I'm excited to share that Optimal Pace Protocol version 3.0 was released on February 1st 2026 and is now available for all Dory members. This update brings new metrics including Performance and Capacity scores to the protocol for the first time.

And maybe the most exciting addition is the creation of Deep Dives, a collaborative opportunity to zoom out and understand how you're progressing overall with the protocol.

You'll continue to see your Optimal Pace and Recovery Plan every time you check in, and you'll now see your Performance score every third check-in, your Capacity score every seventh check-in, and you'll get the opportunity for a Deep Dive every 25 check-ins.

When you run your life on the Optimal Pace Protocol, you will always know three things: your Optimal Pace, your maximum Capacity, and your level of Performance.

Everyone who has ever burned out or had their journey to greatness crawl to a stop, these people were guessing at these three numbers and they guessed wrong. It’s that simple.

When you're on the Optimal Pace or Recovery Plan screens, tap the small Deep Dive icon in the top right corner to learn when you'll next see your Performance and Capacity scores and receive your next Deep Dive.

Get to know these icons. They'll guide your journey on the Optimal Pace Protocol.

Deep Dive

When you see the Deep Dive icon, screenshot it and post it into your group in Signal right then.

Protocol members post in the open community Signal group. Mastermind members post to their private Signal group. And Guide members post to their private guide on Signal.

When you post a Deep Dive in Signal, a Dory expert will review 50 different components of your protocol data and respond in the group with a video summarizing where you stand and your top opportunities for improvement. Your group can then learn from your progress and challenges and share any relevant insights on how they've progressed with the protocol themselves.

There are a number of really powerful predictors and influencers of high Performance, high Capacity and high Optimal Pace that the protocol measures behind the scenes to make its calculations and predictions. Some of these metrics include Pressure Caps, Key Factors, Observed Optimal Productivity Zones, Refresh Rates, and Mental Resilience scores. Each of these have their own level of statistical significance that tell us if they're useful components within your specific dataset.

Together these metrics tell a story of where you're thriving and where you might be struggling while running the Optimal Pace Protocol in your life.

For instance, Refresh Rate specifically tracks the effectiveness of your current Recovery Plans. If your Recovery Plans are working, you will have a high Refresh Rate.

We've also developed archetypes based on which groups of metrics are most correlated with improvements in your specific Performance and Capacity scores. When you receive a Deep Dive review you'll find out if you're a Believer, a Lifter, a Pacer, or a Burner. Knowing which archetype best serves your growth is a helpful way to know where to focus your efforts.

The unique code shown on the Deep Dive screen only allows us to retrieve your data for that day only, so make sure you screenshot and share it immediately in Signal when you see it. If you miss your chance, you'll have the opportunity to do another Deep Dive after twenty-five more check-ins.

Deep Dive reviews are now included in your membership and there is no cost to have our experts review your protocol data and make personalized recommenadations every time you earn a Deep Dive opportunity. Don't miss them.

Performance

Performance represents your overall power to get things done with excellence. It's calculated as the closeness to the center of your Optimal Productivity Zone (on a 10-point scale) times your Capacity.

Dory members with higher Performance scores produce more high quality work over time which shortens the length of their journey to greatness by preventing mistakes and avoiding delays from rework and repairs.

If you want to shorten your journey and achieve your wildest dreams faster, you have to increase your Performance.

Existing members see their Performance score every three check-ins. New members see their Performance scores on the day of their third check-in, and every three check-ins after that.

Performance scores are calculated on a scale from 0 to 180 with 180 being the highest measureable level of Performance.

Performance scores between 0 and 25 represent limited performance. Scores between 26 and 50 represent moderate performance. Scores from 51 to 90 represent high performance. And scores between 91 and 180 represent extremely high performance.

Capacity

Capacity represents your ability to thrive through the unexpected things that may come up in the days ahead if everything doesn’t go perfectly to plan. And when does it ever, right?

Your Capacity is the sum of your last seven Optimal Paces, which together represent the maximum effort you can produce at a high level of quality over one week.

Capacity allows us to not just thrive through the plan, but to also thrive through all the things that change about the plan along the way. It’s realistic and comprehensive.

Dory members with higher Capacity scores have the ability to handle more unexpected problems with ease and they never get off track when the playbook changes in the middle of the game.

Capacity is the antidote to burnout and falling Performance. You will never slow down if you can handle anything and everything that lies in the path ahead of you.

If you want to stay in the game long enough to see your wildest dreams come true, you have to increase your Capacity so you can thrive through anything.

Existing members see their Capacity every seven check-ins. New members see their Capacity on the day of their seventh check-in, and every seven check-ins after that.

If your Capacity score is less than the number of hours you work in a typical week, you’re at risk of slowing down or burning out.

If your Capacity score is about the same as the number of hours you work in a typical week, you have a low risk of burning out but you may struggle to handle unexpected demands.

If your Capacity number is higher than the number of hours you work in a typical week, you have low risk of burning out and you will be able to handle unexpected demands with ease.

If your Capacity number is much higher than the number of hours you work in a typical week, your performance is well protected, and you cannot burn out.

Optimal Pace

Optimal Pace is the maximum number of hours you can work at your highest level of performance today without needing extra effort to recover. Work at your Optimal Pace every day when you’re able to.

On days when you have to work more than your Optimal Pace, you’ll be provided with an Active Recovery Plan to precisely make up the difference.

Anytime you have to work more than your Optimal Pace for two or more days in a row, the protocol will track your overages and guide you until you’re fully recovered.

Dory members who work at their Optimal Pace every day have higher scores of Capacity and Performance. It’s the primary tool you will use to become bulletproof.

In order to know your Optimal Pace and track changes to your Capacity and Performance scores, you check in by answering a series of short questions that take less than a minute.

Checking in to see your Optimal Pace every day allows you to precisely match your effort to maximize your levels of Capacity and Performance over time.

You can check in once per day.

On day one of your membership, and every day after, you’ll see your Optimal Pace for the day.

Match your work effort for the day as closely as possible to your Optimal Pace. If you have to work more than your Optimal Pace, follow the steps in the Active Recovery Plan to make up the difference.

Optimal Pace is calculated on a scale from 0 to 18, with the numbers literally representing the maximum number of hours you can work at your highest level of performance today without requiring extra effort to recover.

Optimal Pace numbers below 3 represent high concern for burnout and a strong signal to rest and recover.

Optimal Pace numbers in the range from 3 to 5 represent limited ability and are common among new members. Optimal Pace numbers from 6 to 9 represent moderate ability. And Optimal Pace numbers from 10 to 18 represent exceptional ability.

Recovery Plan

You'll always receive some level of recommended Recovery Plan, even if you're not working above your Optimal Pace. This is important to keep your recovery muscles strong and compensate for standard margins of error in the protocol's calculations.

When you push as hard as our members do, you always need some amount of intentional rest and recovery.

When you see your Optimal Pace, use the (+) and (-) icons around it to set the number of hours you'll work today. To choose to work the same number of hours as your Optimal Pace today, just tap your Optimal Pace number itsef.

When your planned number of hours matches your Optimal Pace for the day, the Optimal Pace number is the same color as the Optimal Pace icon. When it's higher or lower than your Optimal Pace, it's a different color.

The protocol now builds personalized Recovery Plans for every member based on their Refresh Rate, which is the speed at which their mindstates recover after weakening from pressure.

Tap the Recovery Plan icon to track your recovery through to completion each day. Or to change between three different available recovery modes.

We've heard your feedback about varying needs for detail and diligence in Recovery Plans, so you can now choose the recovery method that feels best for you.

Power Recovery

Power recovery is the easiest to follow and leans toward simplicity instead of precision. It's perfect for people who don't thrive with checklists and confirmations.

Assume a normal amount of the things you typically do to support yourself every day is represented by 1x power. Maybe you journal and meditate every day. That's great. That's your 1x power.

The protocol recommends a recovery strength for today based on a multiple of your standard recovery power, from 1x to 10x.

A 10x power recovery day means you need to 10x your normal recovery efforts for today, which will take significant extra time, planning and effort. A 5x power recovery day means you need to 5x your normal recovery efforts for today, stepping it up a fair bit to make sure you finish the day fully recovered. A 2x power day means you just double what you would normally do to support yourself that day. It's that easy.

Plays Recovery

Plays recovery is a nice middle ground of precision and complexity. It's perfect for people who want some structure but don't want to have to close the loop on every part of their recovery efforts.

Consider the number of Plays that you typically use to support each of your emotional factors (calm, energy, focus, positivity, control, satisfaction, and personal identity) on a typical day. Maybe you journal for focus and meditate for calm. If so, that's 1 Focus and 1 Calm.

The protocol recommends a recovery strength for today based on the number of Plays you need for each of your current emotional factor levels.

A low recovery day might be 1 Calm, 1 Focus, 2 Personal Identity, representing just four Plays across three factors.

A moderate recovery day might be 5 Calm, 4 Focus, 1 Energy and 2 Positivity, representing 12 Plays across four factors.

And a high recovery day that requires significant extra time, planning and effort might be 8 Calm, 5 Focus, and 10 Positivity, representing a recommended Play load of 23 total Plays across all factors.

Points Recovery

Points recovery using the Coach Dory app continues to be the highest precision way to track and optimize your recovery efforts. It's been proven to be 6.7x more effective than just picking Plays that you think may work best for you.

But it's also more complex and time consuming. You have to really need the precision.

Points recovery isperfect for people who want to know exactly what works best so they never waste time with recovery efforts that don't match their exact needs. To thrive with Points Recovery you need to love checklists and confirmations.

Consider the effectiveness of each Play you typically use to support yourself on a typical day. Maybe you journal but it doesn't work great for helping you feel more positive, and you meditate which helps you feel very calm. These strengths and correlations are tracked and scored to create points-weightings for every Play on a scale from 1 to 5.

Plays with 1 point for an emotional factor have less than a 20% chance of improving that factor in your mindstate. Plays with 2 or 3 points have about a 50% chance of working. Plays with 4 points have a 60% or higher chance of working, and Plays with 5 points have an 80% or higher chance of delivering the desired emotional factor impact.

Using the Coach Dory app to select Plays with more points, and then marking those Plays complete in the app, creates a feedback loop that trains the system to always recommend the most effecive Plays based on what your mind specifically needs each day.

A low recovery day might have a goal of 5 points in the Coach Dory app. A moderate recovery day might be 25 points. And a high recovery day that requires significant extra time, planning, and effort might have a goal of 75 points.