A few nights ago, I met a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while. I mentioned that I was at ends about how I’ve been leading my life. Recently, I’ve tried to get more into volunteering and, in general, doing a bit more with my extra time that contributes to some greater good I believe in. For now, that’s been weekly cleanups, but in the future I’m planning on diversifying that and trying out soup kitchens, food banks, (hopefully) an animal shelter. All this is a fairly new installment, having set up these goals for myself just over a month ago.
She mentioned something that one of her close friends had told her. He viewed his impact through these 3 questions:
- What can I do with my money?
- What can I do with my actions/time?
- What can I do with my career?
I took some time to think about it, and since then I’ve realized that I really do like these 3 categories. They cover the various “growth” outlets I have as a young adult, nudging me to evaluate how my development in any of those paths are impacting something I truly care about.
So, to put it into writing, I’m evaluating my answers for these questions today, particularly through the mission of contributing to some social good. I plan on revisiting these answers and thinking hard about how they’ve changed in a month’s time, a year’s time, 10 years’ time, etc.
What Can I Do With My Money?
This one is a tricky one for me. No matter how much I earn, how much I save, etc. I know that I will never feel satisfied. I’m only 25 and I have no idea what the road ahead of me will look like, so I feel like the best I can do right now is plan for the worst. That boils down to saving enough money to feel comfortable, but right now my level of comfort isn’t tangible. I’m honestly not sure if it’ll ever be. For now, I’ve decided that if and when I do feel comfortable, any monetary donations would be done through an organization that I thoroughly research to make sure money is going to a cause I truly care about. I also believe that using my money to make sure I’m healthy, stable, etc. ends up allowing me to do more with my career and time.
What Can I Do With My Actions/Time?
In particular, I feel like this is the category that I can make the most impact through. I don’t have any real dependents, I work a remote job, and in general, I just have a decent chunk of time. In the recent past, I feel like I’ve been really good at wasting it, unfortunately, with complacency. Since I’ve started doing volunteer cleanups in the summer, I’ve realized that I should be more creative with my time. Inviting a friend to a volunteer cleanup is a perfectly effective way to get more people involved while also spending time with them, as opposed to meeting up for dinner/drinks. Of course, there are times when the latter is a better fit, but I really do think that most of my hangouts/catch ups with friends could be done at events like this, which are basically all outside.
What Can I Do With My Career?
This question really makes me think about my “long term” vision/focus. Software is very flexible, which is great! I can apply myself at companies where I really embrace the overall mission. The only negative about this right now is that the job market isn’t the friendliest, and I’ve recently started at a different company. I’d like to wrap up some projects and grow my domain expertise so that I’m much more effective when I do, hopefully in the near future, start working towards that goal. I think baby steps is the best way to approach this one. Each small step I take should be towards a distant goal, and I should thoroughly evaluate whether or not a new commitment will help me reach any of my goals.