“Prototype your life. Try stuff instead of making plans.” — Kevin Kelly

I’ve been known to make grand plans and bold proclamations before. The theory was to go big or go home. Thoreau once said it was okay to build castles in the air if we then build the foundations underneath them. And of course that’s backwards, but he was talking about turning dreams into reality.

Kevin Kelly is talking about being a scientist with our lives. Experiment and dabble in different. Begin with small habits, systems and routines, see what is effective, and then establish identity by building momentum on the good stuff.

The thing about grand plans and bold proclamations is that they are easily disrupted by the realities of living day-to-day. Start with the basic stuff and establish something tangible today—either yay or nay, and do the same tomorrow. Hold on to the good stuff, ditch the bad stuff and soon we’re on to something far more grand and bold than we would have accomplished with some resolution or proclamation.

So just do it. Or don’t. Both are prototypes for a different version of who we are, leading to who we will be. And isn’t that grand?