Introducing The Test Cycle
Screw resolutions; 2017 is going to be an experiment.
There are more blogs, articles and eBooks about self improvement than you could read in a decade. So instead of giving you something else to do in the endless pursuit of being “better,” I want to give you a chance to see what happens when someone else follows that same advice.
The Test Cycle is an experiment. A learning experiment. It’s a weekly adventure in self discipline, cold showers, frisbee golf, and all of the other habits, hobbies, and skills that are good, bad, and insane.
The Test Cycle is a journal. It’s about logging and learning, not reporting on current events. The content posted here won’t be like other publications on Medium. You’ll see status reports, monthly summaries, interviews with people who specialize in the things I experiment with, and lots of mistakes.
The Test Cycle is my “resolution” for 2017: To try out at least one new habit, hobby, or skill every month and see what I learn from it. It’s my bid to figure out how my head works, how learning works, and how daily discipline turns into long-term habits.
Interested?
Learning Is Awesome
The Test Cycle is built on a principle I’ve written about before: planned cyclical learning encourages faster skill adaptation. It’s like periodization, but for your brain. And I’m going to use it to see how easily I can adapt to new habits (like waking up without an alarm), new hobbies (like yoga), and new skills (like making the perfect omelet).
It’s built on my desire to try everything. I’m young and naive. I have no idea what I want or need out of life. So I want to do a bit of everything to see what it’s like and still improve myself along the way.
And at the most basic level, I want to make sure that my failure are just as valuable as my victories. Not for the sake of failure porn, but in order to figure out why failure happens and how I can get as much from it as possible. And because failing can be kinda fun, too.
It’s like the Tim Ferris Experience, with more typing and fewer drugs.
Why You NEED To Read This
I guess you don’t need to read it, but I swear it’ll be fun.
More importantly, though, it’ll be an unfiltered look at how the things every self-help, productivity, and “motivational” writer talks about. You’ll get to see, every week, what it’s like to put all the good, bad, and weird advice out there into practice. Occasionally to comedic effect.
If you want to turn your life into an experiment, if you want to try things that haven’t been measured, if you want to learn from every facet of your life, The Test Cycle is for you.
And there’ll be more to it than just articles. You can look forward to podcasts, videos, ebooks, stupid gifs, funny stories, awkward slack conversations, and more. This experiment is built around the written word, but it’ll include every skill I employ professionally (and a few that I don’t).
So, if you’d like to follow a multi-media exploration of how learning works, punch that button and stay tuned. The fun’s about to start.
