Define good test questions
Clarify the assumptions you need to test.
What do you need to know before committing to an idea? You can’t test an idea until you know what matters to you.
✳️✳️✳️
Our minds aren’t great at predicting what will actually work for us. Testing ideas before committing helps us avoid wasting time, money, or energy on ideas that don’t work for us. Testing means taking small, low-risk actions in the real world to see how ideas actually hold up. It starts with formulating questions about the aspects that matter most to us. We shouldn’t assume we know the answers. What feels obvious may rest on untested assumptions. The key is to focus on assumptions that could hurt us most if they’re wrong.
Follow these two steps to clarify what matters most and turn the aspects that matter into questions you can explore:
1️⃣ Identify what matters most
Figure out the few aspects of an idea that could make or break your experience by asking yourself:
🤔 Which aspects of this idea matter most to me?
Focus on the parts of the idea that could affect your life the most. Some aspects to consider include alignment with your needs, values, and purpose; life satisfaction and sense of meaning; influence on friends and family; personal growth; opportunity cost; motivation; and long-term consequences. Include any other aspects that matter specifically to you. Highlight the elements that would make or break the experience if you pursued this idea.
Example: moving to another city
Ask which aspects of the move will most shape your everyday life. How important is a longer commute compared to being close to family and friends? Would living in a quieter area with access to nature outweigh the inconvenience of fewer services nearby? How sensitive are you to crowding and noise levels? Identify the few factors that would most strongly improve your life, and the ones that would quickly make the move feel wrong.
Example: choosing a study program
Ask which aspects of the program will most shape your experience and outcomes. How well does it match your interests and the subjects you enjoy most? Does it align with your skills and strengths? Will it open the career opportunities you hope for? Can you manage the workload without negatively affecting your well-being? Identify the key factors that would make the program clearly right or wrong for you.
2️⃣ Turn aspects into test questions
For each important aspect you identified in Step 1, ask yourself:
🤔 What do I need to know before committing to this idea?
Test questions help you clarify what matters most and surface the assumptions you need to consider before committing. Keep your list focused on the most important aspects; you don’t need a question for every minor detail.
Each test question should be:
👉 Specific: focus on one aspect at a time so it’s clear what you are investigating.
👉 Concise: keep wording simple so it’s easy to remember and reflect on.
👉 Answerable: phrase the question so you could actually find an answer through research, observation, or reflection.
👉 Neutral: avoid assuming an answer or leading yourself; keep the question open and unbiased.
Example: moving to another city
Assuming the aspects that matter most are commute, family proximity, access to nature, noise/crowding, and access to basic services, the corresponding test questions could be:
🧪 Will I be able to handle a 60-minute commute three days a week without it affecting my well-being?
🧪 Will living in this city allow me to maintain meaningful connections with friends and family?
🧪 Will I be able to spend enough time outdoors to feel balanced and energized?
🧪 Will the city’s noise levels and population density affect my daily comfort?
🧪 Will I have easy access to essential services like healthcare, groceries, and public transport?
Example: choosing a study program
If the aspects that matter most are subject interests, alignment with strengths, career opportunities, and workload, you could formulate test questions like:
🧪 Will this program let me focus on the subjects I enjoy most?
🧪 Does it align with my skills and strengths in a meaningful way?
🧪 Will completing this program open the career opportunities I hope for?
🧪 Can I manage the workload without it negatively affecting my well-being?
🎉👏🎈
Write your test questions down. By identifying what matters most and turning those aspects into focused questions, you now have a framework for what to test before committing to the idea.
