UP Case Study #2
OVERVIEW
Improved overall Life Score from 6.7 in 2019 to 8.9 in 2022
Goals
- Create lasting impact that may not have existed without me
- Achieve 10^10 counterfactual QALYs (by 2040)
- Three subsubgoals
- Be free in time, body and in thoughts
- Four subgoals
- Three subsubgoals
- Push the boundaries of what is possible
- Two subgoals
- Ensure deep relationships
- Two subgoals
- Live happily all my life (at 8+/10 for 95% of days and 9+/10 for 50% of days)
Intervention
- Type: Individual DIY UP -> Individual Annual UP -> Individual Variable UP
- Length: Ongoing, 3 years and 9 months as of this update
- Support:
- 247 UP Coach Calls + 163 UP Coach Tasks + 0 UP Assistant Tasks + 0 Other Personal Team Tasks = 410 Tasks
- 377 UP Coach Hours + 0 UP Assistant Hours + 0 Other Personal Team Hours = 377 hours
Background
This well-resourced, highly rational individual chose to do an UP to upgrade every area of his life. He was smart, in a relationship, and had no major obligations to attend to. He spent a lot of time conducting personal research, connecting with others, and improving himself. He was deeply immersed in self-development, rationality, and effective altruism. His life was already very good when he began his UP.
Methods
The participant’s UP included specialized coaching from a rationality 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 team helped him advance on these goals through regular calls and ad hoc task completion.
Results
Protocol Completion
56%
Top 3 Successes
- Improved overall Life Score from 6.7 in 2019 to 8.9 in 2022
- Moderately advanced the progress of a globally recognized individual’s exceptionally high-value research (which he considered the most important work in the world)
- Created a holistic sensemaking approach that included a quantitative life model to strategically decide life path and make annual trade off decisions for resource allocations
Top 3 Failures
- Lost six months of time and six figures doing crypto day trading (against his UP Coach’s advice)
- Did almost earn several million dollars and was financially “up” most of the time
- Did substantially deepen his rationality and financial skills
- Failed to launch a nearly VC-backed biotech startup he helped co-found
- Did earn nearly six figures supporting its development and primarily left to pursue more impactful projects
- Failed to maintain full trust a globally recognized individual doing exceptionally high-value research
- Did develop an overall strong personal and professional relationship with the individual
Evaluation
- It was a good UP overall 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 8% impact on his overall goal attainment over the UP
- The UP Coach estimated a 8% impact on the client’s overall goal attainment over the UP