Although not everyone will agree, I think focusing on things that are effective (likely to have a large positive impact on the world as you assess it), personally motivating, and fits well with your talent/comparative advantage is the best bet. Starting late seems not a major concern; if anything EA is sometimes hurt by the fact that so many people in EA are young and inexperienced and so waste time on things or make mistakes that a more wisened person would not. Having your life cut short is tragic, but losing a decade at the end of life seems not particularly relevant to EA; whatever good you can do in the time you have will help the world.
Given your health concerns, you might be particular interested in anti-aging research or cryonics, which I think of as effective good-doing since they have the ability in expectation to dramatically increase our capacity for positively-interpreted subjective experiences (although only in combination with other things). But I think whatever you chose to work on you have the potential to have a valuable impact.
Although not everyone will agree, I think focusing on things that are effective (likely to have a large positive impact on the world as you assess it), personally motivating, and fits well with your talent/comparative advantage is the best bet. Starting late seems not a major concern; if anything EA is sometimes hurt by the fact that so many people in EA are young and inexperienced and so waste time on things or make mistakes that a more wisened person would not. Having your life cut short is tragic, but losing a decade at the end of life seems not particularly relevant to EA; whatever good you can do in the time you have will help the world.
Given your health concerns, you might be particular interested in anti-aging research or cryonics, which I think of as effective good-doing since they have the ability in expectation to dramatically increase our capacity for positively-interpreted subjective experiences (although only in combination with other things). But I think whatever you chose to work on you have the potential to have a valuable impact.