Dr. Angela Duckworth

Drivers of agency.

He called it self-efficacy.

But really, when you look at what he was talking about, like if you look at the questionnaire that Al Bander used, I can do this if I try, right?

That sense of agency.

I can do this if I try.

Four drivers of it.

You said, well, one is, and I think this is not very obvious to people, but I think it's very important.

I know you've spoken a lot about, you know, physical health, like taking care of yourself.

Al Bender has said that one of the drivers of agency is being in a physiological state of wellness.

You can't have agency when you're exhausted.

You can't have agency when you're sick, like when you feel out of breath.

So one thing is take care of your body so that you can have that sense of energy and agency.

Second was what he called verbal persuasion.

But I always think like pep talks, right?

You know, you're kind of down.

You're thinking like, oh, I don't think I can do this.

And someone comes along, maybe somebody who cares about you and says, no, you can do it.

I've seen you do it before.

And Al Bandura didn't want to dismiss that.

He said that is a very powerful source of agency, but not as good as a third thing, which is that a person comes along and they don't give you a pep talk.