and, paradoxically, often more productive. (View Highlight)