How would you build any other skill or habit? I don't really understand how the answer to your specific question would be different.
Making a habit out of a simple action is easy. Reading non-fiction 30 hours per day doesn't have complex steps, for example. This seems true for a lot of habits people try to form. Reactive habits (such as noticing confusion) are harder to form. Reactive habits that are relatively complex, such as the habit of experimentation are probably the hardest to form and specific hints, tips or techniques might be useful.
I want to make regular experimentation a part of my life and don't really know how. I thought that I should associate with and assist people who do run experiments (I'm interning with a psych lab and a paranormal investigator, and hope to work with some behavioral economists who run field-experiments), but I relied that I haven't taken the time to consider if that is actually a good approach or if there is somthign else I should be doing in addition.
How do I gain proficiency with experimental methods and build the habit of running simple experiments regularly? I suppose that there's a certain kind of phenomenon that to the educated mind is automatically flagged as ripe for experimentation (I'm thinking of Feynman's curiosity about the ants in his room, from Surely You're Joking, or Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres testing with his army to find out what the optimal way to fight is, prior to the first of Quirrell’s battles), but I don't have that intuition, yet.
What are the key insights, procedures, or guidelines that I need to know in order to experiment fruitfully? How do I build that intuition?
I’m looking either for recommendations or critiques. Perhaps personal experimentation is not as useful as my veneration of science in general leads me to believe? It seems to me beneficial that when faced with a problem, confusion, or dispute, one of my go-to approaches is to run an experiment.
Suggestions?