Going into my interview with Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of the recently released Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World, I knew she would instinctively be prepared. She had, after all, finished 60 podcasts in 60 days, as part of her own tiny experiment.
I did my homework as any interviewer should. Google searches, AI interrogations, and listening to other podcasts and YouTube. And, of course, listening to her book in audio format, which I highly recommend since Anne-Laure narrates it herself and her accent is a blend of Parisian and Algerian, something to behold.
Our Zoom interview starts at 9:00 AM Eastern time, but it’s already 2:00 PM in London, where Anne-Laure resides. The first guest to arrive in the meeting is something called Otter.Ai, an AI agent that automates summaries, action items, and is chatable. Yet another indication that she’s a professional at this (while Venture Out remains a hobby, which, according to Mark Cuban, is what it’s called when it doesn’t make a profit for years).
“I journal every morning when I wake up. So it is part of that practice of checking in with myself, and then I open my to-do list, and I move things around based on how I feel that day.” - Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Our interview bounces around a few of my favorite questions to ask, meant to really get to know the person. What becomes apparent is how intentional Anne-Laure is, with seemingly everything. Journaling in the morning, whether it’s for a few minutes or for an entire hour, is her version of meditation, bringing awareness to her energy levels and setting the tone for the rest of the day. Her awareness extends much further than just a single day, though. These days, she’s being intentional about both the short-term and long-term.
Her journey to become a successful author of an acclaimed productivity book started with her initial career at Google. Back then, like most of us, we were on a sort of autopilot - going from school to a degree to a job. After feeling burnt out and a sensation of emptiness, Anne-Laure re-evaluated her trajectory, perhaps one of her first signs of growing awareness. Fast forward several years, and she’s now a neuroscientist with a Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience and the creator of the popular Ness Labs newsletter. Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed academic journals and mainstream publications such as WIRED, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Fortune, and Entrepreneur. To go from Global Marketing Lead at Google to an entrepreneur startup with employees requires a lot of intention and tiny experiments.
“If you try to use willpower to just push through your procrastination. Not only are you not going to be able to do it, but you're probably also going to create a negative cycle of self-blame and self-judgment for not doing the task that you said you were going to do.” - Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Procrastination is something we can all relate to. Anne-Laure distills it into a simple way of understanding the root cause. She calls it the “Triple Check.” You ask yourself, is the reason stemming from the:
Head, which may mean you don’t see the value in the task
Heart, which may mean you’re not passionate about the task, or
Hand, which may mean you feel inadequate with your skills to perform the task
By identifying the source of the procrastination, you can take action to remedy it. For example, when I procrastinate and bounce it against the Triple Check, I feel most of the time it’s because of the ‘Hand’, meaning I don’t feel confident in my knowledge of the task. The remedy: team up with more knowledgeable colleagues!
TAKEAWAY
Sustainable productivity at any phase of life could benefit from more awareness. Anne-Laure’s novel contribution suggests trying to see your life as a series of intentional experiments and making use of the resulting data.
“So those seasons in life where there are external factors that have an impact on your productivity can actually be an amazing opportunity to reevaluate the way you work.” - Anne-Laure Le Cunff
(more from Anne-Laure)
➩ Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World
“Iteration over perfection.” - Amazon review
➩ Big Think: The 3 cognitive scripts that rule over your life
➩ Chris Williamson’s Interview: How To Live Freely In A Goal-Obsessed World
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