get good at something that helps other people
a disclaimer
a lot of this post is very theoretical, abstract and essentially hand-wavy.
what it means to any individual person will vary significantly.
I ask you (reading this) to view it more as a general guideline than a hard and fast rule.
arguably more important than anything I write below is you should remember to always:
be kind, gentle and compassionate to yourself.
how you treat yourself is how you treat others is how others treat you.
however, for those looking for something a bit more concrete to fill that endless void...
"The key is to get good at something that helps other people." - Benjamin Todd, 80,000 hours
this line from the 80,000 hours career guide (link) has summed up what I think ultimately matters both in a meaningful job, and to some extent in life in general.
I would first off give this career guide my wholehearted recommendation, and that it should be read in full by anyone curious about how to do good in the world.
the career guide is mostly aimed at young adults wondering what to dedicate their productive 80,000 hours to (40 hours a week * 50 weeks a year * 40 years in an average career).
however, even people further along in their current careers or teenagers eager to contribute to society would get a lot out of this career guide.
in general, the resources 80,000 hours provides have significantly shaped how I view my own career and future trajectory, and I may go further in depth on the ideas they present in the future.
however, for this article I want to focus on the following quote:
"Get good at something that helps other people."
it's a surprisingly simple and succinct quote, but I believe it sums up what it means to me to have a deeply meaningful and fulfilling career and life.
most of this will probably just be me reiterating what the guide already excellently conveys (again, go read it), but I'll give my best shot at summing up what this quote means to me personally.
so, first off:
get good at something ...
to me, getting good at something means putting in the significant time and effort to master a specific craft or trade.
it means accumulating wisdom, intuition, knowledge, experience and skills over years of persistent dedication in a chosen field.
it often means specializing and focusing in on mastering a very small niche of human knowledge, simply because there is far more information out there than any one person could hope to understand (and it continues to grow exponentially).
it essentially means someone who is the best-in-class at something very specific, whether that be playing the violin, or proving mathematical theorems or knowing everything there is to know about England in the 1600s.
it isn't at all easy to get truly good at something.
there is no substitute for years of experience learning, failing, growing and studying a field with intense effort and focus.
there are no shortcuts along the path to mastery.
however, I do believe anyone could get reasonably good at most things with enough time and effort put into it.
obviously, people have different natural interests and strengths, but I think as long as someone has enough resiliency, discipline and appreciation, they will be able to achieve some degree of mastery over anything.
as the career guide points out, anyone reading the career guide (or this post) likely has a decent education and upbringing and probably has an opportunity to commit to some degree of mastery of a chosen field.
however, getting good at just anything isn't the full picture.
the nazis got very good at their job of systematically murdering millions.
so what you get good at matters arguably much more than how skilled and effective you are.
which brings us to the second part of the quote:
... that helps other people
I will admit that the second part of the quote is much more nebulous and difficult to define than the first.
it's almost easier to define what doesn't help other people.
causing physical or mental pain almost never helps.
restricting someone's agency and ability to express themselves rarely helps.
context matters a lot in defining what "helps" means.
a military boot camp certainly helps recruits prepare for their future military careers, however unpleasant and difficult the boot camp may be.
to me, a core part of "helps" involves respecting and appreciating the inherent worth of any human life and our ability to consciously experience either joy or suffering.
as long as you are contributing positively to the lives of others, whatever that looks like in your specific case, I would say you are helping other people.
it could look like: volunteering at your local food pantry, tutoring struggling children, giving words of encouragement to a friend, contributing at a company generally improving the world, or providing wholesome entertainment to viewers through a streaming platform.
it is very nebulous and hand-wavy to say "help other people", but I believe most people have an idea of what that looks like in their life.
it is probably worth discussing this topic with your close friends and family, to see what they value about you and what they think you contribute to their lives.
at its core, helping others means taking action to bring joy into other people's lives or to relieve their suffering.
it's really that simple.
I can't say what that looks like for you reading this, but I am sure you have significant power to bring joy to others and help relieve them of some of their suffering.
do something today, no matter how small, to help someone else.
I guarantee you will feel infinitely better.
it's not about helping someone today or tomorrow, it's usually a case of helping someone today or never.
remember to always be kind, gentle and compassionate to yourself.
and remember that a single act of kindness can change someone's entire world.