Agency
Everything in our world is there because someone decided it needed to exist. We all have things we know need to exist. What stops us from making them exist?
Agency
The objective severity of our histories may be of little importance when compared to the subjective hold they appear to have on us.
To paraphrase physician and author Gabor Maté, we are not what happened to us but what happened inside of us as a result of what happened to us.
One of the biggest sources of discontent is a mental motion that many do continually:
Planning what decision you will make ahead of when the time comes to make the decision.
Analysis paralysis takes different forms. Delaying action or preempting action are means of avoiding action.
Discipline is fighting yourself.
Wasted energy. Wasted creativity.
Put that instead into figuring out what you actually most want.
Solve problems in doing what you want with reason, not force.
Related to this, I’ve been thinking a lot about obsession, relentlessness, and near-unachievable goals. What makes someone able to reach heights others view as impossible? What makes some better suited for pursuits involving a singular focus?
The answer seems to be: a capacity for intensity. Intensity is a derivative of focus. The word intense
... See moreIsabel • Intensity
A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time—most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.
People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt, giving up too early, and not pushing hard enough prevents most people from ever reaching a... See more
People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt, giving up too early, and not pushing hard enough prevents most people from ever reaching a... See more
blog.samaltman.com • How to Be Successful
Sam Altman: "A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time—most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.
People have an enormous capacity to make things happen. A combination of self-doubt,… Show more
Read this a long while ago. I should probably come back to it. Most high-agency people start exhibiting it at a young age. Depending on where you are in life, it can feel like you’re allowing life to happen to you. Is the way to cure that finding examples of agency in the past to convince yourself you’re allowed to do things, or maybe just do it? Seems obvious when it is written down ha
First, we must gather information, and collect our puzzle pieces. Then we must assemble the edges, building the container for our work. In this way, action is the precursor to creativity. Not the other way around.
We must act our way into creativity, not think our way in.
Big companies exert low levels of stress. But that stress is often low agency, so you often feel miserable in face of problems.
Startups exert high levels of stress. But that stress is often high agency, so you often feel energized in the face of problems.