Private Experimentation Container
Practice or preserve meaningful experiences before deciding to publish
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 98%
The Private Experimentation Container begins by asking what the creator truly wants from a proposed public project. The desired outcome may be a structured conversation, shared memory, practice, or quality time rather than distribution. The creator then records or performs the activity privately, allowing the container to deliver that value without titles, audience expectations, commentary, monetization, or brand analysis. Trusted friends or family can be included without making the experiment public. Publication remains an optional later decision. This preserves intrinsic motivation, restores private practice, and prevents an established creator's public identity from turning every curiosity or meaningful relationship into a commercial asset.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal during a discussion of couple channels, home movies, and the privately valuable origins of Colin and Samir's podcast.
Core principles
- 01Not every creative act needs distribution or monetization
- 02Recording can create a valuable container for attention and reflection
- 03Public experiments introduce incentives that alter the experience
How to run it
- 1
Identify the real desire
Ask whether you want public attention or simply a container for conversation, memory, practice, or shared activity.
Pro tip Describe the desired experience without mentioning a platform.
Watch out Commercial skill can make monetization feel necessary when it is not.
- 2
Create in private
Record, rehearse, or make the project without publishing it. Preserve the artifact for yourself.
Pro tip Use simple equipment so production does not overwhelm the experience.
Watch out Do not introduce public-performance habits into the private session.
- 3
Review with trusted people
Experience the artifact privately or share it with a small chosen group if feedback is useful.
Pro tip Evaluate whether the container itself provided enough value.
Watch out A private review should not quietly become an elaborate launch campaign.
- 4
Decide distribution later
After the intrinsic experience is complete, independently decide whether public release adds more benefit than complication.
Pro tip Default to preserving privacy when intimate relationships are involved.
Watch out Once distributed, the privacy decision is difficult to reverse.
In the wild
A couple wants structured conversations about books and their relationship but does not need fame or revenue. They record monthly discussions, watch them together, and retain them as personal archives without releasing them.
→ They receive the connection and memories they wanted without turning the relationship into a public brand.
Common mistakes
Assuming recording requires distribution
The artifact can provide memory, reflection, or connection even when no audience ever sees it.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators considering public relationship content, personal experiments, or projects whose primary value is memory or connection.
Not ideal for
Market tests that specifically require public audience behavior to answer the central question.
From the transcript
“I think we have lost the art of uh experimenting and practicing in private.”
“Do I need to distribute it? No. I could just record it. But I what I actually want is the container.”
From the episode
The Full Story of Colin and Samir