I wonder if there’s a large amount of impact to be had in people outside of the tail trying to enhance the effectiveness of people in the tail (these might look like being someone’s personal assistant or sidekick, introducing someone in the tail to someone cool outside of the EA movement, being a solid employee for someone who founds an EA startup, etc.)? Being able to improve impact of someone in the tail (even if you can’t quantify what you accomplished) might avert the social comparison aspect, as one would feel like they’d be able to at least take partial credit for the accomplishments of the EA superstars.
If this was a solution to some of the issues which the OP raised, it would only be a solution for a small number of us. All the same, I think you’re right that having ‘sidekick’ roles could be very valuable!
I wonder if there’s a large amount of impact to be had in people outside of the tail trying to enhance the effectiveness of people in the tail (these might look like being someone’s personal assistant or sidekick, introducing someone in the tail to someone cool outside of the EA movement, being a solid employee for someone who founds an EA startup, etc.)? Being able to improve impact of someone in the tail (even if you can’t quantify what you accomplished) might avert the social comparison aspect, as one would feel like they’d be able to at least take partial credit for the accomplishments of the EA superstars.
If this was a solution to some of the issues which the OP raised, it would only be a solution for a small number of us. All the same, I think you’re right that having ‘sidekick’ roles could be very valuable!
It would be worth checking out this discussion: http://effective-altruism.com/ea/dl/i_am_samwise_link/