The Integra Blog

Applying Science to Life

You have to train yourself to think scientifically, it doesn’t come naturally

A friend of mine said this to me the other day, and it set me thinking. The famous physicist Galileo Galilei (the one who chucked things off tall towers and realised they all landed at the same time) was one of the first proponents of the scientific method. This consists of five basic steps:

• develop a theory;
• design an experiment to test the theory;
• record the outcome of the experiment;
• check if it bears out the predictions of the theory;
• modify the theory (if necessary) in light of the results.

Pretty much any scientist anywhere, from the white-coated guy pouring chemicals into test tubes to the Einstein-like figure with the crazy hair scribbling equations on reams of scattered paper should be adhering in some way to this method.

The main characteristic of science is, therefore, that it’s outcome-based: if the outcome doesn’t match what the theory predicts you change the theory. If a theory or strategy is correct it should produce the results it was designed to produce: this makes sense, right? But do we apply this principle in everyday life? Or do we carry on implementing the same strategies, even if we don’t see results, in the hope that the “experiment” will suddenly start working?

Let’s look at exercise and nutrition: how many times have you heard someone say “my diet is great, but I don’t seem to have any energy”, or “my exercise program is brilliant, but I don’t feel like I’m really progressing”? These are typical examples of a strategy not producing the desired outcome. But because we’re not in a lab wearing white coats there’s a tendency to ignore the outcome and carry on implementing the same theory in the hope that things will get better (truth be told, people do this in a scientific context also, but they find it increasingly difficult to get funding!).

It can sometimes be useful to evaluate our daily activities in the context of the scientific method. We all have “strategies” for living, based on our theories of what’s right and wrong. But if these strategies are not getting us to where we want to be, in any area of life, consider one of two things: there may be something wrong with the strategy/theory; or… there may be something wrong with the way we’re implementing the strategy. And establishing which of these applies could save a lot of time.

This post was written by Martina Avellino and posted on the Integra Facebook Fan Page, click LIKE below to subscribe to future content on our FB page.