Attempt to bequeath your future self a kinder, more joyful, more competent person. This might involve:
Learning new skills—eg coding, managing some contractors, research, event organisation
Getting into the practise of doing things—build a website that you think should exist, run an event you would attend
Spend a portion of current resources effectively—set aside some resources, do some research, tell others what you did
Learn what you like—what makes you smile? What do you really strongly endorse
Get some mentors—write to people you respect asking them for tips on how you could improve
Get a good sleep and exercise schedule—many people struggle with this later so it’s good to get it locked down early.
Get on top of your emails, and social media time—many people struggle to wean themselves of email burnout or social media addition. You could get ahead of that
Look into different project management systems—often these help people get more done
Take time to empathise with people in different worlds to you—you could watch youtube videos of people in poorer nations talking about their situation. GiveDirectly has a load of these I think
Gather resources—your future self may have projects they want to work on. Earning money and putting it aside will give you more options
Build a close network of like minded ambitious people
Learn how you learn—you can probably get much more done at high school than you are. I wasted lots of time not realising this
Introspect about who you want to be—what are your key goals? how would you know if you were closer to them
Consider not being involved—often the first community one becomes involved in can be an unhealthy relationship. It’s good to spend some time considering the alternative. You could work hard and have lots of nice things. And that would be okay. I don’t say this to say EA is bad, but to say that if I were your friend I would want you to do things out of joy, rather than obligation[1]
You are probably right that it’s hard to make concrete improvements to the world right now, but you can give a gift to your future self of a better situation. The key is for that to be something that that person will endorse. Increasing their competence, joy, kindness and optionality seems likely to be good.
Take time to empathise with people in different worlds to you—you could watch youtube videos of people in poorer nations talking about their situation. GiveDirectly has a load of these I think
There are videos scattered across https://www.givedirectly.org but you get their recipients stories in a more raw form from https://live.givedirectly.org (in many cases click on the summary story for past questions and answers with that recipient).
Attempt to bequeath your future self a kinder, more joyful, more competent person. This might involve:
Learning new skills—eg coding, managing some contractors, research, event organisation
Getting into the practise of doing things—build a website that you think should exist, run an event you would attend
Spend a portion of current resources effectively—set aside some resources, do some research, tell others what you did
Learn what you like—what makes you smile? What do you really strongly endorse
Get some mentors—write to people you respect asking them for tips on how you could improve
Get a good sleep and exercise schedule—many people struggle with this later so it’s good to get it locked down early.
Get on top of your emails, and social media time—many people struggle to wean themselves of email burnout or social media addition. You could get ahead of that
Look into different project management systems—often these help people get more done
Take time to empathise with people in different worlds to you—you could watch youtube videos of people in poorer nations talking about their situation. GiveDirectly has a load of these I think
Gather resources—your future self may have projects they want to work on. Earning money and putting it aside will give you more options
Build a close network of like minded ambitious people
Learn how you learn—you can probably get much more done at high school than you are. I wasted lots of time not realising this
Introspect about who you want to be—what are your key goals? how would you know if you were closer to them
Consider not being involved—often the first community one becomes involved in can be an unhealthy relationship. It’s good to spend some time considering the alternative. You could work hard and have lots of nice things. And that would be okay. I don’t say this to say EA is bad, but to say that if I were your friend I would want you to do things out of joy, rather than obligation[1]
You are probably right that it’s hard to make concrete improvements to the world right now, but you can give a gift to your future self of a better situation. The key is for that to be something that that person will endorse. Increasing their competence, joy, kindness and optionality seems likely to be good.
Unless you become a billionaire in which case I want a bit of obligation, sorry
There are videos scattered across https://www.givedirectly.org but you get their recipients stories in a more raw form from https://live.givedirectly.org (in many cases click on the summary story for past questions and answers with that recipient).
Outside of GiveDirectly, I found https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street informative.
Disclosure: I work at GiveDirectly