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

A transformative guide to rethinking our approach to goals, creativity, and life itself from a neuroscientist and entrepreneur, and the creator of the popular Ness Labs newsletter

"I loved this profound, practical, and generous book."—Oliver Burkeman

"A thought-provoking guide to doing more trials and making fewer errors."—Adam Grant

"One of the best productivity books that I've read."—Ryder Carroll

"This book will change the way you design your goals and live your life."—Nir Eyal

Life isn’t linear, and yet we constantly try to mold it around linear goals: four-year college degrees, ten-year career plans, thirty-year mortgages. What if instead we approached life as a giant playground for experimentation? Based on ancestral philosophy and the latest scientific research, Tiny Experiments provides a desperately needed reframing: Uncertainty can be a state of expanded possibility and a space for metamorphosis.

Neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff reveals that all you need is an experimental mindset to turn challenges into self-discovery and doubt into opportunity. Readers will replace the old linear model of success with a circular model of growth in which goals are discovered, pursued, and adapted—not in a vacuum, but in conversation with the larger world.

Throughout the book, you will ask hard questions and design simple yet meaningful experiments to find the answers. You will learn how to break free from the invisible cognitive scripts that shape your life, how to harness the power of imperfection, and how to make smarter decisions when the path forward is unclear.

This is a guide to:
• Discover your true ambitions through conducting tiny personal experiments
• Dismantle harmful beliefs about success that have kept you stuck
• Dare to make decisions true to your own aspirations
• Stop trying to find your purpose and start living instead

Tiny Experiments offers not just practical tools to make sure our most vital work gets done, but a guide to reawakening our curiosity and drive in a noisy, busy, disaffected world, so that we can discover and pursue our most authentic ambitions while making a meaningful contribution.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a former Googler who decided to go back to university to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. As the founder of Ness Labs and the author of its widely read newsletter, she is the foremost expert on mindful productivity and systematic curiosity. She writes about evidence-based ways for people to navigate uncertainty and make the most of their minds. She lives in London, where she continues to research and teach people how to apply scientific insights to real-world challenges.

ISBN: 9780593715130
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: March 04, 2025

“The fear of failure often stands in the way of learning from trial-and-error. This is a thought-provoking guide to doing more trials and making fewer errors.”

—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential, and host of the podcast Re:Thinking

"I loved this profound, practical, and generous book. Through the ingenious lens of the tiny experiment, Anne-Laure Le Cunff shows how we can jettison arduous and dispiriting attempts at self-improvement in favor of achievable and energizing adventures on the path to a more vibrant, accomplished, and wholehearted life."

—Oliver Burkeman, New York Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks

"In Tiny Experiments, Anne-Laure Le Cunff shows how to separate ambition from rigid linear goals, allowing uncertainty to bloom into possibility and a meaningful life to emerge organically. A compelling new take on a timeless concern."