Firstly, I’m really sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with depression. It goes without saying—but I would encourage you to consider therapy and medication as these can often help. I also hope you have a community/friendship group you feel you can reach out to if you are struggling. You may also like to consider joining an Action for Happiness community if you have one in your city, which focuses on applying the science of happineess.
Secondly, congratulations on all your success so far—it’s really amazing what you’ve already been able to achieve despite working full-time.
Thirdly, I too have always felt the pull towards trying to have impact while working full-time in an unrelated job, because it can be really hard not to do this when the world in on fire. However, I’ve recently transitioned away from this as I no longer feel it is sustainable for me or even the best thing for the world (see my post here). It seems like the work you are doing is more valuable than mine was, but either way I encourage you to consider taking a step back and prioritising your wellbeing, for the following reasons:
Your wellbeing matters and you deserve to be happy and healthy
Relationships with friends and family are very important, and it is hard to maintain these without much leisure time
It can be hard to do things well if you are tired—things like exercise, social activities, and games can rejuvinate the mind. A fresh and focused mind can do a lot more with less time.
Impact is a long haul, and burnout is a risk for people who are very ambitious (which can undermine future potential for impact)
If others see that you can have a whole lot of impact while also living a well-rounded and happy life, it may encourage them to do more good themselves
Having more leisure time gives us opportunities to reflect, understand our priorities, and do more planning (e.g. I found that it was hard to find time and mental capacity to think about changing my main job while spending time on side projects)
It could be helpful to adopt a two-budget strategy for your time to avoid the daily dilemma of choosing between your project and your loved ones. This allows you to choose how much of your non-work time to spend on your “doing good” budget (say 10%), and then the remainder (say 90%) can be spent on whatever is best for you—spending time with friends, exercising, knitting, etc.
In saying all that, obviously this is a personal decision for you, but I just wanted to share my perspective. Please feel free to message me if you want to chat about any of this :)
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your own journey. Your kindness really means a lot, especially coming from someone who clearly understands the tension between impact and personal wellbeing.
I appreciate your concern about my health. I’ve actually started walking 3 miles during my work lunch (while having my Huel) and have been more careful with dietary choices, which has been helping significantly with both physical and mental health. The struggles I described were real, but I’m actively working to manage them better.
I deeply respect your decision to prioritize wellbeing and relationships. You’re absolutely right that sustainability matters, and I appreciate you sharing that perspective. For me, though, I feel we’re at a particularly critical moment for the Profit for Good movement—with growing momentum from the Amsterdam conference, key stakeholders becoming aligned, and the potential to catalyze something much larger. Sometimes historical moments call for temporary sacrifice.
I’m not advocating this approach for everyone, and I certainly don’t think less of anyone who chooses balance. But given where PFG stands right now—on the cusp of catalyzing a movement that could eventually redirect billions to effective causes—I feel compelled to push harder for a bit longer. Perhaps once we’ve established stronger foundations, I’ll be able to step back and find more balance.
Your point about being a sustainable role model resonates though. Maybe the real challenge is finding ways to demonstrate that this work can eventually be done without such extreme trade-offs, once we build the right infrastructure and support systems.
Thanks again for reaching out. It genuinely helps to know others have walked similar paths and found their own ways forward.
I’m really glad to hear that your walks have been helping with your mental health :)
That all makes sense, and it sounds like this is a really exciting moment. Hopefully there is an opportunity for you to move into this full-time in future, especially now that you’ve set up all the infrastructure, so that you don’t need to juggle this on top of your other job.
Hi Brad,
Firstly, I’m really sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with depression. It goes without saying—but I would encourage you to consider therapy and medication as these can often help. I also hope you have a community/friendship group you feel you can reach out to if you are struggling. You may also like to consider joining an Action for Happiness community if you have one in your city, which focuses on applying the science of happineess.
Secondly, congratulations on all your success so far—it’s really amazing what you’ve already been able to achieve despite working full-time.
Thirdly, I too have always felt the pull towards trying to have impact while working full-time in an unrelated job, because it can be really hard not to do this when the world in on fire. However, I’ve recently transitioned away from this as I no longer feel it is sustainable for me or even the best thing for the world (see my post here). It seems like the work you are doing is more valuable than mine was, but either way I encourage you to consider taking a step back and prioritising your wellbeing, for the following reasons:
Your wellbeing matters and you deserve to be happy and healthy
Relationships with friends and family are very important, and it is hard to maintain these without much leisure time
It can be hard to do things well if you are tired—things like exercise, social activities, and games can rejuvinate the mind. A fresh and focused mind can do a lot more with less time.
Impact is a long haul, and burnout is a risk for people who are very ambitious (which can undermine future potential for impact)
If others see that you can have a whole lot of impact while also living a well-rounded and happy life, it may encourage them to do more good themselves
Having more leisure time gives us opportunities to reflect, understand our priorities, and do more planning (e.g. I found that it was hard to find time and mental capacity to think about changing my main job while spending time on side projects)
It could be helpful to adopt a two-budget strategy for your time to avoid the daily dilemma of choosing between your project and your loved ones. This allows you to choose how much of your non-work time to spend on your “doing good” budget (say 10%), and then the remainder (say 90%) can be spent on whatever is best for you—spending time with friends, exercising, knitting, etc.
In saying all that, obviously this is a personal decision for you, but I just wanted to share my perspective. Please feel free to message me if you want to chat about any of this :)
Hi Lucas,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your own journey. Your kindness really means a lot, especially coming from someone who clearly understands the tension between impact and personal wellbeing.
I appreciate your concern about my health. I’ve actually started walking 3 miles during my work lunch (while having my Huel) and have been more careful with dietary choices, which has been helping significantly with both physical and mental health. The struggles I described were real, but I’m actively working to manage them better.
I deeply respect your decision to prioritize wellbeing and relationships. You’re absolutely right that sustainability matters, and I appreciate you sharing that perspective. For me, though, I feel we’re at a particularly critical moment for the Profit for Good movement—with growing momentum from the Amsterdam conference, key stakeholders becoming aligned, and the potential to catalyze something much larger. Sometimes historical moments call for temporary sacrifice.
I’m not advocating this approach for everyone, and I certainly don’t think less of anyone who chooses balance. But given where PFG stands right now—on the cusp of catalyzing a movement that could eventually redirect billions to effective causes—I feel compelled to push harder for a bit longer. Perhaps once we’ve established stronger foundations, I’ll be able to step back and find more balance.
Your point about being a sustainable role model resonates though. Maybe the real challenge is finding ways to demonstrate that this work can eventually be done without such extreme trade-offs, once we build the right infrastructure and support systems.
Thanks again for reaching out. It genuinely helps to know others have walked similar paths and found their own ways forward.
Hi Brad,
I’m really glad to hear that your walks have been helping with your mental health :)
That all makes sense, and it sounds like this is a really exciting moment. Hopefully there is an opportunity for you to move into this full-time in future, especially now that you’ve set up all the infrastructure, so that you don’t need to juggle this on top of your other job.
All the best