What should I volunteer for?

It sometimes seems obvious that something needs to be done and you're the right person to do it. Other times, it is less clear what the priority is or what fits you best. At that point, it makes sense to take a step back and explore what options you have to address your current dilemma.

Complex problems are often vague, and that means they have many possible solutions. Following the Meta-Problem Method may lead you to a distant dilemma from the one that started your quest. A key part of the method's value is that it forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It also 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.

Step in the Meta-Problem Method	Illustrative Example
Dilemma The high-level issue you are trying to address	What should you volunteer for?
Goal The changes you would like to make to address the dilemma. There are usually many options. Selecting the best set comes after you learn what is possible.	Supporting Goals Most positive impact on the world. Lowest effort compared to the value. Learnings that will be useful in the future. Most fun to do.
Problem Space While goals tell us what we want, our next step is to understand what is holding us back from making progress on them. This approach is borrowed from calculus as we explore the neighborhood of the current dilemma.	For each goal that you are considering, ask yourself: How much progress is possible? How much effort would it take to make progress? What methods might help to make progress? What might the positive or negative effects be on the other goals as you make progress towards the current one? Example Problems: What is the most positive impact you can have on the world? Which organization or role do you choose? What is the lowest effort compared to the value? Is the timing right for specific things to volunteer for? What task will lead to the most new things learned? Are these learnings for the organization or for me as the volunteer? What volunteer roles will be the most fun? For today or the long term?  What task fits best? Writing, building something, organizing, planning and project management? Recruiting new volunteers, asking for and collecting donations? Contributing to strategy planning?
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? Volunteer in an organization you believe in. If this is the best choice, it will be the most impactful to you, may be the most fun, and the work may feel easier. Volunteer for a role you are uniquely suited for. If this is your choice, it will be a higher impact and less effort than if others did the work. Volunteer for a role to learn as much as possible. If this is your choice, it can set you up for more opportunities in the future to have more impact and be less effort.  Volunteer for a role that is hardest to find people for. If this is your choice, it can have a disproportionate impact if the work is needed and would otherwise go undone. Et cetera.
Problem Selection Which of the many possible options is the best set of problems to solve in order to achieve the goal	Decision Criteria Which problem will best support the goal? Which problem will deliver the best outcome for the least amount of time, effort and money? Which problem will motivate you to keep contributing?  By this point in the Meta-Problem Method, you have clarified your goals, identified some options you could take, weighed the trade-offs that come with each of those options, rejected some options because they will take more time, effort or money than the results are worth, and you have identified a set of high-yield problems that will advance several of your goals at once. Now you are ready to start solving a problem knowing what you expect to achieve.
Implement, Learn and Adapt	Observe and learn as you go. New information may reveal itself as you implement your chosen solution, so check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem.