A reflection: I worked too much

Over the past 4-5 years, I have poured a lot of time and energy into "doing good", through a combination of community building, policy advocacy, and volunteering with EA charities. On reflection, I think I have worked too much, and I negelected other important parts of my life. I am writing this in the hope that this gives some people permission to reflect on their workload and consider cutting back.

I have been doing these projects while studying or working a 9-to-5 job, neither of which were really improving the world, so I always felt a pull towards potentially “impactful” side projects. It felt motivating to work on these side projects, instead of having to wait potentially 5-10 years until I could move into a job where I felt like I was making the world better. 

Because I have mostly enjoyed these projects, and I’ve never felt burnt out, it became tempting to keep doing more and more, and sometimes this became 10-15 hours per week. But on reflection, I think I confused working hard with impact, and many of these projects were not very high value. Even if they were high value, I was probably working too much to be able to think clearly and creatively about them. 

Instead, my plan going forward is to prioritise spending my non-work time with friends and family, because good relationships are just so important. I might still take 2-3 hours out of my non-work week, but no more than that.

That’s all, thanks for reading.