Each Trial is a strategy a real species uses, turned into something you can run yourself in about ten minutes. Each card says what to do and why it helps.
What each Trial asks you to do, and what it does for you. Reading a Trial needs no account. 3,017 Trials across 2,325 species. Showing 961–1,020.
The Trial
Position yourself today beside something already disturbing or turning over the ground you are interested in, and take what it exposes rather than digging yourself.
Why it helps
Doing your own turning over means paying the full extraction cost for every find. Standing beside something already doing it gets you the same results for the watching.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Follow one faint trail today across time rather than resolving something immediately, taking directional readings as you go.
Why it helps
Resolving things on the spot means only taking what you can finish immediately. Following a faint trail over days reaches what nobody else pursued.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Use the same established route today for one regular journey rather than choosing afresh, and make the route explicit so it can be reused tomorrow.
Why it helps
Choosing the route afresh each time means you make a decision before every trip and some trips never happen. One established route makes leaving automatic.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
When one warning of yours is ignored today, follow through immediately and in one movement, without repeating the warning a third time. Then stop, and do not pursue it further.
Why it helps
Repeating a warning that has already been ignored teaches people it means nothing. Following through once, immediately, is what makes the next warning work for you.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Out of your sight, have a helper bury one bottle cap at the bottom of each of five opaque containers filled with rice to different depths, making at least two shallow (under 10 cm) and at least one deeper than your hand (over 20 cm), and drape a cloth with a hand slit over each mouth. Work down the row with one hand through the slits, digging no deeper than your wrist, bring out every cap you can reach and leave the rest; then, for each container you left, the helper pushes a chopstick marked at your wrist depth straight down to show the rice is deeper than the mark, and tips it out to show the cap.
Why it helps
A quick lesson in knowing when to stop digging.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
On outdoor grass or in a clear area big enough that the whole three-bound ring plus a metre of margin fits (usually at least 9 m across), mark your burrow with a taped square or a non-slip mat (never a loose towel on a hard floor) and measure three two-footed bounds from it, marking that distance round it with string or coins. Scatter at least eight tokens inside the ring and a few outside it, then collect six from inside, one per trip; whenever a consenting partner claps, get back onto the burrow square in three bounds or fewer.
Why it helps
A lively game that makes you plan your range before you move.
10 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Find the roughest surface you can safely cross on foot near you - gravel, cobbles, broken ground, a rocky path. Cross forty metres of it deliberately and slowly, placing each foot where it will actually hold instead of walking as you would on pavement. Then say what your normal walk would have done there.
Why it helps
You use the same technique on every surface and then blame yourself when you slip or tire. Deliberately matching your footing to rough ground is a skill that transfers everywhere you go.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Where a supply is fixed and small today, reduce what you need from it rather than trying to increase what it provides.
Why it helps
Trying to increase a fixed supply wastes your effort and the supply stays fixed. Needing less from it is the only change that actually works for you.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Start something new today with at least one person from your previous project rather than alone, and have them do a real part of the first step.
Why it helps
Starting alone is where most new things die, and you blame your motivation. Bringing one person from the last effort removes the solo phase entirely.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take one task today that you would normally split into turns and have four people do it at the same moment instead, everyone saying where they are throughout. If anyone goes quiet, stop and start again.
Why it helps
Taking turns on something that needs everyone at once means it fails slowly and nobody can say why. Four of you moving together finishes it in one attempt.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Remove haste from one thing today rather than adding any maintenance to it, and let the slower rate stand.
Why it helps
Adding maintenance to something you are running hard just delays the failure. Removing the haste is what actually makes it last.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Take one task you always do alone and do it today with at least three other people working the same ground at the same time, in the same place, rather than splitting it into separate pieces.
Why it helps
Doing shared work alone means you cover a fraction of the ground and miss what group searching turns up. Four of you on the same patch finds what none of you would.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take one task you have been doing alone because you are not senior or strong enough to force it through. Get three other people physically into it in the next hour - same room, same call, same time - and do the task together as a visible group rather than passing it around.
Why it helps
Trying to push something through alone when you have no weight is why it keeps getting ignored. Four people visibly on the same thing changes the answer without anyone raising their voice.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take one area where you have no buffer at all - money, energy, time, goodwill. Stop trying to build a reserve today. Instead do the smallest useful action in it four separate times, spread across the day, with at least an hour between each. Four small inputs, not one big attempt.
Why it helps
When you have no reserve, waiting to make one big push means nothing happens at all. Four small inputs a day is how progress actually accrues for someone with no margin to spend.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Concentrate everything you are carrying today onto very few points of contact rather than spreading it across many.
Why it helps
Spreading your weight across many points means none of them grips and the whole thing slides. Concentrating onto a few is what actually holds.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Pick one thing whose visible phase looks short or disappointing and today find out how long its invisible phase was before judging it.
Why it helps
Judging something by its short visible phase means dismissing work that took years. Finding out the hidden part first changes what you do about it.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Take one thing of yours with a single obvious continuous shape, a block in your calendar or an unbroken stretch of work. Break it into irregular pieces today, and run it in those pieces.
Why it helps
One long unbroken block is the easiest thing for anyone to see and the first thing taken from you. Broken into irregular pieces, the same time stops being an obvious target.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
A consenting partner wraps five cotton balls each in a small square of dry cling film and makes a nest from a sock or scarf beside you. At their own pace they hand you one wrapped pup at a time; peel the film off without tearing the cotton, pat it with a tissue and tuck it into the nest, and hold out your hand for the next only when it is done.
Why it helps
A slow, gentle two-person task that shows how much a second pair of hands changes a birth.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Hold a broom or pole upright and stand with your body and one arm lined up along it. For five minutes a consenting helper turns to face you at random moments: you may shift slowly only while their back is turned and must be frozen along the pole whenever they look.
Why it helps
A slow, playful balance game that trains total stillness on cue.
7 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Next time you prepare a meal, make one extra portion. Put it in a freezer box, label it with what it is and the date, and put it in the freezer for a busy day ahead, such as the night before a move, a trip or an exam.
Why it helps
You hit your busiest days with nothing ready and pay for it in money and stress. A portion stored now means future you has one less thing to sort out when it matters.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Next time you cook, set aside one extra portion, let it cool, pack it in a container and label it with what it is and the date. Put it in the freezer.
Why it helps
A ready meal waiting for the evening you are too tired to cook.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Next time something startles you today, do three things in order: stop completely, make one deliberate signal that you have registered it, then act. Do not let the order collapse.
Why it helps
Reacting to a surprise in one motion means you move before you have understood it and usually make it worse. Three steps in order costs you two seconds and changes what you do with them.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Import one piece of equipment or method today from a neighbouring domain rather than adapting your own, and use it as it comes.
Why it helps
Adapting your own equipment to a new job takes months and gives you a compromise. Importing what the neighbouring domain already uses works immediately.
2 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Tie or tape a fan of loose cotton threads or wool strands lightly to one end of a pebble so they spread out behind it. Set it on a fluffy background such as cotton wool, then grab the threads with a clothes peg and pull: they must come away while the pebble stays where it is.
Why it helps
A calm little craft that shows why a cheap, disposable layer can be the best defence.
12 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Cut two identical shark shapes from paper and colour both with blotches that match a rug, doormat or gravel patch. Cut a fringe of small tassels along the head and sides of one only, then lay both flat on the patch a short distance apart.
Why it helps
A quick craft experiment that shows why edges give things away.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Make one approach structurally silent today, so it carries no signal by design rather than by you being careful.
Why it helps
Being careful during an approach means slipping once and giving it away. Making it structurally silent means you cannot give it away.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Run one task at full intensity for a set block today with a visible timer, then switch off completely for the same length of time: no half-attention, no tapering. Both blocks happen back to back.
Why it helps
Half-working through the evening means you are never fully on or fully recovered, and both suffer. Full intensity followed by a real stop gives you the same output rested.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Cover one whole surface today and apply even pressure across all of it at once, rather than working inwards from an edge.
Why it helps
Picking at the edge of something leaves the middle untouched for weeks and you never feel finished. Covering all of it at once with even pressure clears it in a single pass.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Collect several things today in a way that keeps them usable later rather than needing immediate attention, and store them in that state.
Why it helps
Gathering things in a way that needs you to deal with them straight away means a pile you resent and eventually bin. Collecting them already storable makes the pile an asset.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Finish one thing completely today that others left partly done, taking the parts they could not process at all.
Why it helps
Leaving the hard remainder means someone has to clear it and it is usually you later. Finishing completely turns other people's leftovers into your supply.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Gather at least three hollow objects that already have a small opening, such as a bottle, a tissue box or a cardboard tube, plus a small ball as your egg and a bigger ball as a competitor. Pick the one whose existing opening lets the egg in but blocks the competitor, then line it with soft scraps and place the egg inside, working through the opening with chopsticks or tongs.
Why it helps
A quiet, tactile building task that shows how much can be made from what others leave behind.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Pick one thing to be ready for, then spend thirty genuinely still minutes doing nothing to pursue it, with the one condition set that would make you act. Act instantly if it appears; otherwise the stillness is the result.
Why it helps
Filling every minute with pursuit means you are never in a position to strike when the real thing appears. Thirty still minutes with one clear trigger is how you are actually ready.
1 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Remove one flexible joint from something that keeps taking impact today, fixing it rigidly so there is nothing left to fail.
Why it helps
Flexible points in something that keeps taking impact are exactly where it breaks on you. Fixing one rigidly means the impact stops being a problem.
1 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Attach one signal today to an action you already perform, so that doing the action produces the signal without a separate decision.
Why it helps
Signals that need their own decision get skipped exactly when you are busy. Linking one to something you already do means it always happens.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Contact three people you would want around in a hard month, while nothing is wrong. Say nothing about needing anything. Get all three done in one sitting today.
Why it helps
Reaching out first when you are struggling is the hardest version and the least likely to happen. Three contacts made while everything is fine means the people are already there when it is not.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Wipe condensation from a cold glass, fridge door, or outdoor metal railing into a small cup. Also collect a handful of dry plant scraps or paper bits from the ground nearby into one pouch. Work for ten minutes with only those sparse finds.
Why it helps
You practice taking what the day already offers before reaching for new supplies.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Lay a clean sheet on the floor. A consenting partner stands over it eating a bowl of popcorn deliberately messily, dropping pieces as they go; sit on the sheet below and gather every fallen piece into a bowl without standing up.
Why it helps
A silly, peaceful snack you earned just by being in the right place.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
First clear the floor path between the heap spot and the light switch. Start a two-minute timer with the room lights on and collect every battery light you can find into one heap on a table or the floor: phones, tablets, torches, bike lights, battery tea lights, fairy-light strings or glow sticks all count. Switch them all on, set any phones or tablets to a plain blue screen with notifications off, and turn off the room light before the timer ends.
Why it helps
A fun household scramble that ends in a surprisingly beautiful glow.
5 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Set five pieces of fruit, such as apple quarters or plums, on the ground under low plants along a garden border, or use windfalls already lying there. Walk slowly and crouch to pick up each one, taking at least five minutes for all five, then sit completely still for two minutes tucked low among plants or beside a hedge.
Why it helps
A slow, grounding outdoor break that ends with a snack and two quiet minutes.
10 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Before sunset, a helper hides five pale socks at ground level on open, flat areas only, away from steps, ponds and tools, each left visible without moving anything. Once the sun has set and before it is fully dark, walk the area slowly in the fading light and collect all five without using a torch.
Why it helps
A small evening adventure that gets you outside for the prettiest light of the day.
15 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Carry an empty plate on one round trip through five different storage spots, such as the fridge, fruit bowl, bread bin, a cupboard and a windowsill herb pot, taking one small ready-to-eat portion from each (for example cheese, an apple slice, a cracker, olives or a few herb leaves). Use only food that is safe to eat cold, stored safely and still in date, then eat the plate.
Why it helps
Less waste and a cheap, varied meal from food you already had.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Identify the one short window in your current work that genuinely needs other people. Ask for help for that window only today, state its start and end, and do the rest alone.
Why it helps
Asking for help in general gets you vague offers and leaves you managing people you do not need. Naming the exact window gets you real help for the days it matters and your independence back after.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Gather plain material today for something you will build later, with no building attempted: collect the parts, the references, the offcuts, and stack them in one place. Do not start assembling.
Why it helps
Starting to build before you have the material means you stop halfway and lose the thread. One session of pure gathering means the build runs without interruption.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
On carpet or grass, lay six rubber-backed mats or carpet squares along a winding route, each a small two-footed jump apart, and put one small wrapped snack on each. Jump pad to pad with both feet, freeze each landing for a count of two before picking up that pad's snack, and eat your collection at the end.
Why it helps
A playful balance circuit that turns a snack run into a test of steady landings.
10 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
With pets and small children out of the room, mark a clear floor area with tape and block the gaps under furniture edges with rolled towels. Stand by a cushion at its edge, toss ten flat bottle caps over your shoulder without looking, and pick up a cup; search in loops, each covering one new part of the area and dropping every cap into the cup as you find it, and touch the cushion before starting the next loop.
Why it helps
A light, searching movement game that gets you looking closely at the floor.
10 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
At sunset, choose one shared spot, such as a sofa or a rug by a window. Everyone taking part, at least two people, starts in a different room; one by one each person comes in and settles there, and all stay together quietly for ten minutes, phones set aside.
Why it helps
A calm, shared start to the evening.
15 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Split one part of tomorrow in two and do the gathering half today. Decide what tomorrow needs - the food, the clothes, the documents, the charged devices - and get all of it ready tonight, finished and in one place. Tomorrow you may use that pile and add nothing to it.
Why it helps
Mixing preparation into the day you are trying to perform is why mornings go badly and you arrive late and short. Separating the gathering from the spending removes almost all of that friction.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Give up one general-purpose ability today in exchange for working somewhere that ability has been keeping you out of, and name both sides.
Why it helps
Keeping your general ability means you can go anywhere and compete everywhere. Giving it up for one place means that place has nobody else in it.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Drop one capability today that your target genuinely cannot detect, after confirming it cannot, and spend the saving elsewhere.
Why it helps
Paying for a capability your target cannot detect is pure waste every single time. Confirming it first frees the budget for something that matters.
1 minDifficulty 4
The Trial
Send out one deliberate probe today and read what comes back, rather than waiting for a situation to become clear on its own.
Why it helps
Waiting for a situation to clarify itself means you find out when it is too late to act. Sending one probe and reading the response tells you this afternoon.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Supply the condition yourself today instead of waiting for it: warm up deliberately for ten minutes before one focused stretch, rather than hoping you arrive at it already in the right state.
Why it helps
Waiting to feel ready means most of your good hours are spent not working. Generating the state yourself first means the work starts when you decide it does.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Rearrange one thing today so it can give slightly under load rather than resist it, using the same materials and adding no strength.
Why it helps
Trying to make something strong enough to resist everything means it holds until it shatters without warning. Rearranging it to give a little costs you nothing and it stops failing.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Pick someone whose work you want to learn and get genuinely close to it today: sit beside them while they do it, ask to watch, get the recording of them working. Observe the doing, not the result.
Why it helps
Studying someone's finished work teaches you almost nothing about how they got there. Watching the actual process for twenty minutes usually shows you the thing nobody writes down.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take something you have been managing from a distance, through messages, dashboards or reports, and go and do it at ground level today: stand in the place, handle the actual items, talk to the person directly.
Why it helps
Managing from a distance gives you a tidy version of a messy situation, which is why your fixes keep missing. An hour at ground level usually shows you the thing no report was ever going to contain.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Get into one protected position today and then make yourself genuinely difficult to remove from it, rather than relying on getting there quickly.
Why it helps
Relying on getting somewhere first means being found there with nothing holding you. Making yourself hard to remove once you arrive is the part that actually protects you.
1 minDifficulty 3
The Trial
Extract something today from inside a container or structure rather than looking for it in the open, and open at least five.
Why it helps
Looking for things in the open means you compete for a small visible fraction. Extracting from inside structures reaches the part nobody else gets to.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Split one process today into a cheap routine method and a separate expensive method for the exceptions, and actually use the cheap one by default.
Why it helps
Using one method for both ordinary and exceptional cases means paying the expensive price every time. Splitting them means most of your day runs cheap.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Move one function today out of the standard place and into somewhere that works in your actual conditions, reducing the standard version.
Why it helps
Keeping a function in the standard place means it fails in the conditions you actually work in. Moving it somewhere that works is the whole fix.
2 minDifficulty 2
The Trial
Take one thing you are doing in which you are playing several roles at once. Split it today so each part has exactly one job, assign them to people or to separate times, and run it that way once.
Why it helps
Holding several roles at once in the same task means each one gets done at half quality and you cannot tell which part failed. One job per part makes the weak link visible immediately.
2 minDifficulty 1
The Trial
Give one thing genuinely more room today and let it build before producing anything, resisting the urge to extract output early.
Why it helps
Extracting output early from something cramped means it stays small forever. Giving it room and waiting is what gets you the large version.
2 minDifficulty 2
