80,000 Hours

Choose well, and you can have a more rewarding, interesting life, and also help
solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. Choose poorly, and you
could waste decades.

So what should you do? Most advice is based on no research, instead offering
(misleading) platitudes like ‘follow your passion’. It’s surprisingly out of date,
focusing on traditional paths rather than those most likely to thrive in an age of
AI. And if you want to help others, the advice is even more simplistic: telling you
to choose careers like nurse or doctor, when there are paths in which almost
anyone can save more lives. In fact, some careers have hundreds of times more
impact than others, but most of us have no idea which ones.

Benjamin Todd is the founder of 80,000 Hours, a non-profit that’s spent over ten
years researching how to have a meaningful and impactful career. Here he
introduces a tried-and-tested toolkit framework that has already led thousands of
people to change their path. It covers:

It’s also full of practical tips and tools. You’ll come away with a plan to use your
80,000 hours in a way that’s rewarding and fulfils your potential to make a difference.

About the Author

Benjamin Todd
is the co-founder and president of 80,000 Hours. He first
became interested in the failings of mainstream career guidance as a student when trying to figure out what to do with his own career. This led him to start
80,000 Hours, a non-profit focused on helping people find careers that make the
world better. Today, 80,000 Hours is one of the world’s most trusted sources of
career advice - its website receives 2 million readers each year, it has given
one-on-one guidance to over 5,000 people leading thousands of people to
change their career, and its work has been featured in publications such as
TIME, Vox and the Wall Street Journal. Benjamin has a Master’s degree in
Physics and Philosophy from Oxford, and speaks Chinese, badly