Ben Wilson

As a reminder, high agency is the ability and belief that individuals can take control of their lives, define their goals, and take action to achieve them rather than feeling powerless and blaming others, external factors. It's about actively shaping your own destiny and outcomes. Again, you happen to the world, the world doesn't happen to you.

As a reminder, high agency is the ability and belief that individuals can take control of their lives, define their goals, and take action to achieve them rather than feeling powerless and blaming others, external factors. It's about actively shaping your own destiny and outcomes. Again, you happen to the world, the world doesn't happen to you.

And I do think that like anything, certain people have a predisposition towards this to be high agency, but there's a lot you can do to learn it. I would compare it to being fit, right? Certain people are just born athletic. They're fast, they're strong naturally, but just about anyone can train their way into the top 2% of strength or speed. And becoming high agency is similar.

And I do think that like anything, certain people have a predisposition towards this to be high agency, but there's a lot you can do to learn it. I would compare it to being fit, right? Certain people are just born athletic. They're fast, they're strong naturally, but just about anyone can train their way into the top 2% of strength or speed. And becoming high agency is similar.

Like certain people are just born high agency, but there are definitely things that you can do to be more high agency. And once you do these things, it unlocks a lot in your life. I've seen this. I'll share a couple of personal examples as we go. So you look at someone like Edwin Land, five years old, his father comes home, finds him taking a part of the family phonograph, gets really mad.

Like certain people are just born high agency, but there are definitely things that you can do to be more high agency. And once you do these things, it unlocks a lot in your life. I've seen this. I'll share a couple of personal examples as we go. So you look at someone like Edwin Land, five years old, his father comes home, finds him taking a part of the family phonograph, gets really mad.

And he decides in that moment that he's never going to let anyone block him from doing an experiment ever again in his entire life. And sure enough, in his twenties, he ends up sneaking into the University of Columbia Laboratory at midnight. He props open a couple of windows during the day to conduct experiments because he's not a student there, so he can't use it. But he's high agency.

And he decides in that moment that he's never going to let anyone block him from doing an experiment ever again in his entire life. And sure enough, in his twenties, he ends up sneaking into the University of Columbia Laboratory at midnight. He props open a couple of windows during the day to conduct experiments because he's not a student there, so he can't use it. But he's high agency.

No one's going to stop him from doing what he wants to do. And that starts at age five. But it doesn't have to start that young. Steve Jobs has a great quote. He says, life can be so much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people who are no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it.

No one's going to stop him from doing what he wants to do. And that starts at age five. But it doesn't have to start that young. Steve Jobs has a great quote. He says, life can be so much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people who are no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it.

You can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again. And I think that realization could come at any point in life and it can come in degrees over time. So let's break this down into three categories. of how to be more high-agency. The first is how to frame problems. The second is how to design solutions. And then third is how to execute.

You can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again. And I think that realization could come at any point in life and it can come in degrees over time. So let's break this down into three categories. of how to be more high-agency. The first is how to frame problems. The second is how to design solutions. And then third is how to execute.

All right, so let's start with how you frame the problem. The first thing to do, and this has been really helpful to me, is to define every problem starting with the sentence, I don't know how to X. Okay, I picked this up from a recent episode of Alex Hormozy's podcast, and it's been a really great tool for me. So how does this shake out?

All right, so let's start with how you frame the problem. The first thing to do, and this has been really helpful to me, is to define every problem starting with the sentence, I don't know how to X. Okay, I picked this up from a recent episode of Alex Hormozy's podcast, and it's been a really great tool for me. So how does this shake out?

Let me give you an example from my own life to make it maybe a little more concrete. So my wife gave birth to our fourth child a week ago. And so it's been really difficult to find time to work out, especially in the morning, which is when I like to work out because it gets my day going, gets me active.

Let me give you an example from my own life to make it maybe a little more concrete. So my wife gave birth to our fourth child a week ago. And so it's been really difficult to find time to work out, especially in the morning, which is when I like to work out because it gets my day going, gets me active.

So the low agency way to think about it, which is what I was doing at first, is to just leave it as this undefined nagging problem. It's a complaint. I would like to work out in the morning, but I can't because my wife is up with the baby all night. So I have to be with the other three kids until about 8.30 AM. Okay. It's a complaint. It's an undefined problem.

So the low agency way to think about it, which is what I was doing at first, is to just leave it as this undefined nagging problem. It's a complaint. I would like to work out in the morning, but I can't because my wife is up with the baby all night. So I have to be with the other three kids until about 8.30 AM. Okay. It's a complaint. It's an undefined problem.

And it uses the word that we hate, can't. But then redefine it. Once I redefine it, I say, I don't know how to both work out in the morning and spend time with my kids from 630 to 830 AM. Even just reframing it basically solves the problem, right? I don't know how to do. Of course, you know how to do those two things. Okay. You could start working out at five or 530, pull a Jocko.

And it uses the word that we hate, can't. But then redefine it. Once I redefine it, I say, I don't know how to both work out in the morning and spend time with my kids from 630 to 830 AM. Even just reframing it basically solves the problem, right? I don't know how to do. Of course, you know how to do those two things. Okay. You could start working out at five or 530, pull a Jocko.