What is ‘high agency’? And why is it important?

High agency is a refusal to accept life’s limitations. It’s that feeling you get when others say you can’t do something – and you don’t believe them. A person with high agency has the self-belief to overcome nearly any circumstance. They will either find a way or create one.

Someone with low agency simply accepts the narrative they’re given. This is a passive approach where instead of questioning something or pushing back, you outsource your destiny to external forces.

Jeff Bezos’ criteria for a romantic partner was someone who could get him out of a third-world prison. He had no intention of ending up in one, of course; it was simply a visualization tool to find someone resourceful. Who would you call in the same situation? That person has high agency.

Steve Jobs framed the concept of high agency in these terms: “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career path epitomizes high agency. He went from being an Austrian bodybuilder to the world’s biggest movie star, then married into the American equivalent of a royal family and became the governor of California – a state whose name he struggled to pronounce.

During the 2008 US presidential election, the co-founders of AirBnb raised $40,000 to help fund their startup by selling limited-edition, politically-themed cereal boxes called Obama O’s and Captain McCain. That is high agency in action.

Another name for high agency is orthogonal thinking: a way of spurring innovation through nonlinear approaches. By deliberately reframing challenges and thinking “sideways”, you end up with a fresh perspective that produces unexpected solutions.

Alfréd Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba risked almost certain death to escape a concentration camp in Auschwitz. After 15 days on the run, they successfully smuggled evidence of the gas chambers to the Western world – their high agency saving an estimated 200,000 lives in the process.

High agency is not something you’re born with. It’s a mindset that is learned and practiced. The next time you’re told that something is impossible, observe your reaction. Does the matter end there? Or is your mind determined to discover a workaround?

Bottom line: at its simplest, high agency can be defined as a three-step process. 1) Question everything and take nothing for granted. 2) Bend reality to your will. 3) Refuse to outsource any sense of agency over your own life.