How to Use Your Career for Good (& Save Babies)
How to leverage your career to increase your impact, whether you switch jobs or not
In one of my previous jobs, a colleague frequently reminded everyone to stop stressing about our jobs by saying, "Remember, we're not saving babies here." Years later, this is still a keystone mantra that helps me set healthy boundaries at work.
Sometimes though, I’d think to myself… "Well, I do NOT want the pressure of saving babies in my day-to-day work (way too stressful for me), but I would love to make more of a tangible, real-life impact with my work."
If you, too, are craving to have an impact that lands somewhere between "saving babies" and "making pointless widgets," then this week's and next week's articles are for you.
I'm diving deep into the "impact" slider and covering the four critical resources we can use to make a difference in our careers & personal lives: Time, money, skills, and a platform. Today I'll focus on the first two: Time and money.
I have to give a shoutout to two organizations, 80,000 Hours and Effective Altruism, for inspiring much of what I'm about to share. They're incredible resources that I highly recommend; however, I'm not officially representing them in any way.
Time: Your Career Is Very, Very Long... So Use it For Good
The average person's career will consume a whopping 80,000 hours of your life. That's a ton of time (probably more than you'll spend doing anything else), so it's worth considering how to use your time at work for the greater good.
How do you know which job will allow you to have the most significant impact?
Luckily, 80,000 hours is a whole movement dedicated to answering the question of which careers would help a significant number of people if an individual chose to pursue that path (80,000 hours is a subset of the larger Effective Altruism movement).
Their unique framework assesses careers based on their potential to impact many people positively, the degree of neglectedness / lack of resources, and the feasibility of solving the problem. As a result, the careers they highlight might differ from those you typically consider high-impact. You can read more about this framework here.
Their high-impact career shortlist ranges from AI safety and communication to government policy to being an executive assistant, leaving you with various options to explore.
The bottom line is this: If you are starting your career or are seriously interested in an extensive career or field pivot, it's worth looking at this list of exceptionally high-impact jobs to see if any might be a good fit for you. I have more helpful resources for you at the end of this post.
Challenging assumptions of what is “high-impact”
The framework 80,000 Hour uses is helpful as it challenges our assumptions of what makes a career "high-impact."
Humans are notoriously emotional and illogical creatures, meaning we tend to see helping people directly as more meaningful and impactful than assisting people indirectly.
If you recall the Impact Map exercise from a few weeks ago, most of us think of the career in the bottom half of the quadrant, where you're working on a one-on-one level, as more impactful than those working in the upper half.
Superman is an excellent example of this. He's one of the most "heroes" of heroes, swooping in and saving people in his lovely city of Metropolis. Ironically, he's easily one of the most underleveraged talents out there, as he could've easily had 10,000x his impact if he had used his skills differently.
Why Superman was wrong to fight crime – comic from SMBC.
Of course, it's more complicated than this sarcastic comic showcases in two ways:
First, the world still needs people who do good on a 1:1 or small group level. No one is arguing against that. We'd be up a creek if all the doctors, teachers, social workers, and other real-world superheroes who do a life-changing amount of good on a smaller scale stopped.
Second, personal fit and interest remain crucial. Even Superman probably would reconsider his role after one too many days spent turning that crank, no matter how much good it does.
Importance of Personal Fit
You're much more likely to excel in and stick with a career that is a good fit for you. Not only is this better for you and your family, but it's also better for your degree of impact as you'll be able to work harder, longer, more efficiently, and better avoid burnout.
A well-documented example of this is seen in the medical profession, as we see patients of physicians suffering from burnout experience poorer health outcomes (example).
I wouldn't suggest even a superhero dedicates his life to a cause he'll hate every moment. Perhaps a more sustainable use of his time would be part-time crank turning and part-time touring the globe raising funds for effective charities with his fame (foreshadowing of the "platform" resource I'll cover next week). Hell, he could still stop crime for fun in his free time.
In sum, it's worth considering ways to use your career to help a cause or goal you care about, but don't blindly sacrifice personal fit to do so.
Not in the market to switch career directions?
No problem! Consider staying in your current skill set and field but shifting to an organization aligned with solving important, pressing issues.
For example, if you're a graphic designer, you could work for a company that creates vegan meat replacements, positively impacting both the environment and animals, instead of a profit-driven widget manufacturer.
Using non-work time for good
Now, perhaps you don't want to change jobs at all?
That's OK! You can still have a positive impact with this lovely thing we have called personal time!
Now, I know that many of us feel like we actually don't have much personal time, but technically speaking, you do have time outside of work that is dedicated to a variety of things, and it is theoretically possible that some of that time becomes redistributed to helping the "greater good."
If you're feeling like free time is the last thing you have right now, and you're tempted to throw your reading device out a window right now, let me say this:
If right now is a hectic and stressful time for you and you're entirely focused on treading water, that's OK. This, too, shall pass. You can shift your focus towards others once you get through this rough patch.
But, if you are constantly treading water and never have enough time, whether that's because work is consuming it all or something else is, then it's worth reevaluating if this level of busyness is how you'd like to spend your life.
Need help making work take up less time and mental bandwidth? Let’s chat. That's my specialty.
Now, let’s shift to the second resource we all have, at least to some degree…
Money: If You're Reading This Newsletter, You Can Probably Afford to Save a Life
Most of us spend 80,000 hours working for a critical outcome: money.
What's cool about money is that you can use it to have a substantial indirect impact without changing a single thing about your career.
In fact, many of you reading this newsletter might have an even more significant impact by keeping your high-paying job and using that money for good instead of switching to a lower-paying job in the nonprofit sector.
This strategy is called earning to give.
Earning to give
80,000 hours defines this as "working a job with a neutral or positive direct impact, which pays more than what someone would have done otherwise, and while donating a large fraction of the extra earnings (typically 20-50% of the total salary) to organizations they think are highly effective."
I understand that when you hear "20-50% of your total salary," you might internally scream. It's much more than most consider "normal" or "necessary." And with over 60% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, dedicating that much of your income to something other than survival might feel impossible.
But here's the thing: You don't have to earn a fortune to literally save lives.
Let's say you're an average college graduate earning an average of $77,000 annually over your career's lifespan. Dedicating just 10% of that income to a highly effective charity like the Against Malaria Foundation could save around 40 lives throughout your career (source).
That's equivalent to a bus full of people, 1.53 World Cup Soccer teams, or two average-sized US kindergarten classes!
Surprise! You’re wealthy
Even if you earn less, if you're reading this newsletter, chances are you're still considered wealthy by global standards (source; genuinely worth a read). So, no matter your income, you can make a substantial impact by donating a portion to effective charities.
For instance, if you earn $40,000 a year and donate 2% of your income ($800/year or $50/month) to a charity delivering life-saving vaccines to infants in developing countries, you could pay for 150 infants to be vaccinated and save approximately five lives over your working life. That's a big deal.
You might be sensing a theme: The most cost-effective charities, in terms of lives saved per dollar, are nearly all allocating their funds to developing countries. This is due to how much further a dollar can go in another country and the vast difference in quality of life between countries. While you can still contribute to your local community, it's worth considering funneling at least some of your charitable donations to low-income countries due to the enormous impact even a small amount of money can have. You can read more about this philosophy here.
Choosing your nonprofit
If you're reading this and seriously considering upping your charitable donations, first, HORRAY!
Second, please read more about making your donations as effective as possible because different organizations have wildly different impacts with $1, and some causes actually do more harm than good.
GiveWell is an excellent resource for international charities, and Charity Navigator is my go-to resource for evaluating any charity you're interested in.
Wrap-Up: What this all means for you and your career
If you're at a career crossroads, look at the 80,000 Hours' list of high-impact careers or consider the "earning to give" path.
If you're sticking it out in your current career, you can make a difference by working with a company dedicated to doing good or maximizing your earning potential and donating a portion of your income.
For most of us reading this newsletter, you can increase your positive impact by allocating a fraction of your income to effective charities and using your personal time to support important causes.
A note of self-love: None of us are perfect, and that’s OK. Please, don’t beat yourself up if you’re reading this and realizing you’d like to do more (honestly, I am realizing that myself just writing this!). Instead, make a game plan to incrementally move towards where you want to be. Take small steps often, with lots of kindness & grace along the way.
Next time, we'll dive into how you can leverage your skills and platform to do good in your career and personal life. Stay tuned!
Additional Resources:
Learn More About These Concepts:
Join a free 8-week course (I’m in it right now!)
80,000 Hours
They have many resources, including a career guide, podcasts, blogs, etc.
A free e-book that you can also buy
Job / Opportunity Boards Focused On Doing Good: