10 Ways to Tell That an Experiment Failed

A major theme in the excellent book "Skip the Line" by @JamesAltucher is the 10,000 Experiment Rule. The essence of this rule is that you must constantly perform experiments to become better in something. Whether it's really 10,000 or 100 experiments is irrelevant. A good experiment yields results that are easily measured and can be used to refine further experimentation.

Most experiments end in varying degrees of failure, which is not only okay but expected. Consider the following list of ideas as the first in a 2 part series on examining the results of experimentation.

This list of ideas is another experiment, and there are many more reasons why an experiment failed, so feel free to add your own!

1. The Experiment Has Negative Outcomes Greater Than Expected

2. The Anticipated Positive Outcomes either Don’t Materialize or Are Outweighed by the Negative Ones

3. If the Experiment Is Habit Related, New Negative Habits Are Adopted in the Process

4. The Experiment Hinders Other Aspects of Your Life

5. If Money Is Involved, the Experiment Is either Too Expensive for the Result or The Return on Investment Wasn’t High Enough

6. General Misery Increases in the Process

7. The Experiment Was Created to Save Time, but Ends up Wasting Time With Little to Show for It

8. The Experiment Didn’t Account For Ways to Violate the Spirit of the Rules While Keeping to the Letter

9. If the Habit Is Related to Health, Too Much Pain and Illness Is the Primary Result

10. Nothing Valuable Was Learned or Earned

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