Thanks for writing this. I often feel quite similar—I can find being in contact with so many amazing people either inspiring or oddly demotivating!
That’s the old status-conscious monkey brain talking (everyone’s grasping vaingloriousness), and we shouldn’t feed it, but it’s good to acknowledge that it’s there from time to time.
Overall, I think the EA movement is pretty good at being positive. I’ve found such criticism as there is is usually self-criticism—if anything, I find people to be unusually generous with praise, which is lovely. I think you hit the nail on the head with your four sources of ego-damage. And yeah, I think the right thing to do is to try and not be bothered. For bonus points, remember to praise people when they do good things!
Thanks for writing this. I often feel quite similar—I can find being in contact with so many amazing people either inspiring or oddly demotivating!
That’s the old status-conscious monkey brain talking (everyone’s grasping vaingloriousness), and we shouldn’t feed it, but it’s good to acknowledge that it’s there from time to time.
Overall, I think the EA movement is pretty good at being positive. I’ve found such criticism as there is is usually self-criticism—if anything, I find people to be unusually generous with praise, which is lovely. I think you hit the nail on the head with your four sources of ego-damage. And yeah, I think the right thing to do is to try and not be bothered. For bonus points, remember to praise people when they do good things!