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
Ask culture and guess culture are vastly different in behavior and expectations. Here are some highlights:
Ask culture expectations
Ask culture expectations
- Ask for what you want, even if it seems out of reach or like a big unreasonable request
- Take care of your own needs, and others will take care of theirs
- It’s fine to make requests that people will probably say no to
- People
Jean Hsu • Ask vs Guess Culture
There's obviously a balance to be had here. But it you want to accomplish things that are hard, you should lean towards ask.
Why is this?
Hard things require overcoming a lot of obstacles. It requires diligence and time. If you're going to hear a lot of no’s, it's better to hear them upfront than hope there's a yes lurking around the corner. There usually isn't.
Agency is the capacity to act. Gaining agency is gaining the capacity to do something different from the rigid path of events that simply happen to you. Remarkable people typically go off-script early, usually in more than one way. Carnegie becoming a telegraph message boy is one opportunity; asking how to operate the telegraph is another. He was
... See moreSimon Sarris • School Is Not Enough
Ask for feedback on your attempts, not advice on your ideas.
It's easier to give/apply advice to a thing that exists
The opposite to reflexive agency is prompted agency - agency which only becomes available given some prompt to action. “That does seem like a problem. Have you tried solving it?” is my only-half-joking prompt I use with people: It’s something that highlights the failure of agency, in a way that makes people aware that action is an option available
... See moreDavid R. MacIver • Learning to exercise agency
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
No choice but to do it, I guess