I've always wanted to "do good" with my job so when I saw a YouTuber I like talking about a non profit company that helps people figure out how they can have a career that creates meaningful positive change in the world I was intrigued.

The company is 8000 Hours and they champion an idea called Effective Altruism, this is the idea that there is a way to be more impactful with the work you do, outside of being a volunteer or doctor. And helps to logically figure out how this can be done with your own particular skill set. One of the things they provide is book, which i just finished listening to the audio version of.

One of the first steps they suggest in this book is to figure out what problems you'd like to tackle. They mention the really big ones that affect us as a society; like threat from nuclear weapons and the emergence of AI. Some of the ones that popped into my head were the following;

• How can we save the knowledge we have amassed as a species in a way that will be accessible in 1000 years. Computer chips or other physical media isn't likely to last a thousand years from now.

• How can people better connect to the planet and understand how dead they would be without it. In hopes that this will naturally lead to more eco friendly choices across the board.

I still am thinking about how I can apply my particular skill set to these kinds of problems. And how can I do that in the current job I do?

These are big lofty goals. But I like thinking about them. And because the problems are vast there is a lot to think about.

Check out 80000 Hours if this seems interesting to you and if you have been thinking similar thoughts I'd love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below.

Join my Email List to get this in your inbox.