I sincerely applaud your efforts and hope you will have a significant positive impact. At the same time, I want to very gently push back on some perceived sentiment in this post: I do not think it is right for all to push as hard as you do. I think even that your advice might not be suitable for most people. This is because the risk of burnout is large. Burnout has been written about elsewhere on the Forum, on the 80k hrs podcast (I think, couldn’t quickly find the episodes) and beyond and I would encourage people to err on the side of too much self care rather than too little. This is especially because the chance of another large EA donor in the coming years is significant and we then really should not lose any talent to burnout or similar decreases in productivity. And also because I care about the EA community—people who sincerely want to do good deserve to live fulfilling lives.
I agree 100%. This is absolutely not for everybody.
In light of this comment, I want to reiterate the Final Thoughts section:
If you use the “go all out” strategy, your body might take a toll. This extreme strategy is not for everybody, and you have to listen to your body.
I felt under the weather after I flew back home, when all the adrenaline was gone.
I’ve taken a complete day off to recover, and am still coughing a bit as I’m typing this up.
Burnout is something I actively talk to my team about, and I’m also the person that keeps saying to slow down, take a break, leave work behind and enjoy your time-off.
In fact, I was just nagging my co-founder of this morning, about the importance of resting up and having downtime. There is simply too much to do, and it’s important for all of us to take care of our mind and body so that we can jog/run at a sustainable pace, not overdoing it.
I sincerely applaud your efforts and hope you will have a significant positive impact. At the same time, I want to very gently push back on some perceived sentiment in this post: I do not think it is right for all to push as hard as you do. I think even that your advice might not be suitable for most people. This is because the risk of burnout is large. Burnout has been written about elsewhere on the Forum, on the 80k hrs podcast (I think, couldn’t quickly find the episodes) and beyond and I would encourage people to err on the side of too much self care rather than too little. This is especially because the chance of another large EA donor in the coming years is significant and we then really should not lose any talent to burnout or similar decreases in productivity. And also because I care about the EA community—people who sincerely want to do good deserve to live fulfilling lives.
I agree 100%. This is absolutely not for everybody.
In light of this comment, I want to reiterate the Final Thoughts section:
Burnout is something I actively talk to my team about, and I’m also the person that keeps saying to slow down, take a break, leave work behind and enjoy your time-off.
In fact, I was just nagging my co-founder of this morning, about the importance of resting up and having downtime. There is simply too much to do, and it’s important for all of us to take care of our mind and body so that we can jog/run at a sustainable pace, not overdoing it.