Experiments

Talk is cheap.

Essential to Raptitude is the idea of experimentation. Concepts and insights can be useful and encouraging, but it is the application of those ideas that effect big improvements in one’s life. It can be very revealing (and fun) to try on a new habit or technique for a week or two (or four), and observe the results.

I will conduct experiments in my own life and post my observations and conclusions. I would love to hear about your experiments too.

All Raptitude experiments will be listed here.

Raptitude Experiment No. 1 — Sharpening the Mind

In this experiment I attempt to engage in formal sitting meditation every day for thirty days.  I’ve meditated many times before, but not in a disciplined stretch like this.  Will I become the Buddha, or succumb to the restless monkey mind?

Result in a nutshell: I struggled. I was not ready for meditation. Not willing. But that didn’t prevent me from making some very revealing discoveries…

View experiment log no. 1 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 2 — Strength, Soviet Style

In this experiment, I employ a low-tech Russian implement, the kettlebell, to see what sort of improvements I can make to my physique in six short weeks. Will I achieve world domination, or will the kettlebell crush me under its ironclad boot?

Result in a nutshell: I did make considerable strides in my six weeks, but an injury and a peculiar internal resistance staved off miraculous results. Still, I was quite proud of myself. There is a before/after picture in the final report.

View experiment log no. 2 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 3 — 30 Days Without Drugs

In this experiment, I attempt to throw off the cultural shackles of casual drug use, notably alcohol and caffeine. Will I stand sober and self-assured amidst the crowds of tipsy twenty-somethings, or will I find I don’t belong anymore?

Result in a nutshell: Changed my life forever. Completely altered the way my mind and body respond to drugs, and now I’m free of virtually all negative effects of my casual drug usage. I am in love with the sober, base-state and my body doesn’t let me forget it.

View experiment log no. 3 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 4 — Defensive Eating

In this experiment, I set out to renegotiate my relationship to food and lose the “spare tire” that has formed during this summer’s ice cream binges. Eating with care and mindfulness, I vow to no longer eat to the point of sluggishness, and to hit the kettlebells again. Will I deliver a fit and strong David to New Zealand this fall, or will I slip quietly back to “almost healthy?”

Result in a nutshell: I did eventually slip back to “almost healthy.” I found that social and cultural factors play a HUGE role in how, what and how much I eat. You too probably. Some interesting discoveries in the progress log.

View experiment log no. 4 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 5 — 21 Days Without Complaining

In this experiment, I aim to eliminate the habit of casual negativity using a simple method pioneered by a Missouri minister. The experiment will be over when I’ve gone 21 consecutive days without complaining, disparaging or gossiping. It will probably take a lot longer than 21 days.  Will I achieve a state of total non-negativity forevermore? Or will I finally collapse into a heap of cursing and bitterness?

Result in a nutshell: Well I did it, without compromise. I effectively killed my impulse to complain. But I found it strangely dissatisfying, and I developed a rather negative view of the whole “Complaint Free World” idea. This is an interesting one.

View experiment log no. 5 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 6 – Logging Everything I Do, All Day For a Week

In this experiment, I track everything I do that takes time — which is everything. With the ultimate goal of dismantling unproductive habits, I aim to find out exactly how much of my time is invested in getting the things I want, and how much is slipping through the cracks. Will this trigger a personal productivity revolution, or simply expose the bad habits that have me at their mercy?

Result in a nutshell: More than anything I learned that productivity is not so much what you do, but where your mind is when you do it. I also learned that laundry only takes twelve minutes, not the 90 I previously thought, and much more.

View experiment log no. 6 – View final report

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Raptitude Experiment No. 7 – Establishing Meditation as a Habit For Life

In this experiment, I return to meditation with the tenacity of one hand clapping. Meditation has revealed itself to me as an indispensable ingredient to a healthy psyche, and it’s time to make it an everyday thing for me. Will I sit at the centre of the universe as often as I eat breakfast, or will I continue to act as if it just isn’t important enough to earn a steady place in my schedule?

Result in a nutshell: Still ongoing! Check the experiment log.

View experiment log no. 7

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Photo by ArtemFinland