Things you're allowed to do

This is a list of things you’re allowed to do that you thought you weren’t, or didn’t even know you could.

I haven’t tried everything on this list, mainly due to cost. But you’d be surprised how cheap most of the things on this list are (especially the free ones).

Note that you can replace “hire” or “buy” with “barter for” or “find a DIY guide to” nearly everywhere below. E.g. you can clean the bathroom in exchange for your housemate doing a couple hours research for you.

Learning and decision making

Interpersonal

Support and accountability

Making the most of your resources

Professional


Thanks to Gwern, Stephen Malina, Alexey Guzey, Elliot Jin, iandanforth, Joshua M. Clulow, Kay, zoba, ryandrake, a guy I can’t name who offers “personal assistant concierge services for high-net-worth families,” and Elizabeth Van Nostrand for some of the ideas above.


Appendix: Sources of experts

Name Type Comments Target Audience URL
Expertise Finder Academics to comment on many subjects Journalists link
Women’s Media Center SheSource Women only, focuses on current events and politics Journalists link
National Association of Personal Financial Advisors Financial only Seems like a low bar to entry Journalists link
ProfNet Wide range of experts Owned by PR firm, presumably works for experts more than you Journalists link
Coursera Expert Network Academics from top schools only Presumably biased towards people who have made Coursera courses Journalists link
ExpertFile Curated experts from universities, institutions, think tanks, associations, companies and other sources Journalists link
GURU Aimed mostly at professional expertise (Sales, Marketing, Eng, etc.) Businesses link
Amber Biology Biologists only Science projects? link
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) Requires affiliation with a highly ranked website Journalists link
Self Improvement Experts Directory Individuals link
JurisPro Expert witnesses Lawyers link
ForensisGroup Expert witnesses Lawyers link
Expert Institute Expert witnesses Lawyers link

Appendix: Sources of research and data