The beginning of the year is a liminal space – a threshold between who you were and who you’re becoming. It’s the perfect time to move beyond traditional goal-setting and instead cultivate an experimental mindset that embraces uncertainty as a pathway to discovery.
The six questions in this worksheet are designed to help you approach the year ahead not as a problem to be solved, but as a series of experiments to be explored. Rather than focusing on outcomes you can control, they invite you to lean into the process of becoming more curious about your own life.
Read the instructions, take your time with the questions, and if you’d like to share your reflections, I’d love to see them! Feel free to post your answers on social media (e.g., as a carousel on Instagram or bullet points on LinkedIn) and tag me @neuranne.
How to use this worksheet
- Set aside 30 minutes in a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted. Turn off notifications and grab something to write with, whether that’s pen and paper or an online document.
- Spend about 5 minutes on each question. Your first instinct is often your truest answer, so resist the urge to overthink or craft the “right” response. Practice radical honesty with yourself. These aren’t answers you need to defend to anyone else.
- If a question feels uncomfortable or brings up uncertainty, lean into that discomfort rather than away from it. The questions that make you squirm a little are often the ones with the most potential for growth.
- Don’t worry about having perfect, fully-formed answers. Half-formed thoughts, contradictions, and “maybe…” responses are all helpful. The aim is curiosity, not certainty.
- Lastly, consider keeping your answers somewhere you can revisit throughout the year. These aren’t one-time commitments but an ongoing invitation to turn your life into a giant laboratory.
If you enjoy this kind of self-discovery process, make sure to subscribe to the Ness Labs newsletter for more tools to help you approach life with curiosity.