Mitchell Laughlin🔸

Hey S, super inspired by your motivation. Have thrown some rambled thoughts on each of your points below, but I think my tldr is definitely make sure not to burn yourself out (it's easier than most people think - though you obviously understand yourself better than I do), and that at the end of the day you still deserve to live your own life (i.e., don't aim to be a perfect altruism machine).

I'd suggest reaching out to 80K and other EA careers advising organisations if you haven't already. I think they'd be keen to chat to you. I made a comment on EA careers resources a while back which I'm going to be lazy and tag instead of typing out more granular advice.

Also, most people's preferences change over time, so try to plan with that in mind, and don't be upset at yourself if you find that you no longer want to do things the way you'd previously envisioned.

I have gone from being vegetarian to being vegetarian and vegan 1 day a week, and I do not eat eggs anymore.

Good stuff. I got recommended this page by a friend, and have been taking the Australian-available multivitamin it recommends (see under the Supplement Recommendations heading). I had a blood test recently which came back near perfect, so I'm pretty happy with it.
I have quit virtually all junk food, I really by this point eat oatmeal for breakfast, make myself a can of beans or like cottage cheese or chickpeas for lunch and dinner unless my family is eating together or my friends are hanging out and getting like a slice of pizza, even though I probably shouldn’t I still eat it then. Also even if my friends are drinking I never drink, that goes along with junk food it’s just going to shorten my lifespan eventually if I do so I don’t.

If you're happy with these decisions, sweet. If you find you're feeling a bit like you're missing out, just remember you're allowed to be a human being. I got pretty militant about not eating out or eating unnecessary foods after first reading The Life You Can Save, and it definitely bummed me out after a while.
I try to work hard in school, in the first post I mentioned that I went to a Magnet HS and I am taking AP calc AB next year as a sophomore, I get mostly high Bs to mid As, next year I am going to try to get all As.

Awesome. Do your best, but be kind to yourself if you don't get everything you're after.
I ran track 3 seasons last year for the social and health benefits, but because it somewhat takes away from schoolwork time, and although I am decent at it (I have about a 5:48 mile), I am definitely not on track to be fast enough to be recruited by colleges or anything by senior year (I am going into sophomore year right now), so in order to maximize time for schoolwork and get a higher-paying job eventually, I am only going to run 2 seasons this year, not going to do winter track.

Super valid, though exercise is generally great for most aspects of life, so I'd recommend staying active in a less time-consuming way during your off season.
I am learning to code this summer, my goal (which I have not succeeded several days in, most of the days I have only done about 90 minutes of coding a day), I am learning with khan academy then I will transition to certain Freecodecamp courses, I am trying to do that 2.5 hours every day this summer. I need to start getting up earlier to do that, and getting right to it, not procrastinating in the mornings. Also I am pre-teaching myself AP calc ~30 mins a day so I am fine with it when the year starts.

Sick, nothing to add.
I try to get good sleep, I usually get about 7-8 hours a night. Ik that is not an option for most people, but that is probably the biggest advantage I have in getting everything done.

Nice. Nothing to add.
I quit all social media and video games a while ago, made me much more productive and happier

Awesome to hear it's both made you more productive and happier. Not sure if you count them, but I've kept WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger (without my Facebook profile) to keep in touch with friends. Also, as much as the LinkedIn newsfeed is a complete waste of time, LinkedIn is pretty essential for professional networking.
Through school I have gained Autocad user certification, I tried to get a summer internship/job with it but it didn’t work. It looks like I won’t have a job this summer, so instead I will use the time to teach myself to code. Next summer I will find one.

Best of luck.
I am trying to set up a tutoring/babysitting business, but I don’t have any clients yet unfortunately

Nice. Nothing to add.
I try to make sure I hang out with friends, not too much but enough to make sure I will live a long life and avoid burnout. I do try to make sure I control it though, so I am not spending huge amounts of time with friends to an unnecessary point.

Mmmmmm. Friends are a big part of life (at least for me), so I wouldn't consider spending time with friends a waste. Can also try to chunk some of your social and productive time if that made you feel better about it? I used to do big study sessions in uni with friends; it was maybe less productive than studying alone (you talk more and have more breaks, but also your friends can keep you accountable - probably nets out to less productive).

- then go to a cheap enough college that I will not be in crazy debt,

I'm not sure what the literature says on this, but my intuition would suggest that going to a better college is worth it (especially if you can get a decent scholarship)

- get a high-paying job and switch between jobs a ton (which I've heard makes you more money, idrk if that's true)

I'm not sure what the optimal rate of job switching is, but I think you'd want to be staying in jobs for a median of like 2-3 years each (this is just my intuition) so that employers don't think you're a flight risk.

Also, don't feel bad if you don't find earning to give exciting. I definitely think it's underrated amongst EAs, but I'm not personally a good fit for it (I really need to feel like my direct work is meaningful for it to be enjoyable). If you find you want to do direct work instead, don't be afraid to change your mind.

- and live in a camper van or cheap apartment with roommates,

I'm less keen on the idea of a campervan, but I know a lot of successful EAs who live with other adult EAs to save money and they find it perfectly comfortable.

- never retire and keep working hard, but not hard enough to burn out and stay happy enough that I can wake up and feel motivated in the morning.

I never used to take annual leave (I actually used 3 months of annual leave to complete a research fellowship with AIM), and I think it very much contributed to me burning out and losing most of my productivity in 2025 (disclaimer: AIM fellowship was brilliant, I should have just also taken my annual leave). Just be careful of not working yourself too hard.

- Also, I have not done much reaserch on what charities I should donate to (I know about givewell and the shrimp welfare foundations and some other stuff but not much else; can someone tell me where to start to find what charities I should donate to? I don't want to dedicate my life to making money for charities and then pick the wrong charity.)

If you're interested in global health, I think GiveWell's All Grants Fund is up there. For animal welfare, I'd recommend the EA Animal Welfare Fund (this is where I donate), or Animal Charity Evaluator's Movement Grants Fund (disclaimer: my view is based on Giving What We Can's recommendation in their 2024 evaluating evaluators work, but I am currently a research fellow with ACE). For Existential Risk, Giving What We Can's Risks and Resilience Fund currently allocates half of its budget to the EA Funds' Long-Term Future Fund, and half to the Emerging Challenges Fund (though I personally don't know much about donation opportunities in this space).

More generally, while you're still young I'd recommend taking Giving What We Can's trial pledge at 1% for between 1 and 5 years. If you're keen on being impactful in the long run you should be happy to invest in yourself and build up some financial buffers while you're not making that much money, and then when you've got a decent job and earning you can commit to giving more. I'd recommend a 1% trial pledge because it's pretty manageable even as a student, and keeps your future self accountable to the morals of your current self. I'd be happy to chat about pledges if that's of interest too.

Hope some of the above is helpful. Reach out if you ever fancy a chat. Cheers

Donating everything - Update 2

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Mitchell Laughlin🔸

I have gone from being vegetarian to being vegetarian and vegan 1 day a week, and I do not eat eggs anymore.

Good stuff. I got recommended this page by a friend, and have been taking the Australian-available multivitamin it recommends (see under the Supplement Recommendations heading). I had a blood test recently which came back near perfect, so I'm pretty happy with it.
I have quit virtually all junk food, I really by this point eat oatmeal for breakfast, make myself a can of beans or like cottage cheese or chickpeas for lunch and dinner unless my family is eating together or my friends are hanging out and getting like a slice of pizza, even though I probably shouldn’t I still eat it then. Also even if my friends are drinking I never drink, that goes along with junk food it’s just going to shorten my lifespan eventually if I do so I don’t.

If you're happy with these decisions, sweet. If you find you're feeling a bit like you're missing out, just remember you're allowed to be a human being. I got pretty militant about not eating out or eating unnecessary foods after first reading The Life You Can Save, and it definitely bummed me out after a while.
I try to work hard in school, in the first post I mentioned that I went to a Magnet HS and I am taking AP calc AB next year as a sophomore, I get mostly high Bs to mid As, next year I am going to try to get all As.

Awesome. Do your best, but be kind to yourself if you don't get everything you're after.
I ran track 3 seasons last year for the social and health benefits, but because it somewhat takes away from schoolwork time, and although I am decent at it (I have about a 5:48 mile), I am definitely not on track to be fast enough to be recruited by colleges or anything by senior year (I am going into sophomore year right now), so in order to maximize time for schoolwork and get a higher-paying job eventually, I am only going to run 2 seasons this year, not going to do winter track.

Super valid, though exercise is generally great for most aspects of life, so I'd recommend staying active in a less time-consuming way during your off season.
I am learning to code this summer, my goal (which I have not succeeded several days in, most of the days I have only done about 90 minutes of coding a day), I am learning with khan academy then I will transition to certain Freecodecamp courses, I am trying to do that 2.5 hours every day this summer. I need to start getting up earlier to do that, and getting right to it, not procrastinating in the mornings. Also I am pre-teaching myself AP calc ~30 mins a day so I am fine with it when the year starts.

Sick, nothing to add.
I try to get good sleep, I usually get about 7-8 hours a night. Ik that is not an option for most people, but that is probably the biggest advantage I have in getting everything done.

Nice. Nothing to add.
I quit all social media and video games a while ago, made me much more productive and happier

Awesome to hear it's both made you more productive and happier. Not sure if you count them, but I've kept WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger (without my Facebook profile) to keep in touch with friends. Also, as much as the LinkedIn newsfeed is a complete waste of time, LinkedIn is pretty essential for professional networking.
Through school I have gained Autocad user certification, I tried to get a summer internship/job with it but it didn’t work. It looks like I won’t have a job this summer, so instead I will use the time to teach myself to code. Next summer I will find one.

Best of luck.
I am trying to set up a tutoring/babysitting business, but I don’t have any clients yet unfortunately

Nice. Nothing to add.
I try to make sure I hang out with friends, not too much but enough to make sure I will live a long life and avoid burnout. I do try to make sure I control it though, so I am not spending huge amounts of time with friends to an unnecessary point.

Mmmmmm. Friends are a big part of life (at least for me), so I wouldn't consider spending time with friends a waste. Can also try to chunk some of your social and productive time if that made you feel better about it? I used to do big study sessions in uni with friends; it was maybe less productive than studying alone (you talk more and have more breaks, but also your friends can keep you accountable - probably nets out to less productive).

- then go to a cheap enough college that I will not be in crazy debt,

I'm not sure what the literature says on this, but my intuition would suggest that going to a better college is worth it (especially if you can get a decent scholarship)

- get a high-paying job and switch between jobs a ton (which I've heard makes you more money, idrk if that's true)

I'm not sure what the optimal rate of job switching is, but I think you'd want to be staying in jobs for a median of like 2-3 years each (this is just my intuition) so that employers don't think you're a flight risk.

Also, don't feel bad if you don't find earning to give exciting. I definitely think it's underrated amongst EAs, but I'm not personally a good fit for it (I really need to feel like my direct work is meaningful for it to be enjoyable). If you find you want to do direct work instead, don't be afraid to change your mind.

- and live in a camper van or cheap apartment with roommates,

I'm less keen on the idea of a campervan, but I know a lot of successful EAs who live with other adult EAs to save money and they find it perfectly comfortable.

- never retire and keep working hard, but not hard enough to burn out and stay happy enough that I can wake up and feel motivated in the morning.

I never used to take annual leave (I actually used 3 months of annual leave to complete a research fellowship with AIM), and I think it very much contributed to me burning out and losing most of my productivity in 2025 (disclaimer: AIM fellowship was brilliant, I should have just also taken my annual leave). Just be careful of not working yourself too hard.

- Also, I have not done much reaserch on what charities I should donate to (I know about givewell and the shrimp welfare foundations and some other stuff but not much else; can someone tell me where to start to find what charities I should donate to? I don't want to dedicate my life to making money for charities and then pick the wrong charity.)

If you're interested in global health, I think GiveWell's All Grants Fund is up there. For animal welfare, I'd recommend the EA Animal Welfare Fund (this is where I donate), or Animal Charity Evaluator's Movement Grants Fund (disclaimer: my view is based on Giving What We Can's recommendation in their 2024 evaluating evaluators work, but I am currently a research fellow with ACE). For Existential Risk, Giving What We Can's Risks and Resilience Fund currently allocates half of its budget to the EA Funds' Long-Term Future Fund, and half to the Emerging Challenges Fund (though I personally don't know much about donation opportunities in this space).

More generally, while you're still young I'd recommend taking Giving What We Can's trial pledge at 1% for between 1 and 5 years. If you're keen on being impactful in the long run you should be happy to invest in yourself and build up some financial buffers while you're not making that much money, and then when you've got a decent job and earning you can commit to giving more. I'd recommend a 1% trial pledge because it's pretty manageable even as a student, and keeps your future self accountable to the morals of your current self. I'd be happy to chat about pledges if that's of interest too.

Hope some of the above is helpful. Reach out if you ever fancy a chat. Cheers