The Kaleidoscope Project: May Challenge

Experimentation

Welcome to May's edition of The Kaleidoscope Project Monthly Challenge, a collaborative writing adventure that invites anyone who wants to take part to look at the world from different perspectives each month.

After January's Tipping Points helped us recognise pivotal moments, February's Taking Action pushed us to make moves, March's Permission encouraged us to grant ourselves the freedom we need, and April's Intention had us setting meaningful paths forward, May invites us to embrace Experimentation.

Why? Because intention without action is just an idea. This month, I'm challenging you (and myself) to actually try things, to test our ideas in the real world, and to learn through doing rather than just thinking.

What does experimentation mean?

Experimentation isn't about getting it right the first time. It's not even about getting it right at all. It's about the beautiful, messy process of discovery that happens when we're brave enough to try things without knowing the outcome.

Scientist and author Stuart Firestein says:

"Being a scientist is about being comfortable with ignorance... A good experiment is one that tells you something you didn't know, or even better, something you didn't know you didn't know."

I think the same applies to life. The best experiments aren't the ones where everything works perfect, they're the ones that surprise us, confuse us and ultimately teach us something we couldn't have learned any other way.

The Challenge

This month, I invite you to interpret the prompt "Experimentation" however you want. If you have an idea already, great, but if you need some ideas you could design your own experiment in any area of your life. Such as:

• A writing experiment: Try a new style, format, or routine.

• A daily habit experiment: What happens if you meditate for 5 minutes every morning? Or go for a walk before work?

• A social experiment: How does responding differently to a recurring situation change the outcome? Give a compliment to your co-workers. Tell the barista you appreciate them.

• A creative experiment: Mix techniques or mediums you've never combined. I'm still waiting for someone to submit an interpretive dance!

• A thought experiment: Test a hypothesis about yourself or your world.

Whatever form it takes, document your process. The results aren't what matter, it's what you learn along the way.

Maybe you have already done the experimentation and want to tell us about what you learned.

How to participate

1. Create something - Whatever experimentation means to you.

2. Tag

   Mark
   and
   Moon Arica
   - so we can see it.

3. Submit your entries here - Some people forget this part, but it helps me keep things organised and you can use it to check out other people's entries too.

4. Get Social - Read, engage with and share your co-challengers entries when you see them. This is more than just a writing challenge, it's ain invitation to get involved with other people.

5. The Deadline is the 31st May 2025 at 23:59 UTC

6. Have fun! - It's not actually a requirement but why not enjoy it?

My own experiments

I've already done a few experiments over the past couple of months, which is one of the reasons that this prompt appealed to me. Although I have no idea what I will come up with this month you can check out some of my previous experiments here:

Why I “Fired” 169 Subscribers, when I released a public notebook into the world, when I tried to determine if Short and Sweet was better than Long and Rich, when I asked if I could create my own sense of urgency, when I revaluated how I work and when I considered how we might be able to encourage more people to wash their hands. You could say I enjoy a good experiment!

The Monthly Round-up

At the end of the month, once all of the entries are in, I will compile a "best of" round-up celebrating our collective experimentation. The deadline for submissions is May 31st, 2025 at 23:59 UTC.

The goal isn't perfection, it's to share your perspective on what Experimentation means to you. If you choose to do an actual experiment the goal is to learn through doing. To discover something you couldn't have found through thinking alone, unless it's a thinking experiment maybe. So embrace the mess, the surprise and the failures, because, and I feel like a broken record saying this, both online and to my kids, "failure is where the real growth happens."

As someone who struggles with the initiation paralysis that often comes with ADHD, I know how hard it can be to move from thinking to doing. But I also know the joy, relief and clarity that comes when I finally push through that barrier. Sometimes the only way to know if something will work is to actually try it.

So put on your lab coats this month. Let's test hypotheses about ourselves and our lives. Let's be curious rather than certain.

I can't wait to see what you all come up with and look forward to seeing what discoveries emerge when we prioritise curiosity over certainty.

If you have questions, drop them in the comments or DM me and if experimentation feels daunting, remember that the simplest experiments often yield the most interesting results.

If you would like to see

Moon Arica

’s April round-up post on intention, look no further than below:

The Kaleidoscope Project April Challenge: Roundup - When intent leads to goals and results