**I'm taking a sabbatical from coaching for the rest of the year, starting on June 1st, 2024.** I'll briefly explain my reasons for this and what I'm planning to do next. I haven't felt fully committed to coaching for the past year or two. My energy and enthusiasm before and during the typical coaching session were lower compared to the initial three years of my practice. Coaching started to feel more like an obligation based on a sense of loyalty to my clients and a commitment to delivering good work rather than something that genuinely excites me. Naturally, there have been many positive experiences during this period, but the overall trend has been one of diminishing engagement and excitement. This state of affairs doesn't meet my bar for this kind of work. I consider coaching a way to support people that needs someone who's fully "in it" and completely available for their clients. Several factors have contributed to this development, most notably: - The demands of my non-coaching job have escalated, increasingly siphoning time and energy from my coaching work. Previously, my time was more or less evenly divided between coaching and my work at [Polaris Ventures](https://polaris-ventures.org). But as my responsibilities at Polaris grew more intellectually and emotionally taxing, I found myself scaling back on coaching. This shift not only diminished my time commitment but also my enthusiasm: I was no longer exploring the new and challenging frontiers in coaching that invigorated me, but rather, settling into a routine of mere maintenance. - I've hit a plateau in my coaching development. The yield from further learning has dwindled significantly compared to the initial high-growth phase I experienced. The scarcity of time I can allocate to coaching further complicates the matter, making it hard to enter into another phase of rapid growth. Furthermore, coaching itself presents a particularly tricky learning environment; it's challenging to discern the optimal strategies for supporting clients. Once you reach an intermediate skill level, [there isn't a clear, well-established path](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59d008f3a9db094fd50abf86/t/59d9966ab0786914357b5796/1507432042373/Peterson_2010-Good_to_great_coaching_Ch4.pdf) that guides you to mastery. - My interest and concern regarding AI developments have grown sharply. Things have evolved faster than I'd expected and also become more real in a way that creates a sense of urgency and motivation for me. I now feel a strong pull to engage more deeply with this space, both for impact reasons and to be less confused about the situation and what may unfold next. - I've felt somewhat less connected with and enthusiastic for the EA community following various incidents, most notably FTX. To be clear, I continue to support much of what EA stands for and hold many of its members in high regard. However, I've also felt a sense of disillusionment with the community that contributed to my dampened excitement for coaching. Overall, it seems like the right moment for a break from coaching. I can well imagine returning to it post-sabbatical, as I still believe it's a valuable project. In the meantime, I intend to use the time gained to explore the potential paths and consequences of AI advancements. I mourn any negative impact this decision might have on my clients. At the same time, I'm grateful for the coaching journey so far and everyone who has contributed to it. Please feel free to reach out to me if there's anything related to this you'd like to discuss. If we aren't already in touch, the [contact form](https://danielkestenholz.com/contact/) on my website is a good way to reach me.