The author of this forum post already links to that :)

Nice post; awesome illustrations.

I really love the https://heyfocus.com/ site blocker (bonus: it tracks how much time I spend working through the day, and I can easily see my work progress in chart form by day, week, month, year).

Got that tip from this article: https://markmanson.net/attention-diet, which also lists other good site blockers, and tips for focus. (skip down to "Step 1" onward, and especially "Step 4".)

Tool by Jon Haidt for reducing polarization: openmindplatform.org

It's a free, interactive course, which takes only ~1.5 hours total.

You can use it individually, or you can start your own group and be able to track your students' progress.

I just finished it yesterday, highly recommend.

Fun Fact: Someone from OpenMind did a lightning talk about it at EAGxBoston 2019.

Interesting article, thank you.

Sounds good, makes sense, Peter and Aaron.

This is a great post Julia. This helped me. I do a lot of volunteer work in my community and have been thinking about if I should give that up to attempt to devote more time to EA causes (even though I don't want to), but I really should not do this. Don't think I would be that effective with my extra time anyway, because something would be missing from my life. Much love.

Aidan thank you so so much. It means a lot to hear back in detail like this from any EA people. I'm mostly out of any kind of direct contact with EA's (aside from reading articles/videos) so it's awesome to have any kind of conversation. Thank you for helping to expand my knowledge. I understand better how this is all estimated now, and the more I learn about GiveWell the more respect I have for them. Wow. It's intense to come up with conversions like what they are doing.

I did struggle a bit with the $586 number and how I phrased it:

1. I am aware that this is not enough to literally "save a life," as in from death. But, it is a life saved, as in the woman's life is suddenly saved from her physically, mentally, and socially injured life.

2. I am aware that although the $586 IS the average cost of a fistula surgery (at least according to the organization, but they are also vetted by The Life You Can Save and a bunch of others), there are overhead costs that may or may not be included in that number.

That being said, I did still stick to run with the $586 since it is the actual cost of the procedure and after-care, etc... and since if that woman did have that money and was near enough to the doctor, that WOULD be enough to "save her life." (Of course I also have to admit, that I do also like the jarring headline aspect.)

If you have any additional thoughts, def let me know. If not, thank you again!!!

Yo Aaron thank you so so much for taking the time to reply to me with all this info!!! Super helpful!!!

I didn't know about Live Below the Line, that is great to know about. I'm going to look into what people have done with that before I attempt any other projects. Totally get the negative feedback around that idea, which is obviously related to my own take.

As for my quote "if you think this lifestyle is a little odd, you are out of touch with how most people in the world live" - I have to counter that I did have a tent and sleeping bag, thus was able to survive in below freezing temperatures. So I didn't mean that I was homeless or without shelter. I meant just that I had the basics. (Even though of course, I had more than the basics since this was just for a week, I live in a wealthy area, etc, etc.) That line was also somewhat me addressing just about everybody who thought I was being really weird for even attempting this idea... really it is how most people live (in a very general sense), so it's not THAT weird.

THANK YOU AGAIN. Any further thoughts def let me know. I suddenly love EA forum!!