Increase Your Agency
FABLES FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN
READING TIME: 2 MINUTES
What is the most precious asset you have in life? I am not sure if it is the same for everyone, or if it changes at different points in our life - but I am sure, everyone’s list should include “agency.”
I read an interesting essay lately in which the author maintained, “before you grasp, you must reach.” Agency is that very kind of reaching. It is the capacity to act without a threat pushing you or a reward pulling you. Agency is the capacity to act from within yourself. Everyone has it to some degree, but the more you have, the better your life will be.
So how can you get more agency?
Our capacity to act, our agency, is beaten out of us by soul-sucking institutions like bad schools, bad churches, bad government, the wrong kind of job, or a stifling culture. Limit or sever your relationship with these kinds of systems.
Prepare yourself to apply for the Thiel Scholarship - no schooling required. It’s $100,000 for two years to a young person who wants to make something worthy. (Sorry, just Roland and Kallie. You have to be 22 or younger). http://thielfellowship.org. But you still can develop a project AS IF you were going to apply and then talk to some potential investors.
Discover the internet - the nuts and bolts, I mean. The internet is one of the few places you can create things no matter your age or background. Learn to code well enough to make something. Learn to change your oil, build a bed, cook a Thanksgiving dinner, and whatever else you can. The more you do, the more you can do later. Learn to do as much as you can.
Get the physics right. We don’t learn a bunch of stuff and then finally go do it. We do it, we succeed and we learn by doing OR we do it, we fail, and we learn by doing. Success or failure are somewhat irrelevant. We learn by doing. And, please note, failure teaches us a lot more than success does.
Agency is not that voice inside that says, I want to start a pizza delivery service or I want to learn to bake eclairs or I want to make a website. Agency is listening to that voice and doing something to make it happen. It requires courage - the courage to act.
I have oodles of agency and it has made my life fantastic. Even the failures were spectacular and delightful. So practice listening and doing and learning. You will get better and better — and so will your whole life.
I love you,
Granny