Rather than “earn to give” or “do direct work,” I think it might be “try as hard as you can to become a highly talented person” (maybe by acquiring domain expertise in an important cause area).
“Try and become very talented” is good advice to take from this post. I don’t have a particular method in mind, but becoming the Pareto best in the world at some combination of relevant skills might be a good starting point.
The flip side is that if you value money/monetary donations linearly—or more linearly than other talented people—then you’ve got a comparative advantage in earning to give! The fact that “people don’t value money” means that no one’s taking the exhausting/boring/bad-location jobs that pay really well. If you do, you can earn more than you “should” (in an efficient market) and make an outsize impact.
This is a good point. People able to competently perform work they’re unenthusiastic about should, all else being equal, have an outsized impact because the work they do can more accurately reflect the true value behind the work.
“Try and become very talented” is good advice to take from this post. I don’t have a particular method in mind, but becoming the Pareto best in the world at some combination of relevant skills might be a good starting point.
This is a good point. People able to competently perform work they’re unenthusiastic about should, all else being equal, have an outsized impact because the work they do can more accurately reflect the true value behind the work.