How little experiments make things fun

I've been on a lot of Chess Podcasts, and both the audience and I seemed to enjoy the experience. Now you can get more Chess advice on your ears by listening to the Next Level Chess podcast.

• Who is my Podcast for? -> Anyone aiming to improve their Chess.
• Is this an interview podcast? -> No, it is just me giving you actionable advice.
• How long are the episodes? -> I'm aiming for episodes between 5 and 30 minutes, depending on the complexity of the topic. The first episode on Tilt is 23 Minutes long.
• Where can I check this out? -> Anywhere you can find Podcasts. Some direct links: Podcast Homepage, Spotify, Apple Podcast.

In the first episode, I walk you through the 5 stages of Tilt and give you actionable advice on how to avoid tilting in the first place.
You can listen to it here. (Spotify, Apple Podcast). If you like the Podcast, please consider giving me a 5-star review and sharing it wherever you hang out online. It helps me out a lot.

You can also leave a comment below this article with feedback and suggestions for future episodes.
Now, let's get to the story of how I launched this podcast and what you can learn from it.

How little experiments make things fun

Big decisions, like choosing an opening or launching a Podcast, can seem daunting.
“What if I get it wrong? All my hard work learning these opening moves might be for nothing,” you might think. This weight might push you to a never-ending search for ‘the best chess opening (spoiler, it doesn't exist).

After a while, you either still play the same opening (thanks to the planning procrastination I wrote about a few weeks ago), or you tried out 10 different openings, but none is perfect. The result is a lot of wasted time and frustration but no solution in sight.
Today, I want to teach you a little mindset trick that has helped me make seemingly big decisions without fear.

Just an experiment

My favorite author and podcaster, Tim Ferriss, likes to see almost all decisions as small experiments. This instantly takes away so much weight from decisions because it becomes clear those decisions are reversible and don’t have to be perfect.

1 Billion Download Podcast - Just an experiment

Tim himself used this trick to start his super-successful podcast, which has recently crossed 1 billion downloads. Yup, that’s a fricking big number. Instead of dwelling on a life-deciding decision, he saw it as an experiment with 6 episodes. If he didn’t enjoy and/or find success within this limited time frame, he could stop the experiment and try something new.

Where to live - just an experiment

I have recently used the same idea when deciding where to live, which is rather important. Alessia and I decided to move away from my home city. Moving 2 hours away is a huge thing here in Switzerland because it means you are nearly halfway through the country. Instead of dwelling on this decision for too long, we made sure this was fitting as an experiment. Here are the two main questions we asked ourselves:

1. Is this reversible? Yes! We can always come back. As we don’t buy but just rent, this is done rather easily and inexpensively.
2. Do we learn something, even if the experiment fails? Absolutely. We will learn more about ourselves, make new friends, and live in a different ambiance. Even if we were to move back to Berne, we would do so by knowing this is 100% the place we want to live in.

Opening Experiment

Back to the openings. You can use the same experiment there. Your choice is reversible, and you will learn to play new structures, even if you don’t end up playing this opening for the rest of your life. To make the experiment worth your time, I suggest setting a time limit (1 to 3 months, as mentioned above) and making sure you learn something you can use even if you end up quitting this opening. That means learning new plans and ideas instead of move-by-move theory.

What Isn’t suited as an experiment?

Not all things can be seen as an experiment. The key factor is that something is reversible. Quitting your job, divorcing your better half, and having a child are all decisions that should be thought through a little longer than a simple experiment.
Luckily, your chess improvement decisions aren’t that serious and binding! So, nearly everything within chess can be seen as an experiment. If you are the type of person who has 45 books and 17 opening courses, but none of it is fully worked through, you might benefit from another type of experiment:
Stick with one resource until you finish it.
Remember, it is only an experiment. You can always go back to studying 20 different things at the same time. Why not try out if focusing on one thing could help you improve more, with less FOMO and overwhelm? Any chess experiments upcoming? Let me know in the comments.

Keep improving,
Noël

PS: Make sure to check out my brand new podcast, and if you like it, leave a 5-star review.
The first episode is a deep dive into Tilt and how you can avoid it from happening.
Enjoy listening! (Podcast Page, Spotify, Apple Podcast)

Whenever you're ready, there are three ways I can help you:

- Get my Free eBook, The Art of Chess Training. It teaches you all you need to know to start training in a structured, efficient way.

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