# High Agency Individuals

What is a high agency person?

A high agency person is someone who takes proactive control of their life, recognizing their ability to influence and change their circumstances rather than feeling helpless or constrained by external factors. Here are some key characteristics of high agency individuals:

Proactivity: They take initiative and anticipate future challenges and opportunities, rather than reacting passively to events as they unfold.
Problem-Solving: They focus on solutions rather than dwelling on problems, leveraging creativity and resourcefulness to overcome obstacles.
Self-Efficacy: They have a strong belief in their own abilities to accomplish goals and effect change, which drives their actions and decisions.
Responsibility: They accept responsibility for their actions and outcomes, avoiding a victim mentality and instead looking for ways to take charge.
Goal-Oriented: They set clear, achievable goals and create strategic plans to reach them, staying focused and persistent even in the face of setbacks.
Adaptability: They are flexible and open to change, willing to adjust their strategies and tactics as needed to achieve their objectives.
Confidence: They possess a healthy level of self-confidence, which allows them to take risks and pursue opportunities that others might shy away from.

In essence, high agency individuals view themselves as the primary agents of their own success and well-being, constantly seeking to exert influence over their lives and the world around them.

How to spot high agency people

Weird teenage hobbies - Teenage years are the hardest time to go against social pressures. If they can go against the crowd as a teenager, they can go against the crowd as an adult.
Energy distortion field - If you meet with them when you're tired and defeated, you leave the room ready to run a marathon on a treadmill with max incline. Low agency people do the opposite.
Golden question - If you're in a 3rd world prison cell and had to call someone to get you out, who would you call? That's the highest agency person you know.
You can never guess their opinions - The boxer that writes poetry. The advertiser obsessed with the history of war. The beauty queen who reads Nietzsche. If their beliefs don't line up with their stereotypes, they've exercised agency.
Immigrant mentality - If they've moved from their hometown, that's a good sign. If they've moved from their home country, that's an even greater sign. It takes agency to spot you're in the wrong place, resourcefulness to operationalise a move and a growth mindset to start from zero in a new location.
They send you niche content - Low agency people look at the social engagement of content before deeming its quality. High agency people just look at the content. They spot upcoming trends very early.
Mean to your face but nice behind your back - The social incentives are to be nice to people's faces and gossip behind their backs. To do the opposite requires agency because they're swimming against the social tide.