A Successful Life Is an Infinite Game of Experiments

In life, there are experiments, experiences and lessons learned. Wisdom or knowledge without application has no practical benefit.

Life isn’t a test; it’s an infinite game of experiments — there are no universal rules. There’s only what works for you. When we treat our life as a test, we tend to get stressed out and feel like we need to get every answer right the first time. But no one can tell you what the right thing is.

Everyone is experimenting with what they learn. Successful people apply what they know, do more of what’s working and repeat the cycle that produces the best results. If they don’t have the right knowledge, they hire smart people to apply the best input, tools or expertise to get the desired results.

“I have always been more interested in experiment, than in accomplishment,” says Orson Welles. The only way to gather real-world wisdom is by experimenting with different options and seeing what works for you in the long run.

That’s why every successful person focuses on self-exploration and continuous learning: They know how valuable those things are in building a solid foundation for their personal growth and future endeavours. Even if it might look like they’re just playing around, successful people have proven repeatedly that these small steps result in tremendous changes in their lives.

So if you want more success in your life, try exploring some new things before judging them or dismissing them outright. These experiments will help you see things from new angles and expand your horizons so that you don’t become stuck repeating the same old routines again and again.

Life is an infinite game of application of wisdom. The more, the better. There are no failures — only lessons learned. You can’t know the outcome until you give it a shot, but as long as you keep trying new things and learning from your mistakes, you’ll eventually find yourself in a place where everything makes sense.

Lack of self-confidence? Experiment with making small changes in your current routine so that one day you’re excited to get out of bed and start your day. Need more balance in your life? Change up the places you go every once in a while, include different people in your social circle and introduce new activities into your daily routine.

Do more of what works for you

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Achieving success is not a finite game — find and break conventional rules. Create new rules. Do more of what works for you without seeking validation.

If you keep playing by the different rules, sooner or later, you’ll end up in a good place where all of your experiments have led to positive results.

Life isn’t fair, but it’s also not pointless. The only way to win is by playing and trying new principles and wisdom: learn from others, read about how others achieve success, and gather as much knowledge as possible.

What you do today doesn’t matter because what you do in the future doesn’t exist yet. This means you need to be ready to take risks and make adjustments along the way. Every success story starts with an experiment that didn’t go according to plan.

“The true method of knowledge is experiment,” says William Blake. To live a successful life, you need to start experimenting more often.

The key to experimentation is taking small steps towards your goal rather than getting discouraged if something doesn’t work out the way you expect. You learn more through the accumulation of experiences. With each failed experiment comes new clues that help you get closer to the outcome you want or discover a solution moving forward.

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This post was previously published on Thomas Oppong’s blog.

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