Let’s say there’s something in your life that doesn’t quite feel right. The best way to determine what is bothering you, to fix it or remove it from your life, and to build better results is to apply the scientific method. It’s not as scary as it sounds. In fact I had been doing this for several years and never really considered that it was the scientific method until recently when I was reintroduced to it. There are four steps to the scientific method:
- Characterizations – observations
- Hypothesis – hypothetical explanations of the observations
- Predictions – what you might expect from the hypothesis
- Experiments – tests
How does this apply to your every day life?
Let’s say you make the observation that you have been feeling lethargic for the past week. You don’t like how this feels. You prefer the feeling of boundless energy.
What could be the cause of this? Draw up some hypotheses. It could be that you have been eating fried food all week, that you have been sleeping 4 hours per night instead of 8, or that your mind has been tied up with some bad news.
If you were able to change each of these individually, you would predict that one of them is the cause for the lethargic feeling. Though in personal life it’s also possible that a combination is the cause.
Now run experiments to test each one. For one week stop eating all fried foods and notice how you feel. Are you lighter and more energetic? Put yourself back on a schedule of proper sleep for another week and make note of how you feel. Lastly, rather than letting your mind wander down unhappy paths, practice clearing your mind each morning with meditation. Does this improve how you feel?
Once you uncover the reason for the lethargic feeling fix it by ditching the old habit and replacing it with the new one (eating healthy food for example).
The process of applying the scientific method to self is the core to building a balanced life. It requires self-awareness to make the initial observations of when something doesn’t feel right and this can be tricky for some people, especially if you are just starting down this path. As with all skills, it develops with time. If approached conscientiously, and scientifically, you can discover the root causes of your concerns and eliminate or alter them to build a balanced life.
Give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.
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