Read my NYT essay | Turning Ideas into Reality | Interview with Luke Burgis ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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Read my NYT essay | Turning Ideas into Reality | Interview with Luke Burgis ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
July 8th, 2026
_A newsletter by_ Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Hi friends,
A challenge many of you have shared with me is how hard it can be to commit to one idea when new conversations and content keep opening up exciting possibilities.
It might seem like a good problem to have, but it comes with real downsides. So this week, we’re exploring how to balance curiosity with commitment.
I’m also incredibly excited to share that an essay I wrote about the impact of AI on curiosity was published in The New York Times today! This is a topic that’s close to my heart, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.
As someone whose first language isn’t English and who only started writing online a few years ago, this is a pinch-me moment. I’m grateful to all of you for giving me space to test ideas (including the rough ones) with you every week in this newsletter.
Here’s to more essays, experiments, and learning in public :)
Anne-Laure
Every so often, I stumble across an old note and can hardly believe the ideas were mine. One version of me wanted to launch an audio-only erotica platform for women. Another was going to start a tea brand. Another had researched bookstore cafés and was ready to open her own.
I’m sure you have your own graveyard of ideas. Each time, we imagined the project, sketched a plan, and maybe even did the first bit of work. Then another idea appeared. Within a day, we were researching that one instead, convinced it was more promising than the last.
The problem is that the best version of any project is the one you haven’t started yet. An unrealized idea is perfect because it still lives entirely in your imagination. It hasn’t had to survive contact with reality.
The moment you commit, possibility collapses into one finite, messy, actual project. It now has constraints and flaws simply because it exists. The next new idea is seductive not because it’s necessarily better, but because it’s still imaginary.
That’s why for a lot of people, the hard part isn’t coming up with ideas. It’s choosing which one to commit to. But you’re not really choosing between two ideas. You’re choosing between reality and fantasy, and fantasy almost always looks better.
That’s also why committing to an idea isn’t just about motivation. It’s also about anticipation. Dopamine rises when we expect a reward, especially when the outcome is uncertain. And an idea you haven’t started is pure anticipation: the rush of imagining what might happen, without any of the effort involved in making it happen.
An idea you haven’t started is all possibility and no friction. So how do you stop chasing the most exciting idea and give one of them enough time to become real? Here are a few strategies to experiment with.
Protect time for building. If you’re naturally curious, imagining new projects probably comes easily, but turning one of them into reality requires protected time. Block out regular slots in your calendar to move an idea forward so it has a chance to become reality.
Keep an idea inbox. When a new idea appears, write it down instead of chasing it immediately. Getting it out of your head signals to your brain that it isn’t going anywhere, which makes it easier to return your attention to the project already in front of you.
Get comfortable with missing out. Every project you choose means saying no to a dozen others, but there will always be more ideas. Remind yourself that letting one go costs very little compared with repeatedly abandoning work that has already begun.
The aim here isn’t to dream smaller. It’s to know when to keep exploring and when to stop searching for a better possibility. Curiosity creates possibilities, while commitment helps you turn one of them into reality.
Ready to put these ideas into practice? Try this week’s tiny experiment to turn possible ideas into reality:
I will [block 3 hours to make progress on an idea every week] for [3 weeks].
This will help you make sure you have space to actually build what you imagined. Want to dig deeper? Get your copy of Tiny Experiments.
LUKE BURGIS
Each week I ask a curious mind about their habits, routines, and rituals. This week we learn from Luke Burgis, director of The Cluny Institute and author of Wanting and The One and the Ninety-Nine, who studies how desire shapes our lives.
1. One daily practice you can’t do without? I’m a notorious window gazer: I’ve never seen a window I don’t like to stop in front of and look out. It helped me get unstuck in my writing many times, and it’s how I meditate.
2. One strategy to restart your creative engine? Aside from standing in front of windows, it’s traveling. And when I’m not traveling, it’s working in public: at bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. Being in a social environment, observing people around me, always sparks creativity for me.
3. One mindset shift that transformed your work? I started to see conflict and anxiety as an opportunity – dealing with it, confronting it, working through it. We all get sent our fair share of suffering, of conflict, of anxiety, things outside our control; my mindset shift was viewing it as a crucible of formation.
• Want more freedom and fulfilment at work without changing career or quitting your job? Stop following everyone else’s career scripts and start writing your own. Discover how in How To Work Your Way, a free guide created by London banker and “anti-career coach” Tom Grundy.
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If you enjoy the newsletter, you’ll love our community of curious minds conducting tiny experiments within a safe space and learning together. Here is an overview of upcoming events (full calendar):
• Learn to care wisely. Join Alex Snider for this author session today to question your relationship with deadlines, productivity, and presence – and what it might look like to work in a way that supports both output and a life you actually enjoy.
• Reconnect with playfulness. In this guided journaling session, Gosia Fricze will help you explore play tends to disappear in adulthood, why it matters more than we think, and how to bring lightness and curiosity back into your everyday life.
**• Explore the neuroscience of hope.** When William Collins experienced a series of life changing losses, he found myself faced with a large liminal space. Join this workshop to explore the science of brain-friendly ways to think about your future.
**• Protect your mental health at work.** In this one-hour session, Adina Dinu will teach you the work factors that undermine your well-being, the differences between stress, burnout, and trauma, and healthy ways to respond to stress and adversity at work.
**• Make progress on your projects.** Join Kathryn Ruge for our Monday ‘body doubling’ coworking session to work on personal or work-related projects that you want to make progress on, covering all timezones. Ethan Miller is also hosting a cowriting session on Sunday this week.
**• Improve your knowledge management system.** Join our next PKM meeting where we learn from one another through sharing how our systems work in the real world and give new PKM users a leg up.
**• Host your own workshop.** Do you have an idea for a short presentation and Q&A or a workshop you’d like to trial? Test your first iteration in the Ness Labs community and get feedback. We promote all sessions here in the newsletter.
All of these and future events are included in the price of the membership (only $49 for one year), as well as access to our courses, workshop library, and a dedicated space to track your tiny experiments.
Until next week, take care!
Anne-Laure.
You received this email because you subscribed to the Ness Labs newsletter. “-ness” is a suffix that means “state of being”, as in aware_ness_, mindful_ness_, conscious_ness_. Ness Labs is a playground for curiosity – a place where you can learn how to experiment with ideas, explore creative projects, and reflect on your progress. Of course I don’t want to see you go, but you can unsubscribe at any time. If you do leave, I’d love an email to let me know what I could do better to improve the newsletter. Alternatively, you can update your profile to use a different email address. © Ness Labs, 600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246.
