Summary: what makes for a high-impact career?
TYPE III AUDIO (All episodes) · Peter
November 21, 20226m 57s
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Show Notes
---
narrator_time: 1h
editing_time: 0
narrator: pw
editor: pw
qa: MDS
client: 80000_hours
project_id: 80000_hours
---
Just the bottom lines from our key ideas series.
https://80000hours.org/key-ideas/summary/
TLDR: Get good at something that lets you effectively contribute to big and neglected global problems.
What ultimately makes for an impactful career? You can have more positive impact over the course of your career by aiming to:
- Help solve a more pressing problem. Many global issues should get more attention, but as individuals we should look for the biggest gaps in existing efforts. To do that, you can compare issues in terms of scale, neglectedness, and tractability. It turns out that some issues receive hundreds of times less attention relative to how big and solvable they seem. This means which issue you choose to work on is likely the biggest driver of your impact. In particular, our generation may see the rise of transformative technologies, which could lead to existential risks and make now a crucial moment that could affect the future for many generations to come — but our current institutions are doing little to address these issues. We have a list of global issues we think are particularly pressing for more people to work on right now.