High Agency: The Most Underrated Skill of the 21st Century

Hi friends!

As promised, I want to talk about an idea that has consumed my life for the past week: "High Agency."
What is it? Why is it important? And why should you care?

What is High Agency?

Well, to George Mack, high agency is one of—if not the—most important ideas of the 21st century.

I first heard about George on an episode of Chris Williamson's podcast, and from then on I couldn't stop thinking about high agency.

Unfortunately, high agency isn't one of those questions you can just simply define. Instead, high agency is one of those "I know it when I see it" ideas.
You may not be able to define it, but once you understand it, you can always recognize it.

High agency can be understood as the difference between life happening to you and you happening to life.

I think it's important to clarify that I don't mean life doesn’t happen to you if you possess high agency.
I believe that agency is how you choose to react to whatever life throws at you.

When you are diagnosed with a terrible disease or lose a loved one, do you lay down, curl up in a ball, and cover yourself with the protective blanket of victimhood?
Or do you choose to stand and do whatever is necessary to keep moving forward?

“What do you do when you can't do nothing, but there's nothing you can do?”
“You do what you can.”
—Robert from The Boondocks (in response to Huey)

That, in my opinion, is the essence of high agency.

Agency is about not rolling over and letting life push you aside.
Instead, agency is the refusal to accept the status quo and the determination to change it.

When the game is rigged and the rules are crap, then change the game and make your own rules.

According to George:

“If your problem doesn’t defy the laws of physics, it’s not an unsolvable problem — regardless of what other people say.”

Why This Matters to Me (and Maybe You)

For most of my life, I have felt stagnant—like I’ve never accomplished anything.
Moving through life at a snail's pace while everyone around me seems to fly by at a sprint.

Why am I so different? What do they have that I don't?

The answer I came up with at the time was a cocktail of all the best traits I didn't have: motivation, discipline, intelligence, work ethic, mindset, and habit.

The reason I am falling so far behind has nothing to do with myself—it's because everyone is better than me.
"I lack the motivation that others have."
"I lack the discipline that comes so naturally to everyone else."
"I am just not smart enough to succeed."

But none of these excuses are as bad as this one:

"I will accomplish something—I just haven’t gotten around to it yet."
"I will be successful, just not now, but in the future."

In reality, this is nothing more than a way to put off the hard work you know you should be doing now until later.

Success sounds nice, but it’s much easier to watch TV than work toward a goal.

I’ve always had a forward focus, but much of my life was spent with my foot off the pedal.

Default Mode: Low Agency

For many, low agency is the default setting.

As George concludes:

“You inherited a brain evolved for the scarcity of hunter-gatherer tribes. And then went through an education system designed to output factory workers for the industrial revolution. Are you expecting your default settings to be high agency?”

The Good News: You Can Reprogram Yourself

Fortunately, there is good news.

Unlike motivation or your mindset, you actually...

“Have agency over your agency.”

You can change the way you view the world and how you choose to react to life.

This idea was eye-opening to me. It allowed me to escape the trap of making excuses and see things for how they truly are.

That same feeling I’ve faced for so many years—the one that plagues so many others—doesn't have to be your future.

The feeling of being overwhelmed by life, or missing a deadline for something as simple as a page of homework because you couldn't bring yourself to look up from your phone...
That doesn't have to be you anymore.

The Time Is Now

The key to taking control of your life and altering your default settings is simple:

Forget the past.

The past is gone. The future is ambiguous.
All you have is now.

It doesn't matter what your life looked like in the past.
The future depends on the choices you make in the present.
The future is merely the infinite passing of the now.

Tick tock, tick tock.
Every second, the now slips into the past, and what was the future becomes the present.
Don’t let your past mistakes control you.
Take hold of the time you have left.

Change not just your life, but the entire world. Embody high agency.

Turning Bullshit into Reality (From George Mack)

Note: The following exercise is copied directly from George Mack’s article High Agency

Step 1 – Open up a blank page. Write down esoteric things you value.
E.g. Value 1 – High Agency

Step 2 – Write down 10 specific ways you can display that vague value in reality with specific action. Don’t think. Just dump.

Step 3 – Pick one. If you want to play hardcore mode: pick the one that gives you the strongest sense of fear.
E.g. Write a thank-you letter to the teacher who stopped me from being bullied when I was 15 years old.

Step 4 – Write down every micro-step you need to take:

• Find the teacher's email

• Write the letter

• Hit send

Step 5 – Do each micro-step now.

Step 6 – Feel the emotion of being a live player.
The goosebumps on your arms, the tears running down your face, the dry mouth.
Those are high agency side effects: You’re alive.

Step 7 – Come back tomorrow and repeat.
Keep stacking evidence of turning bullshit into reality.

Whatever problem you want to tackle, you should start with some variation of this exercise.

Doing this allows you to take your ideas and transform them from vague and unclear idealizations of reality into clear and actionable steps.

We paralyze ourselves with vague goals and thoughts that disappear into the void of regret and wanting.
The solution is to take hold of your own life and pursue a higher agency.

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you find agency as interesting and compelling as I do!
I had a lot of fun writing this and still have so many ideas on the topic.

Please check out George Mack's full article at www.highagency.com.
It’s an amazing read that includes even more insights on high agency that I didn’t cover here.

It takes about 30–45 minutes to read, and I highly recommend it.

Lastly, if you’d like to support my journey, please consider donating or sharing this post with your friends.

Thanks again, and have a blessed day!