“This is your most important decision” by 80,000 Hours

This article is the introduction to our old ‘key ideas’ series, which we stopped updating in 2023. We’d suggest reading the article in our advanced series instead.

The recording may not reflect the most recent changes to this article.

When people think of living ethically, they most often think of things like recycling, fair trade, and volunteering.

But that’s missing something huge: your choice of career.

We believe that what you do with your career is probably the most important ethical decision of your life.

The first reason is the huge amount of time at stake. You have about 80,000 hours in your career: 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, for 40 years. That’s more time than you’ll spend eating, socialising, and watching Netflix put together.

And it means (unless you happen to be the heir to a large estate) that time is the biggest resource you have to help others.

Narrated by the author.

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Outline:

(01:38) Section 1: How to compare careers in terms of impact: a framework

(03:19) Section 2: The compounding returns to finding the right career

(05:15) Case study: changing your career vs cutting your carbon footprint

(07:09) Section 3: Why do such big differences exist, and why are they not more widely appreciated?

(08:25) Section 4: What’s coming up in the rest of the key ideas series

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First published:
July 19th, 2021

Source:
https://80000hours.org/key-ideas-2023/make-a-difference-with-your-career