What Is Slothzero?
Slothzero is two things: a free newsletter and a paid service. You can choose one or both. Many people start with the newsletter and, if they like what they’re hearing, sign up for the service later. Others just read the newsletter. And some, who don’t have time to read, and don’t want or need to know their coach’s background theory-of-change, just use the service. It’s your choice!
Slothzero the Newsletter
Slothzero.substack.com (which you are reading now) is a free newsletter hosted on substack.com.
It is written for people interested in Interpersonal Accountability Coaching (IAC). We want to spread the word about IAC far and wide, and hope as many people use it as can, regardless of their ability to pay for our premium service.
Four Sections for Four Groups
Around a third of our posts apply equally to all readers. But the rest are “aimed” at specific reader groups. Since not everyone will be interested in these, you can unsubscribe to posts aimed at these groups.
The four groups are:
Clinicians
Coaches
Parents
Teachers
We’ve created unique “sections” — just like the sections of a newspaper — for each of these groups. The logos have the name of the target group/section underneath:
Slothzero for Parents is aimed at moms and dads who want to help their kids stay on top of their school work, house chores, and hobbies, with minimal nagging and fighting but maximal effectiveness.
Slothzero for Teachers is aimed at middle school, high school, or college teachers and administrators who want to use IAC to help students stay on top of challenging workloads through goal setting and task planning and execution (otherwise known as “getting your homework done on time.”)
Slothzero for Clinicians is aimed at licensed mental health therapists — psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers — who either want to incorporate IAC into their clinical practice and/or have referred clients to Slothzero.com for help staying on task between sessions.
Slothzero for Coaches is aimed at coaches in training at, or already working for, Slothzero.com, but is also free to any coach interested in adding IAC to their coaching repertoire.
Our Paid Service: Slothzero.com
IAC is the subtype of coaching that we specialize in over at slothzero.com, which unlike the newsletter is a paid service. Why paid? Because we employ real people, who need to make real money, to deliver a valuable service to clients who struggle with procrastination.
Slothzero.com uses 1-on-1 and group IAC to help people become more productive and effective in school, at work, and in their personal lives.
Why is it named Slothzero?
First of all, how cute are sloths? Don’t you just want to pick them up and have a day-long hug while they slowly masticate their low-calorie leaves? We do!
Second of all, we believe in direct, genuine, honest, but kind communication. There’s no way — absolutely, positively, no possible way — to overcome procrastination if you can’t own it. You have to admit you have a problem before you can solve it! In that spirit we believe in naming our problem with the cutest, most adorable, most empathy-inducing name we can think of. Luckily, the Catholic Church named it for us many centuries ago. We don’t agree with them that procrastination is a sin, but we do agree that it is a problem. And so we own the fact that we are sometimes being sloths, and the fact that we need to move a little faster if we’re going to do all the things we want to get done.
Third of all, we believe in going for the gold. Why aim low when you can aim high? Our goal isn’t to cut down our procrastination by twenty percent, or fifty percent, or even ninety percent. We don’t want to procrastinate at all! We want zero procrastination in our lives. We want slothzero.
That doesn’t mean we never rest or have fun. We do! Have you seen sloths, chilling out in the trees, munching leaves, and hugging their loved ones? We have! We could watch them all day. And we want as much of that in our lives as possible (well, maybe not the leaves part). But in order to play hard — or very, very soft — we have to work hard. And it’s on the work side of things that slothzero is focused. Focused with the kind, caring, thoughtful energy of a sloth.
How Did Slothzero Start?
Slothzero started in a Ukrainian pastry & coffee shop on Court Street in Brooklyn, NY, in 2017. Peter Freed, a psychiatrist with ADHD, was a regular there. One day when he was struggling with focus he asked his barista, Yana Kurylenko, to check on him between customers to make sure he was working — and to yell at him if he wasn’t. When he realized he would benefit from her monitoring him more closely he began paying for her time (and they moved coffee shops, to Espresso Me, a few blocks away on Atlantic Avenue).
They met daily for two hours every morning, with Peter teaching Yana how to supervise someone with ADHD. Although she had not yet finished college, and had no professional degree, Yana was highly effective in making sure Peter got his email, billing, prescriptions, writing, patient notes, and CME done on time. Simply by having someone provide firm but kind redirection. Peter quickly found his business was running better than ever under her watchful eye. He had discovered what many people with ADHD discover, and which is today well known: that body doubling works!
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Peter and Yana could no longer meet in person, so they switched to Zoom meetings — for the next three years! To Peter’s surprise, he found her service was just as effective.
This was when he had the brainwave that started Slothzero in its current form.
