Good question! I share that intuition that preventing harm is a really good thing to do, and I find striking the right balance between self-sacrifice and pursuing my own interests difficult.
I think if you argue that that leads to anything close to a normal life you are being disingenuous
I think this is probably wrong for most people. If you make yourself unhappy by trying to force yourself to make sacrifices you don’t want to make, I think most people will be much less productive. And I think that most people actually need a fairly normal social life etc. to avoid that. I believe this because I’ve seen and heard stories of people burning out from trying to work too hard, and I’ve come close myself.
I think the best way to have a large impact probably looks like working as hard as you sustainably can (for most people, I think this is working hard in a normal 9-5 work week or less), and spending enough time thinking seriously about the best strategy for you to make the biggest difference. It might also involve donating money, but again I think it’s a good use of money to spend some money on what makes you happy, to prevent resentment and burn out.
Good question! I share that intuition that preventing harm is a really good thing to do, and I find striking the right balance between self-sacrifice and pursuing my own interests difficult.
I think this is probably wrong for most people. If you make yourself unhappy by trying to force yourself to make sacrifices you don’t want to make, I think most people will be much less productive. And I think that most people actually need a fairly normal social life etc. to avoid that. I believe this because I’ve seen and heard stories of people burning out from trying to work too hard, and I’ve come close myself.
I think the best way to have a large impact probably looks like working as hard as you sustainably can (for most people, I think this is working hard in a normal 9-5 work week or less), and spending enough time thinking seriously about the best strategy for you to make the biggest difference. It might also involve donating money, but again I think it’s a good use of money to spend some money on what makes you happy, to prevent resentment and burn out.