Cohorts are mostly social

You're paying to be in a room with similarly stuck people.

The breakthrough rarely comes from there.

The cohort program model has become a major category. You pay several thousand dollars. You get six to twelve weeks of structure. You get a group of peers at roughly your level. You get an instructor or two. You get a Slack channel.

Most of what you're actually paying for is the social pressure of the group. Knowing you have to show up makes you do the work. That's real value.

What you're not paying for, despite the marketing, is breakthrough insight. The insights in most cohorts are the insights that have already been published in books and blog posts. The cohort packages them with social pressure, which is what makes them stick this time.

If you can self-impose the social pressure, you don't need the cohort. The reading list, the schedule, and the practice are all available for free.

If you can't, the cohort is a useful tool. Recognize what you're buying.

Three rules I run:

Don't pay for content. Pay for accountability or specific access. The content is almost always available cheaper or free.

The most valuable thing in any cohort is one or two of the other students. They're worth more than the curriculum. Cultivate them.

If a cohort is selling you "transformation," it's overpromising. They are selling you structure. Structure is real but smaller than transformation.

The cohort economy is mostly fine. Just buy it knowingly.

You're buying social pressure with extra steps.