Your manager had a great idea: 100 hours and $3,000 for every employee to get some well-deserved and always-welcome self-development and improvement projects done in 2026. Alas, the benefits of one project on the list are somewhat subjective. Here are the projects you can choose from:
- Deep Work Coaching. You can sign up anytime and it will cost $1,200. You then receive 2 hours of coaching each week. For the first 12 weeks, you do not benefit from this coaching. After week 12, your work satisfaction receives a boost of 40 points per week.
- Ergonomic Setup. It costs $1,000 to buy and you take 10 satisfaction points per week that you use this setup.
- Premium Gym. There is a one-time $100 signup fee, and a weekly fee of $15. You also have to put in 2.5 hours weekly. For the first 4 weeks, you loose 10 satisfaction points per week. Starting in week 5, you gain 40 satisfaction points per week.
- Meal Prep Service. Sets you back $100 per week and the only benefit you get from it is that it boosts your premium gym satisfaction points. The estimates how much the meal prep boosts your gym satisfaction points range from a factor 7/6 to 4/3.
- AI Focus Suite. A $12 per week subscription that requires 30 minutes per week of effort. You take 20 satisfaction points from this suite in week one. From then on, the novelty wears off with a decay of 0.5 points per week. After week 40, there are no more benefits, but at least it never runs negative.
You need to decide which projects you want to pursue, and in what week (1-52) you start the ones that you decide to go for. Keep in mind you may not spend more than $3,000 and 100 hours total.
Given that you are not exactly sure what the benefit of the meal plan are, how do you plan to treat that uncertainty?
Seeker finds this solution (see this Colab):
- AI Focus Suite: Start in Week 32
- Deep Work Coaching: Omit
- Premium Gym: Start in Week 16
- Meal Prep Service: Start in Week 41
- Ergonomic_Setup: Start in Week 0
You are best off if you assume the meal benefit will boost the gym with a factor of 4/3. Even if the meal benefit was only a factor 7/6, the total satisfaction points are 2138 for the solution above, but if the meal benefit is 4/3, the benefit rises to 2211.67.
The canonical MIP approach would be to maximize the minimum benefit, but this will give a guaranteed yield of 2145, a measly 7 points more than the worst case with no upside at all.
So take the odds and hit the gym!