Off the Clock #6: Starting Small with Conor Barnes

Podcast Context

• Hosts: Matt Reardon, Bella, and Huon (ADK staff) with guest Connor Barnes (ADK staff, formerly remote in Canada).
• Format: Discussion of three topics from Connor's "100 Tips for a Better Life," framed through the lens of Effective Altruism (EA) and career strategy.

Personal Background and Career Path

• Connor Barnes did not obtain a university bachelor's degree, working previously in minimum-wage roles at HMV and a library.
• His transition to programming began after a librarian suggested library tech, leading to a community college diploma in library tech and work as a cataloger.
• While at the library, Connor identified efficiency gains through Excel formulas, leading a partner to suggest he was coding; he subsequently self-taught programming via The Odin Project curriculum.
• His first software engineering role was secured without a degree after writing a viral blog post ("100 Tips for a Better Life") that attracted a direct hire offer via Twitter.
• Connor views his career entry as a mix of "surface area" creation (public writing) and luck, rather than purely systematic planning.
• He joined 80,000 Hours in 2022, seeking a job with high perceived impact, following a gradual engagement with EA ideas starting in 2019 (The Giving What We Can pledge).

Philosophical Evolution and Ethics

• Connor initially dismissed utilitarianism (circa 2014–2015) due to skepticism about calculating long-term consequences and a preference for "vibes" or heuristics over rigorous calculus.
• His shift toward EA/utilitarianism occurred after reading Scott Alexander's blog and Peter Singer, leading him to conclude he had no strong counter-arguments.
• While he rejects rigid virtue ethics for being overly prescriptive and lacking clear definitions, he acknowledges virtue ethics as a functional daily heuristic for mundane interactions (e.g., holding doors).
• Connor argues that while utilitarian calculus is difficult for daily micro-decisions, it provides an "order of magnitude" advantage in high-stakes decisions like donation allocation and career choice.
• Regarding the closure of the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), Connor notes the Guardian's criticism focused on Nick Bostrom's past comments, but emphasizes the institute's legacy of valuable work (e.g., Toby Ord's The Precipice) distinct from FHI's brand.
• He addresses the "offense-defense balance" in EA criticism: while discussing taboo topics is necessary for rigor, he suggests a heuristic that most people discussing eugenics or similar taboos are likely not worth deep engagement unless they demonstrate exceptional coherence.

Key Insights from "100 Tips for a Better Life"

• Done is better than perfect (Tip 17): Connor advocates for finishing work despite imperfections to build momentum, noting that "perfect" is etymologically linked to "done" in Latin and older English.
• Quit is good (Tip 26): Referencing a Freakonomics study on status quo bias, he cites evidence that people who quit jobs or relationships often report higher happiness six months later compared to those who stay, despite the difficulty of the exit.
• Discipline over motivation (Tip 27): He contrasts "motivation" (unreliable) with "discipline" (building rock-solid habits and keeping promises to oneself).
• Self-promises: Connor recommends making promises to oneself rarely but treating them with extreme seriousness to build self-trust, contrasting with Huon's reliance on external accountability (e.g., weekly meetings).
• Small steps: Suggests "starting small" with self-promises to reset productivity habits, potentially aided by external tools or medication for executive function.
• Days make lives (Tip 34): Adopting the concept that "how you spend every day is how you spend your life," Connor argues for building desired lives through consistent daily habits rather than chasing novelty.
• Explain problems to solve them (Tip 36): Highlighting "rubber ducking" and explaining problems to others as a method to clarify thinking, a practice ADK integrates into its advising via detailed problem profiles.
• Avoid the perpetually aggrieved: Distinguishes between "foolish people" (who may still be right on mundane matters) and the "perpetually aggrieved/angry," who are recommended to be avoided due to their corrosive nature.

ADK Strategy and Career Advice

• ADK's differentiator is starting from first principles to identify the world's most important problems before discussing specific career paths, rather than filtering by existing job interests.
• ADK posits that the difference in impact between problem areas is greater than the difference in impact between roles within a specific problem area.
• The hosts note that individuals often underrate transferable skills (e.g., research, writing from a Classics degree) and overrate domain-specific knowledge, closing off career options prematurely.
• A specific career anecdote involves a Classics student misidentifying a Greek term for "virtue" as Arete for an intro fellowship, whereas the advanced fellowship was accidentally named Duleia (slavery) by mistake.

Connor's Creative Work

• Connor writes fiction and short stories as a primary hobby, recently editing a novel draft and publishing stories on his Substack, parhelia.substack.com.
• He refuses to use AI for editing his writing, stating it would diminish his personal happiness and joy in the creative process.
• The name "Parhelia" refers to a halo phenomenon (sun dogs) where false suns appear on the horizon; he notes the term sounds like "Hot Dog" but has no culinary connection.