Don’t try to change the world, find something that you love, And do it every day
Do that for the rest of your life, And eventually, the world will change
Taken literally, this is clearly untrue. If I love surfing, and go do that, I’m hardly going to change the world in a significant way.
However, it’s gesturing at something true: it’s really good to be good at your job. You’ll have more impact, better career capital, and be happier. And one component of being good at your job is to find something you’re intrinsically motivated by (i.e. love doing for its own sake). So, finding something that’s intrinsically motivating is important for a high impact career.
Taken literally, this is clearly untrue. If I love surfing, and go do that, I’m hardly going to change the world in a significant way.
However, it’s gesturing at something true: it’s really good to be good at your job. You’ll have more impact, better career capital, and be happier. And one component of being good at your job is to find something you’re intrinsically motivated by (i.e. love doing for its own sake). So, finding something that’s intrinsically motivating is important for a high impact career.
We write about this here: https://80000hours.org/career-guide/personal-fit/
This is why we only recommend people pursue earning to give if they have high personal fit with the career.
Also bear in mind that if you’re very interested in effective altruism, I think earning to give has become a little overrated, mainly for these reasons: https://80000hours.org/2015/11/why-you-should-focus-more-on-talent-gaps-not-funding-gaps/