Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: The Practitioner's Path 2.0: A new framework for structured self-improvement, published by Evenflair on March 4, 2023 on LessWrong.

The Guild of the ROSE is proud to announce the full launch of the Practitioner's Path 2.0, a new framework for structured self-improvement.

Two years ago, we founded the Guild to provide structure and community for people interested in self-improvement. Since then, we've realized that our old strategy of weekly workshops and community groups needed a revision. People liked our workshops, but more often than not, they struggled to translate abstract ideas into tangible life improvements.

One idea that had floated around the Guild since its creation was the dream of a Skilltree for life — what if self-improvement was as easy as leveling up a new videogame character?

The Practitioner's Path 2.0 is our attempt to make that dream a reality. Self improvement is ultimately rewarding, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Our goal is to design systems that will remove the barriers to self improvement, whether by reducing the cognitive load of wondering what to work on, providing extrinsic social motivation, or playing into a completionist challenge-and-reward mindset.

This article introduces the Practitioner's Path 2.0, starting with the three aspects of the Path:

Skills: discrete blocks of achievement

Attributes: long-term, concrete metrics

Tasks: specific goals you want to accomplish

Afterwards, we'll briefly discuss the future role of workshops in the Guild and wrap up with some changes to our pricing model.

Part 1: the Skilltree

The heart of the Path 2.0 is the Skilltree. The Skilltree is one part map, one part achievement log, and one part reputation system.

A Map for Self-Improvement

Each Skill in the Path has a certain number of prerequisites. For example, Basic Life Enhancement I (fixing problems in your life) requires you to acquire Unseen Chances I (identify problems in your life) first:

Lines and arrows indicate prerequisites.

The example above is simple, but it illustrates the power of having your self-improvement path laid out before you. Rather than trying to figure out an optimal path (and potentially choice-paralyzing yourself into inaction), you can simply look at the Skilltree and work on the next Skill available.

The three states of a Skill.

The style of a Skill indicates whether:

Unlit: you're missing prerequisites (unlit)

Dim: you can work on it next (dim)

Bright + double border: you've acquired it

An Achievement Log

Every time you acquire a Skill, it's permanently associated with your Character Sheet. This means you can always open up your Character Sheet and reflect on what you've accomplished — especially since acquired Skills have a section describing what you did to acquire them.

Skills remember what you did to acquire them.

Having a concrete record of what you've accomplished is far more motivating than having a vague sense that you did 'something' a few months (or years!) ago.

A Reputation System

Our subconscious loves social prestige, and the Path system takes advantage of this by linking self-improvement and social reputation.

Each Skill has a certain amount of XP associated with it. This is the XP you gain by acquiring the Skill. Thus, XP and doing things are tightly linked. Being high level means you've done much to improve your life ­— everyone on the Path will know that the level 100 Pragmatist is a badass who knows their stuff.

Each time a member levels up, we announce it to the Guild. (Announcements are batched weekly to avoid spam, similar to how we announced Path 1.0 level-ups.)

A Character Sheet contains a lot of potentially sensitive information, especially since it remembers what you did to acquire each Skill. In the interest of privacy, Character Sheets will never be made public — only the broad details such ...