It’s important to fulfil our negative duties and refraining from causing harm. Not procreating and withdrawing our participation from systems like animal agriculture are key ways of doing this, particularly with regards to the creation of sentient beings. Positive actions like charitable giving are also very important, but don’t compensate for the harms we do elsewhere. Avoiding doing harm is an important baseline.

We should take into account what we feel personally connected to when thinking about how we wish to do good. Abstract ideals have their importance, but neglecting a personal touch in how we do good can risk our becoming less motivated and ultimately disengaging.

We should be cautious about forecasting the long-term outcomes of our actions and making over-confident claims. While long-term considerations are important, we also need to be humble about our capacity to predict the future in a chaotic world. The higher the cost to those in the present, the higher the burden of justification for focusing on uncertain future scenarios.

It’s important to be sensible and realistic about how much good you can do, and to not get sucked into maximally-demanding moral systems that will likely lead to burnout. Doing good effectively means making it compatible with ordinary human psychology, financial stability, and long-term wellbeing.