[Question] How to decide which productivity coach to try?

[MichaelA🔸]

A list of coaches (and therapists) in the EA/​rationality communities can be found here.

I think I should try productivity coaching, but I’m not sure which coach to try or how to decide on that. Presumably it’s a matter of (1) the coaches’ average quality/​impact across clients and (2) the coaches’ fit for me. But I don’t know how to assess (1) or (2).

So I’m wondering:

1. Does anyone have thoughts on who I specifically should get coaching from?

2. Are there factors I should take into account other than average quality/​impact and fit for me?

3. How much weight should I put on average quality/​impact vs fit for me?

4. How can I best assess average quality/​impact and fit for me?

   1. Are there people who’ve had many sessions with multiple different coaches who could comment on the differences?

   2. Many coaches (but not all) gather testimonials, feedback from clients from anonymous surveys, and other data on their apparent impact. Has anyone compared that info across coaches to see what it suggests about average quality/​impact and fit for particular types of people? If not, can someone do that?

   3. Should I just try multiple coaches and see how it goes? But I imagine it’d take several sessions with each before I got a relatively clear conclusions (which would impose a substantial time cost and—less importantly to me—perhaps financial cost). And I also expect there might be order effects.

   4. Currently my shortlist (Lynette Bye and Daniel Kestenholz) is basically just based on who I’ve heard recommended most often.

I’m hoping answers could also be useful to other people considering trying coaching.

(I’m currently intending to restrict my search to just productivity coaches in the EA/​rationality communities. But let me know if you think that’s a mistake.)