Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World

A guide to rethinking goals, creativity, and life from neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff, creator of the Ness Labs newsletter. Life often follows linear paths—college degrees, career plans, mortgages—but what if life were approached as a space for experimentation instead? Drawing on ancestral philosophy and scientific research, this book reframes uncertainty as a state of expanded possibility. Le Cunff explains how an experimental mindset can transform challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. The book replaces a linear success model with a circular growth model where goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted through conversation with the larger world. Readers will design simple experiments to answer difficult questions, break free from cognitive scripts that shape behavior, harness imperfection, and make decisions when the path forward is unclear. Topics covered include discovering true ambitions through personal experiments, dismantling harmful beliefs about success, making decisions aligned with your aspirations, and living rather than searching for purpose. The book offers practical tools alongside guidance for rediscovering curiosity and drive to pursue authentic ambitions and make meaningful contributions.