This summer we ran the Alpha version of the Twoplus Mental Fitness course. 

The goal was to help participants develop habits that would improve their mental health in the short and long term, all while working in DAOs and the rest of Web3.

“Twoplus is a mental fitness cohort for people who contribute to DAOs and work in Web3. {…} That really opened my eyes to how poorly I was managing my time and my energy” - Livster, Social Media Manager, PoolTogether Podcast ep. #33 (13’)

The feedback we received is full of learnings and we’re going to double down with a new version of the program in November (applications now open here). But first, here is a quick retrospective on the Alpha.

1. Alpha Cohort Highlights 

2. What exactly happened in those 4 weeks?

3. What we’ve learned 

4. What’s next with the Beta version

1 - Alpha Cohort Highlights

• Alpha ticket price: 0.1ETH 

• Total revenue: $3.3k 

• Number of participants: 24 (7 women, 17 men, 7 POC)

• Instructors: Antoine, Steph, Sam & Tanisi (The Ready), Frogmonkee, Marc Champagne, Lola (Othership) (3 women, 3 men, 2 POC)

• Top Tools: Gather Town, Discord, Mochi, Miro, Othership

• Partners: Chainspaces, Othership, Mochi

• Contributors: Efra (design), Ahalya (coaching experience)

• Cohort Lead: Louis (writing this)

A BIG thank you to our partners, contributors and participants who have made this program possible with their heart and passion.

2 - What happened in those 4 weeks?

“Twoplus was a fun course - didn’t know it would be possible with a subject matter like mental health” - Dima, founder of Docare.io, Twoplus Alpha Cohort participant

The two main themes of this first version were mental fitness and DAO collaboration.

Our hypothesis was that mental fitness and DAO collaboration training were complementary. The self-awareness (i.e. awareness of our own internal states and how others perceive us) and self-management (i.e. good use of our time and biological resources) developed through mental fitness exercises enable one to contribute fittingly, nurture healthy relationships, and lead with effectiveness. 

Mental fitness training included practices for:

• Focus and prioritization

• Stress and anxiety management

• Energy management

• Increased self-awareness

• Boundaries setting

DAO collaboration training included:

• DAO operating rhythms and goal setting

• Decision making

• Running efficient and human meetings

• Conflict resolution and relationships management

This content was distilled through 3 main formats: 

• Workshops

• A team based habit building game

• and weekly team meetings 

Workshops were interactive most -often using Miro boards- and information dense. They were taught by experts of various areas of mental fitness or DAO collaboration. Here are the 6 workshops we had for the Alpha Cohort.

1. Intro to Mental Fitness (w/ Marc Champagne)

2. Setting Boundaries (w/ Frogmonkee)

3. Breathwork (w/ Othership)

4. Prioritization and focus (w/ Louis)

5. Conflict resolution (w/ Steph)

6. Running meetings optimizing for connection and efficiency (w/ Antoine)

7. Operating rhythms, goal setting, and decision making (w/ The Ready)

“Practicing breathwork has been a revelation. I had been told about it a year ago but never got into it unil the Alpha Cohort” - @JoshCStein, developer, Alpha Cohort participant

Second, we set up a Mochi game to help participants build strong habits. In this game participants set a goal to practice one thing each day in order to improve their mental health. For example, “I want to wind down by practicing NSDR each evening for better sleep and recovery”. Participants were then put in teams of 4 and played a cryptoeconomic game that incentivized them to support their teammates and stay accountable to them. 

Mochi is a tool we learned a lot about in this Alpha and we’re really excited to upgrade the experience around it.

Participants unlocked badges through achieving high scores in Mochi and received a personalized coaching DM redacted by the course team each week.

Last format, team syncs - Mochi teams had to hop in their dedicated Gather Town pod weekly and collectively reflect on their practice and prompt. Again, we learned a lot there and we’re excited to evolve the experience by embedding this team experiences deeper in the flow of the program.

3 - What have we learned? 

Here is a recap of things we want to improve for future versions of this program.

• Goal setting - We realized that setting a good mental fitness goal requires us to make room for a thoughtful and guided process. Goals set a cap on how much progress participants achieve and it is really important to support them in designing ambitious and bespoke goals. We are planning designated time and tools to make this a success in upcoming versions.

• Coaching - In this first version, we sent weekly personalized DMs containing reports and tips to participants. We saw the potential that coaching has for people and we want to develop this element of the experience significantly. Whether it is peer-to-peer or expert administered, coaching is key to accelerate participants’ progression towards their mental fitness goals.

• Time - People are busy! Next time we want to provide 10x the value and cut the time investment in half.

• Social experience - In this first cohort we tackled too much. This cannibalized participants’ ability to focus on socializing. Moving forward we’ll be creating more space for deeper and funnier interactions which will eventually improve the rest of the experience. We’re in web3, and community is where we can actually make a difference.

• More web3 fun - Beyond more fun connections we want to keep experimenting with cryptoeconomic incentives and tok    @en rewards in partnership with Mochi. 

• Timezone management - timezones are a well known issue in web3. That'll be one of the things to keep in mind as we design the beta version for November, making sure everyone can benefit from the entirety of the content.

• More diversity - We want to keep in sight that a mentally fit community is a diverse community. As we accrue resources we’ll keep designing our registration and selection processes to include a more diverse set of people.

Finally, we validated our hypothesis that mental fitness is much needed in a space where people push themselves a lot. It is time for new narratives to emerge around mental health, ones that better incentivize the spread and adoption of self-management practices.

“Honestly, thinking of mental fitness as a gym for my brain has totally changed this for me.” - Harry, developer, Alpha Cohort participant

4 - What’s Next with the Beta version

We’ve learned a lot and we’ve taken the time to digest these learnings. We’re now working on the next version of the program for November. 

In this upcoming program we’ll downsize the amount of DAO specific knowledge and double down on mental fitness. First, this is in order to open up the course to a broader Web3 audience that might not identify with DAOs directly. Second, we think that mental fitness training is a unique value proposition in the space at this point and that’s also what’s most needed.

Here are some details on the upcoming program:

• Date: November (day to be announced soon)

• Duration: 8 weeks 

• Commitment: 1-3 hours / week

• Price: 0.3 ETH

• Program outline*: 1. Goal setting - 2. Science based tools for mental fitness - 3. Practicing through a game

We’re ready to take this program to the next level, partnering with new mental fitness experts and coaches. 

Without strong mental health It is easy to burn out or lose sight of our goals. Instead putting some work in your mental fitness enables sustained focus, energy management, stress management, relationships management and more. 

“As a DAO leader it helps knowing people get some support with their mental health” - Fancy, Twoplus Alpha participant, instigator at Radar

If you’re motivated to start your mental fitness journey with our next cohort, let us know by applying >> here <<

If you’re interested in contributing, partnering or if you’re an organization wanting to work with us, please reach out @twoplus_xyz.

-------

Thank you for reading and thank you Rachel and Antoine for editing this article.