High agency

at an institution, you can’t just do what is best, you also have to build trust and coordinate with others so you are on the same page. This, however, doesn’t mean that you should abdicate your judgment and get in line.

I like the approach Sholto Douglas expressed in his interview with Dwarkesh Patel:

If I’m trying to write some code and something is

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You gotta be understanding who you are and where you're at in life right now. You absolutely have to be figuring out how you can increase your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behaviors as well as your faith in your ability to handle a wide range of tasks and situations.

Agencymaxxing happens through doing things. You can think all you wa... See more

To wit: I moved to a completely different city to train Judo for 5 hours a day for 4 months, in order to fight in the Malaysian Senior Nationals. I become extremely fit, broke down mentally during training, and got a chipped tooth.

High agency. Not high competence.

And it’s really easy to miss this point. It’s easy to always think “I can do this tomorrow” or “this is not a priority” or “this would never work”. And it’s hard, because sometimes those thoughts are correct. But I find that, unless I put in active effort, I’m the kind of person who’ll always have those thoughts. I’ll never actually act upon my goa... See more

Courage is the master of the virtues, because it makes the practice of all the others possible.

If someone has low agency, it’s usually because, in the past, having that second dialogue led to bad experiences.

You teach agency by letting your people experience that having that second dialogue leads to good outcomes.

Vague Trap Escape Route: Define the problem in simple words --out of your head

Write your thoughts down. Draw the problem. Use a whiteboard. Create a spreadsheet. Talk out loud to a smart person. Go for a walk or run with a specific question.

The act of transforming out of your head to another medium acts like a filtration system, removing the vague... See more

Let's pick something absurd people think is impossible: Teaching yourself Quantum Mechanics. That's level 100. What are the first 5 levels of that video game?

‍ Level 1 - Write down everything I could possibly do to start learning quantum mechanics

‍ Level 2 - Use notes from level 1 to create the next 3 levels

‍ Level 3 - Search “Quantum Mechanics” on... See more