How to Build a High Agency Life OS

Ever get the feeling that life challenges have two types of responders?

→ Those who accept limits handed to them.

→ And those who 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 the obstacles.

High agency isn't just a nice-to-have trait—it's the superpower that separates top performers from the merely competent.

Seriously.

Let's explore what high agency really is, why it matters more than ever in today's chaotic world, and how you can systematically build your High-Agency Life OS to outperform, outlast, and outcreate everyone playing by the default rules.

🚀 What Is High Agency?

High agency isn't just 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 that others take for granted
• Have a bias for action over endless analysis-paralysis

In investing, high agency often distinguishes those who build substantial wealth from their 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 one can develop. And Shreyas Doshi calls high agency a non-negotiable trait for leaders.

🧠 Why High Agency Matters

Your Goal #1 in any competitive field is to develop a sustainable edge. High agency is that edge, and here's why:

1. Reality is negotiable (to a point). Most "impossibilities" are merely strong preferences or untested assumptions.
2. Most people default to low agency. When faced with obstacles, humans naturally tend to accept limitations rather than challenge them.
3. Complex systems reward the proactive. Markets, businesses, and careers all have (not-so-) 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 the asymmetric advantage.

🎯 Building Your High-Agency Life OS

Building high agency isn't accidental. It's not something you're born with.

Like any operating system, it must be installed, updated, and maintained through deliberate practice. Here's how to build yours:

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 literally slept on the factory floor for weeks, personally solving problems others deemed "impossible" to fix.

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, "Oh, our core business is being disrupted." Instead, 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?

Game-changing assumption flips:

• "Real estate requires huge capital" → Airbnb created a global hospitality company with zero real estate
• "Taxis need professional drivers" → Uber turned everyone into potential drivers
• "Rockets can't be reused" → SpaceX proved they absolutely can

George Soros showed high agency during the 1992 Black Wednesday crisis. While most investors trusted the British government to defend the pound, Soros challenged the narrative, trusted his own analysis, leveraged the entire $1 billion value of his fund to $10 billion and bet against it. When the pound collapsed, he made $1 billion in profit. Soros didn't wait for consensus — he questioned assumptions, acted boldly, and changed financial history—high agency at its finest.

Act Before You Feel Ready

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

Remember that growth is painful. And that's by design. It happens through challenge, discomfort, and transformation.

Framework to adopt: Use the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) 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 until she had the perfect background—she figured it out through action.

Turn Constraints Into Creativity

Constraints aren't barriers—they are 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.

Resilience Through Voluntary Hardship

Train your mind to handle discomfort by doing hard things intentionally.

That is portfolio diversification for your psychological resilience.

Simple habits to build your resilience portfolio:

• Cold showers or ice baths (just check out Wim Hof, The Iceman)
• 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—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.

You can adopt the "T-shaped" model: Deep expertise in one field + broad competence across several adjacent fields.

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

This is your personal diversification strategy against obsolescence.

Curate a High-Agency Environment

The environment shapes behaviour 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 (Naval Ravikant, Shreyas Doshi, George Mack)
• Curate your social feeds
• Join communities where execution is the norm, not the exception
• Find a "growth peer" who challenges your thinking

Low-agency environments are like high-fee investment products—they slowly drain your potential without 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?

Tool to implement: Create a "decision journal" where you record:

• The decision you made
• What did you expect 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 becomes reckless narcissism. Stay grounded. Build trust. Play long games.

Warning signs you're crossing the line:

• Manipulating others instead of influencing them
• Taking credit without giving it
• Optimising for personal gain at collective expense
• Burning bridges for short-term wins

The best leaders uplift others through their agency, not just themselves. This isn't just ethical—it's practical. Trust is the ultimate compounding 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
• Encourage proactive problem-solving
• Normalise ambition, resilience, and creative thinking
• 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 for yourself.

In contrast, low-agency individuals:

• Rationalise inaction with sophisticated excuses
• Normalise blame and helplessness
• Drain your momentum with scepticism or complacency
• 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 is not just an internal decision—it's reinforced by external modelling, expectations, and social proof.

📈 The Value Investing Approach to Agency

Building high agency is similar to value investing:

1. Identify undervalued assets (capabilities you can develop that others won't)
2. Buy when others are fearful (take action precisely when situations seem most difficult)
3. Hold for compounding returns (agency builds upon itself over time)
4. Diversify your portfolio (develop agency across multiple domains)
5. Ignore market noise (don't let others' limitations become yours)

Like the best investments, high agency compounds. Each small victory builds confidence for larger challenges. Each problem solved develops new capabilities. Each limitation overcome rewires your sense of what's possible.

✅ 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 is 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 the 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.