A bet about your last week: you are probably not learning how to play the pan flute, scheming a revolution in a southeast Asian country, or dancewalking through your main avenue every other day.
There are also interesting things you are not doing. Things that you are gaining value because you are not doing.
Here are some of mine that other EAs may also gain value from:
- I'm not seeing any advertisement online, thanks to the no ads at all feature of AdBlock Plus
- I'm not reading newspapers or any other source of news. I just assume other people will filter me into the relevant news.
- I'm not considering what to do on weekends during the day. I've locked in a routine I like so I don't have to process any information.
- I'm not eating nearly as much meat as I once did.
- I'm not watching sports, because I like participating in them as much as watching, so given a choice, I'll take the Two for the price of one value. I only exercise in ways that fill two or more goals at the same time.
- I'm not using email to schedule things with people, but Google Calendar directly, saving precious coordination time.
I'd like to suggest that we list things we learned to value not doing on the comment section. I would love to not do some of them!
Similarly, I'm actively selective of the people and social groups I spend time with. This is important.
I happen to have an identical twin. He spends a lot more time than I do with school friends, and a lot less time with effective altruists. While we're ideologically almost the same, I tend to act more on my EA beliefs, and my 'actively choosing to hang out with people who will positively influence me' has been a big contributing factor to this.