Goal setting is linear – you have a defined outcome determining success or failure. The fixed requirements of success breeds anxiety, competition, and apathy.
Experimental mindset is a loop. You focus on controlling the experimental process, and having curiosity in the results. By embracing uncertainty in the results, the path is freeing, fluid, collaborative, and original.
There is no rush in experimental mindset because there is nowhere to get to. It’s a continuous loop of process and results.
Imagine a 2×2 matrix of ambition and curiosity. Experimental is high ambition and high curiosity. Perfectionist is high ambition, low curiosity. Escapism is high curiosity, low ambition. Cynicism is low in both.
Success with an experimental mindset is not fixed. It’s not fixated on the result but the process. Focus on actions and objectively interpreting results, rather than try to attain a specific result.