How do you fit volunteering into your life?
There are millions of demands on our time and we could each spend every hour of every day supporting worthwhile causes. But with limited money and time, it makes sense to take a step back and assess the best way to contribute.
Complex problems are often vague and have many possible solutions. The Meta-Problem Method may lead you far away from the dilemma that started your quest. That’s because the method forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It enables you to compare objectively the possible pathways and their trade offs. It prevents you locking into solutions mode too early and then doubling down on solving a low-yield problem that does not serve your goals as well as the alternatives. At the end of this process, you will have a better understanding of your priorities and how to achieve them.
Steps in the Meta-Problem Method
Dilemma
The high-level issue you are trying to address
Choose when to take time out of your busy life to volunteer.
Goal
The changes you want to make to address the dilemma. There are usually many options.
Supporting Goals
- Success for causes you care about.
- Efficient use of time.
Other goals could include maximizing benefits to the world, having time for non-volunteer commitments, and minimized stress from volunteering.
Problem Space
The set of problems you could chose to solve to advance your goals, plus the constraints that hold you back.
Example problems
- How can I support causes in being successful? Maybe the problem to solve is “What are the biggest volunteer needs?”
- How can my volunteering be as convenient as possible? Maybe the problem to solve is “What volunteer opportunities are easiest for me to say yes to?”
There are many other potential problems to solve related to choosing when to volunteer. Each goal has many possible problems we could link to it. Are there other problems linked to these first two goals? Which options come to mind for the other goals?
High-Yield Problems
Sometimes solving one problem helps make progress towards several goals. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems.
Which options will advance more than one goal?
- Volunteering when your favorite group sends out a major call to action can help that cause be successful and maximize benefits to the world. However, there are no guarantees that the cause they support fits well with your schedule, or is the best way for you personally to contribute.
- Identifying opportunities to volunteer that fit your schedule and life best can contribute to success for those groups, ensure volunteering is convenient, and therefore may lead you to doing more of it since it is easier and fits in your life. However, your availability and interest may not match with the highest needs of the organizations, leading to less success and less impact.
There are many potential solutions that will have varying effects on the set of goals. Which alternatives improve the most important goals? How might the unknown change the right path forward? What other possible solutions are there to address the dilemma?
Problem Selection
Which of the many possible options in the high-yield problem step is the best set to address the dilemma?
- Which solutions make the most sense as a volunteer?
- Which solutions will best address the dilemma?
- Which solutions will deliver the best outcome for the least amount of time, effort and money?
Implement, Learn and Adapt
Check continuously that you are still solving the best problem, as new information emerges.
Observe and learn as you go. As new information reveals itself, check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem.