Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

You shouldn’t volunteer, especially if you don’t want to, which you probably don’t. People who volunteer voluntarily do it for the dopamine from altruism, serotonin from subservience, or the adrenaline from masochism. It’s even insulting to be asked to volunteer for something because it’s quintessential passive aggression: “Your skills aren’t good enough for financial reward but maybe somebody will take them for free.” Worse, the asker gets to bask in their own virtue for asking. There’s also the egalitarian sanctimony aspect: “You should feel guilty for your success, you owe penance.” Additional insult comes from the fact that, like everything else, to get a volunteer job, you've got to know someone, and if you’re denied, you’ve belittled yourself for nothing. Even if you’re selected, it always ends up with a request for money; "Do you want to be on our Board?" Ultimately, odds are you’re more competent than the people you’ve agreed to take orders from, so you’re enabling bad decisions. Volunteerism is simply another way of handing control of your life over to someone else less qualified.