UP Case Study #7

Goals

1. Help achieve non-dystopian longevity escape velocity for all humans
2. Help lift humanity’s hedonic ceiling
3. Help propagate open individualism as a philosophy

Intervention

• Type: Individual DIY UP
• Length: 1 year with UP Coach, self-led afterward
• Support:
  • 10 UP Coach Calls + 27 UP Coach Tasks + 1 UP Assistant Tasks + 0 Other Personal Team Tasks = 38 Tasks
  • 22 UP Coach Hours + 1 UP Assistant Hours + 0 Other Personal Team Hours = 23 Hours

Background

This young, altruistic individual chose to do an UP to set his life strategy and increase his agency sufficiently such that he might achieve his life goals. He was unemployed and job hunting when he began his UP. He was deeply immersed in self-development, rationality, and effective altruism. By his own assessment, he was living a good life but realized he had a very long way to go to reach his ideal.

Methods

The client’s UP included specialized coaching from a carefully selected coach, access to a team of behavior change experts and assistants, and use of 50+ digital behavior change tools. He took multiple subjective and objective assessments near the beginning of the UP and set a number of short-term and long-term goals. His UP Coach helped him design his UP, but the client was primarily responsible for implementing it.

Results 

Protocol Completion

>15%

Top 3 Successes

1. Made significant progress on many life areas (relative to previous year, not in absolute terms)
   1. 14 life areas optimized (to an 80/20 degree)
      1. Brand, Career, Family, Fitness, Goals, Health, Nutrition, Philosophy, Privacy, Productivity, Purpose, Self, Sleep, Values
   2. 12 life areas lagging behind, relative to where they could have been
      1. Communities, Environmental, Financial, Knowledge, Relationships, Sex, Skills, Social, Societal, Spirituality, Team, Time
   3. 15 life areas at a comfortable stage or in the backburner
      1. Appearance, Behavioral, Cognitive, Communication, Consciousness, Emotional, End of Life, Impact, Legal, Leisure, Life Work, Perception, Personality, Safety, Transportation
2. Secured a job at a biotech startup (with no formal biology background, primarily through self upskilling and networking)
3. Built a fully functional exocortex that is running as it should

Top 3 Failures

1. Retains some emotional and psychological barriers to doing the highest expected value work (e.g., cold emailing contacts, asking for raises, feeling like he’s not good enough, etc.)
   1. Did make some progress, but realized it might take months or year
2. Applied to and was almost accepted to a prestigious impactful company, but was rejected for reasons related to immigration law
   1. Did secure good connection and would likely get an offer if he could sort out immigration issues
3. Did not substantially improve these life areas: Communities, Environmental, Financial, Knowledge, Relationships, Sex, Skills, Social, Societal, Spirituality, Team, Time
   1. Did review each life area and set the stage for future improvements

Evaluation

• It was a good UP that was enjoyable for both the client and UP Coach and was relatively easy to design and execute
• The client made moderate progress on his goals in line with his expectations
• The client estimated a 30% impact on his overall goal attainment over the UP
• The UP Coach estimated a 25% impact on the client’s overall goal attainment over the UP

Client Summary

“The self-pace UP blueprint provides an inspiring view of what your personal optimized life could be like. Execution can be tough, but the North Star will always be there to re-orient towards. The unoptimized life is not worth living.”