149. Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Cultivating Curiosity and an Experimental Life

Overview

Here on the podcast, one of the areas I explore is how we can live and work differently for more personal success, satisfaction, and sustainability. 

And that’s where I’m having us start the year—with the idea that we can shift our mindset, explore and innovate new approaches, and experiment our way into knowing. 

This complements my last episode that closed out 2024 where I talked about how approaching uncertainty and complexity with a sense of hope, joy, and wonder can help us embrace our agency over our goals and ambitions even in tenuous times. My conversation today builds on that idea and introduces curiosity as a superpower companion for ambition. 

Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff joins me to talk about her new book and how bringing curiosity and experimentation to your goals can not only help you to fully embrace your ambition with a new mindset, but also to pursue goals more sustainably and to approach setbacks with more self-kindness.

Rather than set resolutions for this year, instead embrace curiosity, create your tiny experiment, and, with hope, step into joy and wonder as you explore your way to knowing.

More About Our Guest

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is an award-winning neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and author. Her research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience of King’s College London focuses on the neurodevelopment of curiosity and learning. She founded Ness Labs, an online learning platform providing evidence-based resources for professional and personal growth. Previously, she was an executive at Google, where she led digital health projects. Her upcoming book, Tiny Experiments, is a call to live a more experimental life.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

  • How experimental thinking emphasizes opportunities for learning, regardless of the outcomes

  • Why we need to nurture both curiosity and ambition in our lives

  • How an experimental mindset can help us explore the questions we face, even when it’s uncomfortable

  • Designing and implementing experiments for yourself and how this differs from resolutions or forming habits

  • What to do when your experiments end

  • Using curiosity to listen better to our internal signals

Learn more about Anne-Laure Le Cunff:

Thanks for Listening!

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150: Dr. Amy Climer: Transforming Work and Life Through Deliberate Creativity

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148: 2024 Year End Reflection Points