Agency
Ideas around agency, aka the sense of control that you feel in your life + your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behavior
unoptimal and
Agency
How can I thrive while operating contrary to dominant social and cultural trends?
The experts all agree: the trend, they say, is your friend.
All you need to do is identify it, and then you ride it out. And, true enough, I’ve watched thousands of people make a buck doing just that. If you are active in the arts, that may be the single most obvious... See more
The experts all agree: the trend, they say, is your friend.
All you need to do is identify it, and then you ride it out. And, true enough, I’ve watched thousands of people make a buck doing just that. If you are active in the arts, that may be the single most obvious... See more
Ted Gioia • My 12 Favorite Problems
Isn’t it wild how much power our words have?
How easily they can cast spells on people, how they have ripple effects in all directions?
And yet how often we shy away from using them, even when all they would do is bring more beauty into the world?
So what are you waiting for?
How easily they can cast spells on people, how they have ripple effects in all directions?
And yet how often we shy away from using them, even when all they would do is bring more beauty into the world?
So what are you waiting for?
Vidhika Bansal • Say nice things to people's faces 💛
Agency is a value, not a virtue . As noted in “The Most Boring Value” entry about discipline, virtue is a value that is always good:
I understand virtue as a value that is always good. Being disciplined is not always good; it can be foolish, something the self-help gurus fail to tell you. Foolish discipline is overworking until burnout, “crushing”... See more
Peter N Limberg • Be Agentic, Stupid
Giving kids the agency to follow their own curiosity seems right for a lot of obvious reasons: it will make them happier, intrinsic motivation will fuel them to learn more, it keeps the youthful flame burning instead of extinguishing it with routine...But it’s also important for a less obvious reason, one that will be even more important as things... See more
Packy McCormick • How Do I Teach These Kids?!
Sensing into all the above takes, the following aspects are clearly at play: taking action, getting things done, and navigating complex constraints. Hence, my newly provisional definition of the hard-to-define word agency is:
High agency, as opposed to low agency, occurs when... See more
Taking action toward getting things done despite complex constraints.
High agency, as opposed to low agency, occurs when... See more
Peter Limberg • High Agency to Wise Agency
But there is tremendous power in defining ideals, even if they ultimately remain out of reach. Considering all that is at stake, we have to at least try.
On the one end, you have fully reflexive agency in which you act spontaneously to satisfy your preferences, on the other end you have total obedience to some authority who tells you how to be happy, and in the middle is prompted agency.