Harvard's Dark Horse Project found high achievers succeed through short-term experiments, not rigid plans. The speaker outlines a "book of experiments" method: identify an opportunity, predict what you'll learn, then reflect and adjust. Progress comes from small smart bets, not a straight line.
A lot of what you've been told about long-term goals is wrong. Achieving them isn't a straight path. The most successful people zig and zag their way toward their goals. Harvard researchers once ran a study they called the Dark Horse Project. They looked at high achievers and found that most of these folks don't follow rigid long-term plans. Instead, they ran short-term experiments, constantly testing, learning, and adapting. Now, inspired by author David Epstein, I use my own book of experiments to track my own zigzags. The process is actually really simple. simple. You pick an opportunity in front of you, you write what you want to try, you predict what you're going to learn, and then you reflect and you adjust. This approach gets you unstuck and keeps you growing. Here's the key thing: success isn't a straight line. It's a series of small, smart bets. That's how you figure out what works.
