What’s holding you back?

Your first challenge was figuring out a career where you could have an impact. The second is figuring out how to excel in that career.

Maybe there’s just too much to do, or you struggle to focus your time on what you know you “should” be doing. You’ve tried fixing the problem on your own, so you know it’s tough to change. You might be feeling unfocused, overwhelmed, behind, or just like you could be doing more. If that’s you, let’s talk.

I work with professionals who are trying to solve the world’s most pressing problems -- professors, software engineers, managers, PhD students, researchers, traders, consultants -- to pinpoint your bottlenecks and help you solve the biggest problems holding you back from success.

Realistically, I’m not going to solve all your problems, and you won’t have a four-hour work week. You can’t do it all. But you can do what matters most. I’ll help you do that based on my experience seeing what works for EAs trying to prioritize well, be efficient, and produce results. I use an experiment-based approach where we start with ideas that have worked for others and iterate until we’ve found what works for you.

You’re likely to be a good fit for coaching if you’re already able to succeed in your job, but aren’t satisfied with what you’re accomplishing. You know you can do more. You’re just not sure how.

$200 per call

Sliding scale available

Let’s talk

Book yourself in for your free 30-minute fit call. The fit call gives you a taste of what coaching is like with me while making sure we’re a good fit. You can ask all the questions you have about coaching and how I can help you. I’ll give you tips right away for tackling your biggest challenges.

If we both think coaching makes sense after the fit call, we’ll schedule your first four sessions and dive in. Clients commonly continue for 8 to 12 sessions.

What you’ll get with coaching

You’re trying to change the world effectively over the long haul. If you optimize for the key priorities that move you forward, you have the best chance of doing just that.

Accomplish your Goals: I specialize in prioritization and efficiency, so we’ll help you accomplish your top goals effectively. Our goal is for your focused work time to yield results -- without you working yourself ragged.

Build Habits: You’ve tried using willpower to get things done. But to get the results you want, you need to nail your key habits. In each coaching session, we’ll make a step-by-step action plan to tackle your pain points.

Tailored Advice: Your coaching session guarantees you individual focus on your biggest problems. You’ll get strategies that work based on my experience in thousands of coaching sessions. Then I will help you experiment to find the ones that work best for you.

Accountability: You won’t just get advice; you’ll get the support you need to implement that advice. In addition to checking progress in each call, you can email me anytime with questions, schedule email check-ins, or use me as a referee for Stickk.com commitments.

FAQ

What does coaching cost? — The sessions are $200 per 50-minute session, and I bill in groups of four sessions. I have a generous sliding scale available based on financial need. If you’re not sure if you can afford coaching, feel free to sign up for an intake call — you can get the benefit of the first session and discuss the sliding scale during the call.

What types of issues do you work with?— Your biggest problems. More seriously, coaching is tailored to the areas you most want change. Maybe that’s a big area, like how to discipline yourself to independently write your thesis, or a specific strategic area, such as email management.

The most common areas I focus on are setting priorities to quickly make effective progress, and implementing work routines to devote focused time to your top priority. Other common areas are:

  • Making plans and clarifying goals
  • Balancing high standards with reasonable expectations so you accomplish a lot without burning out
  • Setting up experiments to test what works best for you
  • Todo systems so you can prioritize without feeling overwhelmed or accidentally dropping balls
  • Big picture career and research planning
  • Building robust routines and habits
  • Helping work through big life changes and decisions
  • Deliberate practice and skill building

Is coaching confidential? — Yes, coaching is confidential. I will not share that you’re my client or the content of coaching sessions with outside parties without your permission. There are a few exceptions to confidentiality, primarily in cases of legal requirement or imminent harm, which you can read more details about here.

Do I need to prepare for our first call? — I will send you a google doc agenda to fill out before our first call. This gives you a chance to think about possible areas to discuss, and gives me a bunch of useful background information so that we can dive right in during the call. You will have action points to complete between each of our subsequent calls.

How long does coaching last? — I start with four sessions, because I’ve found it usually takes a few weeks to experiment and build habits enough to see significant change. Clients frequently find it most useful to continue coaching for eight to twelve sessions. I generally wrap up sessions when your specific problems have been addressed, although some clients find coaching helpful over longer periods.

What is the cancellation policy? — If you can't make a scheduled appointment, please let me know 24-hours in advance so we can reschedule. Missed appointments, rescheduled appointments, or cancellations without 24-hours’ notice may be charged the full cost of the session.

Where can you take clients? — I can take clients around the world. I'm based in London, UK, so I'm generally available for calls during the morning for US time zones and in the evening for time zones near Australia.

What is the difference between an EA coach and a non-EA coach?— I think there are a couple important differences, at least for me.

One, I’m familiar with existential risk concerns and can discuss how they are affecting you or your career. Two, I understand how much you care about your impact on the world. My goal in coaching is to help you maximize your impact in a sustainable, healthy way. I won’t dismiss your desire to accomplish more or automatically tell you to work less. Third, I’m familiar with rationality concepts and CFAR-style tools, if you want those.

In most other respects, I expect the coach’s style and area of expertise to make a bigger difference than whether they are in the effective altruism community or not. I focus on productivity with an experimental approuch, which is quite different from a coach who will mainly focus on emotional exploration or interpersonal relationships. I'm also very blunt and direct. If you want a really gentle coach, I'm probably not the best fit.

I'm already a productive person. Will coaching help me?— Yes! I specialize in working with outstanding people who are often already quite productive and successful. If you're getting satisfactory performance reviews but aren't feeling satisfied and in-control of what you accomplish, then you're likely a great fit.

Is coaching the same thing as therapy? — I’m a productivity coach. I am not a therapist or doctor. If you just want to work through an argument with your girlfriend or you need help with depression, I encourage you to seek a qualified doctor or therapist.

If you think you might like to see a therapist, there is now a database of community-recommended providers that you can filter to find someone who fits your needs.

How do I figure out if coaching is for me? — If you have persistent problems areas you would like to be more productive about, and they haven’t changed despite the self-help books you read (or meant to read) - there’s a good chance coaching is for you. In particular, clients often find me helpful when they are feeling unfocused, disorganized, or like things are taking too long. To help you with your decision, let’s talk! Book your free fit call here.

Should I sign up for coaching if I’m not sure it’s a good use of your time relative to other people you could coach?— You should go ahead and sign up for a call. I was asked to include this question in the FAQ section, and I've had several people ask this question who I think were a great fit for coaching. I’d prefer to discuss it in our call rather than have great people not sign up for coaching!

I’m looking for career coaching; do you do that? — Yes! I frequently help clients through career transitions. I’ll help you structure your goals, stay motivated, prioritize the key tasks, and think through big considerations. In short, I’ll help you keep studying and sending out applications.

I can also help if you’re trying to get better in your current job. I can help you structure deliberate practice, carve out deep work time, and prioritize so you make progress quickly.

I have ADHD; will your coaching help with it? - While I sometimes work on productivity with people who are dealing with ADHD, I don’t specialize in it. If you aren't able to consistently complete the action items we plan in coaching calls, I would recommend seeking a therapist or coach who specializes in ADHD instead.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to EA Grants, the EA Meta Fund, and the Long-Term Future Fund for supporting me in the early days when I was first starting coaching.