🎮Level Up – Weekly Drop #05

Tiny Experiments 🧪, Big Shifts: Exploring Ness Labs

<Note: This is an edited re-post of an earlier article that appeared in a Telegram only weekly newsletter>

In an age of big hacks and bold promises, it’s refreshing to stumble upon a quieter revolution: tiny experiments in better thinking.

This week’s spotlight is on the book Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff and the site created by its author, Ness Labs*, that’s built a global following around mindful productivity, mental models, and metacognition.

(*If you are wondering if the site is about a water dwelling Scottish Cryptid, sorry to disappoint 😂- as Le Cunff explains: “-ness” is a suffix that means “state of being”, as in awareness, mindfulness, consciousness)

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What Are Tiny Experiments?

Tiny Experiments are short-term, low-risk actions that prioritize exploration and learning vs achievement / hitting goals.

Effective tiny experiments are engaging, feasible, and open-ended, allowing for discovery without the pressure of guaranteed success where these experiments can be applied to various areas of life, including professional performance, personal growth, health, and even relationships, to drive meaningful change.

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The Power Of Adopting An Experimental Mindset

While the book covers a structured approach in conducting Tiny Experiments, what matters the most are mind-sets.

As the author herself says : “By not focusing on the outcome and instead designing a tiny experiment, what you can do is letting go of any definition of success, letting go of that binary results that you're looking for, and instead focusing something that makes you feel curious and that you want to explore.”

At the core of Le Cunff’s book and all her other work is the key idea that change doesn’t require major overhauls — just curiosity, iteration, reflection AND a willingness to move away from the cult of productivity for productivity’s sake and reframing failure as a learning opportunity.

In many ways, it’s the perfect companion to the Level Up ethos: small steps, thoughtfully taken rather than taking a single huge scary leap in the rush towards progress.

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From Theory To Practice: Try This

Head over to the Ness Labs and browse through their top articles and pick an exercise in mindful productivity, mental well-being or purposeful creativity.

Don’t overthink it -whether it's a journaling prompt, a reframing technique, or a mindful check-in - just choose something that resonates with you and try applying it to a real moment in your week.

Not as a life-changing habit. Just as a micro-experiment.

Because as Anne-Laure says, “Consistency is easier when it feels like play.”

🕹 Until next time — keep levelling up, one Tiny Experiment 🧪at a time.

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Addendum: Ness Toolbox

Given that Level Up is a Meetup group about Thinking Tools, it would be remiss if I didn’t mention that aside from the book, Le Cunff has also curated the Ness Labs Toolbox - a collection of frameworks, reflection prompts, and thinking tools that help you:

• Cultivate better focus without burnout

• Think more clearly in noisy, fast-paced work environments

• Build self-awareness and intentional habits

• Experiment with small changes that create big shifts over time

You might be thinking - hey, doesn’t this sound a lot like the Mental Models library from Farnam Street (Covered earlier in Level Up - Weekly Drop #03) that focuses on mental models for decision-making.

While there is some overlap - the key difference with Ness Labs is that it leans into the intersection of neuroscience, creativity, and personal development. It’s less about “crushing it” and more about sustaining it — aligning your inner game with how you show up in your work and relationships.