How to Build a High Agency Life OS

Ever notice how people respond to challenges in two completely different ways?

Some accept the limits handed to them. Others find a way to push beyond.

The second group lives by what Eric Weinstein calls high agency—the belief that you can shape your world through your own efforts, regardless of obstacles.

High agency isn't just a nice trait. It's the superpower that separates top performers from everyone else.

Let's explore what high agency really is, why it matters in today's chaotic world, and how you can systematically build your High-Agency Life OS.

What Is High Agency?

High agency isn't positive thinking. It's a fundamentally different operating system.

When faced with "this can't be done," does your mental conversation end? Or does it start a new one about how to do it anyway?

High-agency individuals:

Believe their actions directly shape outcomes. Treat obstacles as puzzles, not brick walls. Take extreme ownership beyond their formal responsibilities. Question default rules and assumptions. Have a bias for action over endless analysis.

In investing, high agency distinguishes those who build substantial wealth from contrarian ideas from those who drift with market tides. In business, it separates disruptive founders from those who blame "market conditions" when things go wrong.

Paul Graham described great founders as "relentlessly resourceful." Eric Weinstein considers it among the rarest and most valuable traits you can develop. Shreyas Doshi calls it non-negotiable for leaders.

Why High Agency Matters

Your goal in any competitive field is to develop a sustainable edge. High agency is that edge.

Reality is negotiable. Most "impossibilities" are merely strong preferences or untested assumptions.

Most people default to low agency. When faced with obstacles, humans naturally accept limitations rather than challenge them.

Complex systems reward the proactive. Markets, businesses, and careers all have hidden leverage points that passive participants never discover.

The math is simple: in environments where most players accept default paths, those who consistently seek non-obvious solutions gain an asymmetric advantage.

Building Your High-Agency Life OS

Building high agency isn't accidental. You're not born with it.

Like any operating system, it must be installed, updated, and maintained through deliberate practice.

Extreme Ownership as Default

Make "What can I do to make this happen?" your first reaction to any challenge. Blame and excuses kill agency. Ownership multiplies it.

When Elon Musk faced production problems with the Tesla Model 3, he didn't blame suppliers or market conditions. He slept on the factory floor for weeks, so he could solely focus on solving problems others deemed "impossible."

Speak the Language of Possibility

Your words create your reality.

Replace passive language ("I can't..." "We have no choice...") with proactive language ("How can we...?" "What can we try?").

This isn't a semantic game. It's neural reprogramming.

When Reed Hastings saw Netflix's DVD rental business facing extinction from streaming, he didn't complain about disruption. He asked: "How might we become the disruptor ourselves?"

The question you ask determines the answers you find.

Challenge Assumptions

Whenever you hear "That's impossible..." or "That's just how it's done..." stop and ask: Is it really? What if the opposite were true?

Here are some game-changing assumptions that have been flipped (we all know these stories):

• "Real estate requires huge capital" → Airbnb created a global hospitality company without owning any real estate.
• "Taxis need professional drivers" → Uber transformed ordinary people into potential drivers.
• "Rockets can't be reused" → SpaceX proved that rockets can indeed be reused.

Legendary investor George Soros showed remarkable agency during the Black Wednesday crisis in 1992. While most investors believed the British government would defend the pound, Soros challenged this narrative. He leveraged his entire $1 billion fund, so his single position was $10 billion in total, and bet against the pound. When the pound collapsed, he made $1 billion in profit.

Soros didn't wait for consensus; he questioned assumptions, acted boldly, and changed the course of financial history.

Act Before You Feel Ready

Waiting for perfect conditions is a low-agency trap. High-agency people start, iterate, and learn fast.

Growth is painful. That's by design. It happens through challenge, discomfort, and transformation.

Use the OODA Loop from fighter pilot doctrine:

• Observe the situation without bias
• Orient to the context and options
• Decide on an approach
• Act immediately, then restart the loop with new information

Sara Blakely started Spanx with $5,000 and zero experience in retail, manufacturing, or fashion. She didn't wait for the perfect background. She figured it out through action.

Turn Constraints Into Creativity

Constraints aren't barriers. They're forcing functions for creativity.
In investment terms, this is finding arbitrage where others see only limitations.

Airbnb didn't have millions to survive the 2008 downturn. Instead of giving up, they sold specially designed cereal boxes ("Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCain's") during the presidential election, generating enough cash to keep going.

Build Resilience Through Voluntary Hardship

Train your mind to handle discomfort by doing hard things intentionally.
That's portfolio diversification for your psychological resilience.

Simple habits to build resilience:
Cold showers or ice baths. Difficult conversations you've been avoiding. Physical challenges outside your comfort zone. Fasting for 24 hours occasionally. Public speaking opportunities that scare you.

Each small victory proves to your brain that discomfort is survivable and often beneficial. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

Continuous Skill Acquisition

Expand your circle of competence. The more skills you have, the more independently you can act.

Adopt the "T-shaped" model: Deep expertise in one field plus broad competence across several adjacent fields.

Steve Jobs combined deep technology understanding with broad knowledge of design, typography, and liberal arts. He created products at intersection points where others couldn't see connections.

This is your personal diversification strategy against obsolescence.

Curate a High-Agency Environment

Environment shapes behavior more than willpower. You're the average of your five closest influences. Surround yourself with people who act, not those who complain.

This is the most asymmetric investment you can make. The right environment compounds your growth automatically.

Action steps:

Follow high-agency thinkers like Naval Ravikant, Shreyas Doshi, and George Mack. Curate your social feeds. Join communities where execution is the norm. Find a growth peer who challenges your thinking.

Low-agency environments are like high-fee investment products. They slowly drain your potential without you noticing.

Build a System for Reflection and Feedback

High-agency individuals don't drift. They self-correct based on results.

Use a weekly review: Where did you show high agency? Where did you default to passivity?

Create a decision journal where you record:

The decision you made. What you expected to happen. The actual outcome. What you learned. How to adjust your mental models.

This creates a compounding knowledge base of your decision patterns.

Stay Humble, Stay Ethical

High agency without integrity can lead to reckless behaviour. It is important to stay grounded, build trust, and focus on long-term goals.

Watch for these warning signs that you might be going too far:

• Manipulating others rather than positively influencing them.
• Taking credit for others' work without giving them recognition.
• Putting your personal gain above the group's interests.
• Burning bridges for quick rewards.

The best leaders lift others up through their actions, not just themselves. This ethical and practical approach builds trust, which is the most valuable asset.

Real-World High-Agency Examples

Let's examine some laser-focused case studies of high agency in action. The arenas differ, but the mindset remains constant:

The Bold Investment: In 2007, John Paulson identified the housing bubble when most investors saw only opportunity. Rather than accepting market consensus, he created an entirely new financial instrument to short subprime mortgages, generating a $20 billion profit when the market collapsed. While others blamed "unforeseeable market events," Paulson had already positioned for them.

The Business Pivot: When Netflix faced a potential death sentence from streaming technology, CEO Reed Hastings made the brutal decision to cannibalise his successful DVD rental business. While competitors protected their legacy models, Hastings transformed Netflix into the very thing that threatened it. This wasn't just adaptation—it was aggressive self-disruption through high agency.

The Physical Impossible: When Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, he shattered more than a record—he broke what doctors considered a physiological limitation. They claimed the human heart would literally explode at that pace. Within 46 days of Bannister proving it possible, another runner broke the barrier. Within a year, dozens had. The limitation was never physical—it was psychological.

Same mindset. Different arenas. Same outcomes.

Bend reality instead of yielding to it.

High Agency is Contagious (In Both Directions)

The people and environments you immerse yourself in will either accelerate your high-agency journey or quietly undermine it.

This is the social arbitrage opportunity most people miss.

High-agency individuals are catalysts. They inspire action by demonstrating initiative. They encourage proactive problem-solving. They normalise ambition, resilience, and creative thinking. They set higher standards for execution and ownership.

Spending time with high-agency people feels energising. Their optimism, discipline, and bias for action make you believe more is possible.

In contrast, low-agency individuals rationalise inaction with sophisticated excuses. They normalize blame and helplessness. They drain your momentum with scepticism or complacency. They reinforce the default path of low ownership and passivity.

This isn't about judging others. It's about making deliberate choices about your influences.

Action points: Conduct a relationship audit every quarter. Ask: Who around me consistently takes action and responsibility? Who consistently rationalises inaction?

Curate your online environment as carefully as your offline one. Your information diet shapes your agency as much as your physical diet shapes your health.
Seek mentors, peers, and communities where initiative and ownership are celebrated norms.

Remember: agency isn't just an internal decision. It's reinforced by external modeling, expectations, and social proof.

High Agency in Investing: Taking Control of Your Wealth

High agency transforms how you approach building wealth. Most investors are passive. They follow conventional wisdom. They blame markets when things go wrong.

High-agency investors play differently.

They question the consensus. When everyone says "stocks only go up," they ask what could break. When everyone panics, they ask what's being overlooked.

They do their own research. They don't blindly follow tips or talking heads. They dig into financials. They understand what they own and why.

They create opportunities others miss. While most investors wait for perfect setups, high-agency investors structure deals. They negotiate terms. They find arbitrage in inefficient markets.

They manage risk actively, not passively. They don't just hope for the best. They hedge risks. They keep free cash for opportunities. They size positions so no single bet can destroy them.

They learn from every outcome. Wins and losses both contain lessons. They keep decision journals. They review what worked and what didn't. They adjust their models.

Warren Buffett didn't wait for permission to invest differently. He questioned Graham's pure value approach and evolved it. He built Berkshire through high-agency decisions others wouldn't make.

Ray Dalio didn't accept that markets were unpredictable. He systematized decision-making. He created rules and principles. He built Bridgewater into the world's largest hedge fund through systematic high agency.

Michael Burry saw the housing bubble when everyone else saw opportunity. He didn't wait for consensus. He structured custom instruments to profit from what others refused to see.

Practical high-agency investing moves:

Learn to read financial statements yourself. Don't rely solely on analysts or advisers. Understand what you own.

Build a decision framework before emotions run high. Know your buy rules. Know your sell rules. Write them down when thinking clearly.

Question every "everyone knows" statement about markets. Test assumptions. Look for exceptions. Find where conventional wisdom breaks down.

Start small in areas you don't understand. Take calculated risks. Learn fast. Build competence through action, not just reading.

Create your own opportunities. If public markets don't offer what you need, look at private markets. Structure your own deals. Find creative solutions.

Keep a decision journal. Track your investment theses. Review outcomes. Build your own database of what works for you specifically.

The difference between high-agency and low-agency investors shows up most during chaos. Low-agency investors panic or freeze. High-agency investors act. They buy when others sell. They protect downside before disasters hit. They position for outcomes others can't imagine.

Your investment returns aren't just about market performance. They're about how much agency you bring to building wealth.

Final Thought: High Agency as Your Superpower

In a volatile, competitive world, high agency is your edge.

It's the difference between "Well, that's just how it is" and "Let's find a way."

Build your High-Agency Life OS. Start today. Start small. Stay consistent.

Because no one is coming to help you.

But you can help yourself. And better yet, you can build something great.

Survive first. Thrive later.

That's part of the game.

Essential Reading on High Agency:

• Extreme Ownership — Jocko Willink
• The Obstacle is the Way — Ryan Holiday
• Mindset — Carol Dweck
• Zero to One — Peter Thiel
• High Agency — George Mack

Follow High-Agency Thinkers on X (formerly Twitter):

• Shreyas Doshi
• George Mack
• Naval Ravikant
• Eric Weinstein
• Ryan Holiday

Ready to upgrade your Life OS?

Take the first step today. Pick one small action you can take immediately to regain agency over a situation you've been stuck in.

Because high agency isn't a talent. It's a decision repeated daily.

High agency isn't just how capital founders think. It's how they play the game.