Doing what's right is hard and takes time. For a long time I've been of the opinion that I should do what's most important and let my little quirky interests wither on the vine, and that's what I've done. But it took many years to get it right, not because of issues of intrinsic motivation, but because I'm tackling hard problems and it was difficult to even know what I was supposed to be doing. But once I figured out what I'm doing, I was really glad I'd taken the risk, because I can't imagine ever returning to my little quirky interests.

I think it involves a genuine leap into the unknown. For example, even if you decide that you should dedicate your life to FAI, there's still the problem of figuring out what you should be doing. It might take years to find the right path and you'll probably have doubts about whether you made the right decision until you've found it. It's a vocation fraught with uncertainty and you might have several false starts, you might even discover that FAI is not the most important thing after all. Then you've got to start over.

Should everyone being doing it? Probably not. Is there a good way to decide whether you should be doing or not? I doubt it. I think what really happens is you start going down that road and there's a point where you can't turn back.