On your deathbed

Here’s one final reflection before we end. Imagine you’re on your deathbed, looking back on your 80,000 hours.

Consider two ways your life could have gone. In the first, you say to yourself: I did something I was good at and enjoyed, I made good money, and I travelled the world. But what was the point, really?

In the second scenario, you say to yourself: I worked my ass off in government. It wasn’t always easy, but through my efforts, I helped improve disease control for hundreds of millions of people, reducing the chance of a global pandemic. But what was the point, really?

The first story happens all the time, but the second is almost unimaginable. Of course the second life was meaningful.

On your deathbed, helping others is one of the things you’re least likely to regret. If we really want to be satisfied, we need to stop focusing so much on ourselves and our own passions, and instead turn our attention outward to what we can do for other people.

Imagine a world in which this was the thought on everyone’s minds.

The entire guide, in one minute

To have a good career, do what matters. Get good at something and use it to help other people.

Instead of expecting to discover your passion in a flash of insight, fulfilment will grow over time as you explore to find what fits, gain valuable career capital, and use it to tackle pressing problems.

The most pressing problems are those that are biggest in scale, most solvable, and most neglected. Today we believe those are the issues that pose the biggest risks to both present and future generations, especially those that could arise from advanced AI. This includes the risk of losing control of AI, AI-enabled concentration of power, engineered pandemics, and a longer list of emerging issues.

Think broadly about how you can make the biggest contribution to solving your chosen problems, including by spreading ideas, community building, donating, research, changing policy, organisation-building, and by thinking carefully about what the problem most needs. Then, focus on the roles with the best personal fit for you. Although many efforts to help others fail, the best can be enormously effective, so aim high.

To find your fit, think like a scientist testing a hypothesis: make a best guess, clarify your key uncertainties, then go and investigate them with cheap tests. Early in your career, consider trying out several paths, including wildcards and those you’re unsure about but might be amazing.

Have ideas about your longer-term vision, but put most of your effort into finding the best concrete next step. To find the best next step, work backwards from your vision to find the most efficient route to it. But also be opportunistic about especially exciting opportunities and doing whatever maximises your rate of learning.

For career capital, consider roles at smaller, growing organisations; entry routes into policy; and short projects that give you verifiable skills or impressive achievements, as well as positions at larger organisations known for high-performance. Consider graduate school, but don’t drift into it.

Generate a lot of options for your next step, including both stretch options and backups. Speak to as many people as you can, and get as close as possible to actually doing the work, since that’s what’ll teach you the most about your fit and most convince employers to hire you.

Once you have offers on the table, compare them in terms of immediate impact, career capital, personal fit, exploration value, supportive conditions, and any other important personal criteria (prioritise between these based on career stage). Eliminate options that pose unacceptable personal risks, might cause significant harm, or compromise your character, even if you think they could do a lot of good on net. Check with your gut, have a backup plan, and review your career every 1–2 years.

Seek community with others who want to have an impact and inspire you to become a better person. By working together, in our lifetimes, we can end extreme global poverty and factory farming, prevent the next pandemic, and help usher in a flourishing future. And we can do this while having interesting, fulfilling lives, too.

You have 80,000 hours in your career.

Make them count.