Agency

Agency and ambition: courage, asking for things, permission, becoming more capable, deliberate self-change

A topic in the tpot Community Archive, drawn from 23,273 posts.

Trusted voices in Agency

Ordered by the trust Agency's own network concentrates on each poster, most first.

  1. visakanv — trusted by 217 posters here
  2. nosilverv — trusted by 200 posters here
  3. the_wilderless — trusted by 180 posters here
  4. RichDecibels — trusted by 189 posters here
  5. tasshinfogleman — trusted by 174 posters here
  6. TylerAlterman — trusted by 185 posters here
  7. AskYatharth — trusted by 174 posters here
  8. QiaochuYuan — trusted by 177 posters here
  9. vividvoid — trusted by 180 posters here
  10. DefenderOfBasic — trusted by 164 posters here
  11. s0ulDirect0r — trusted by 160 posters here
  12. eshear — trusted by 178 posters here

Top posts in Agency

Ordered by the recorded like count from the source corpus; a like is not an endorsement.

  1. focus your time and energy on what you want to see more of (visakanv) — 91 likes
  2. I wrote & analyzed a 20-person list of anyone I've seen go sustainedly super-saiyan (i.e., anyone who's become radically more capable of creating what they want to see in the world). 18/20 all did… (TylerAlterman) — 58 likes
  3. I just need to get my shit together before I ask for help https://t.co/popIwDTZ7Q (RichDecibels) — 49 likes
  4. I am deeply pleased by this result, after ~72 very intense hours of work. Coming into OpenAI, I wasn’t sure what the right path would be. This was the pathway that maximized safety alongside doing… (eshear) — 45 likes
  5. I drew this diagram to illustrate a lot of related insights about agency, hosting, community-building, collaborative leadership & social change come with me now, the thread is long and full of… (RichDecibels) — 44 likes
  6. people asking for advice are often looking for something like "wear mouth tape" or "use blackout blinds" or some other bandaid intervention, but the deeper, truer solution to most persistent… (visakanv) — 39 likes
  7. Saved a kid from drowning today. Really counterintuitive experience. It happened very fast, but I knew these things are like so: the kid screamed once, twice, then his dad started calling for help… (nosilverv) — 39 likes
  8. nothing is truly original but 1. ayy lmao 2. focus... (see bio) 3. joke about outcomes you want 4. optimize for survival 5. do 100 things 6. solve for distribution 7. articulate your vector 8.… (visakanv) — 39 likes
  9. In 2016 I ran a fellowship and was training the fellows in “how to ask for things.” I started them with very basic asks, like walking around the neighborhood & asking for restaurant… (TylerAlterman) — 39 likes
  10. at a certain point, you gotta grow past sheepishness about -"arrogance" that's actually discernment -"craving" that's actually eros -"aggressiveness" that's actually strength -"fixation" that's… (the_wilderless) — 38 likes
  11. my belief: there's never been a maxed out person. we've never seen it happen. they've never existed. name whoever is your all time GOAT 'maxed out person', von neuman or einstein or whatever. they… (visakanv) — 38 likes
  12. spent the weekend with a bunch of highly agentic people and now i've got a bunch of thoughts about agency (goblinodds) — 36 likes
  13. The atomic family often forces modern parents to choose between pursuing their great ambitions vs raising a kid. Maybe that tradeoff isn’t necessary. Maybe we can create social technology that lets… (TylerAlterman) — 36 likes
  14. Repeat after me, if you feel like it: Life is hard, and full of rejection and failure. But. I will never be the one to count myself out. I will never take up arms against myself. I will never be the… (visakanv) — 35 likes
  15. if you make a really good plan and you stick to it really hard you can protect yourself from letting anything transcendently amazing happen to you (visakanv) — 35 likes
  16. the refutation has to be shaped more like "i get to live my life anyway. my life and my happiness matters anyway. this does not have to be my thing" (QiaochuYuan) — 33 likes
  17. i have a very good memory. do you know how i have a very good memory? i just woke up one day and decided to have a good memory and looked at things with utter confidence that i'll remember them (sanjehorah) — 33 likes
  18. fast forward a year from now. your life is the best it's ever been, entirely as a result of your own choices.what choices did you make now and in the coming months that created that reality for you? (tasshinfogleman) — 33 likes
  19. Going through a meaning crisis - hahaha , or a 'liminal passage'. 'Intelligence' is not anymore a core value 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠 This is very crazy (nosilverv) — 32 likes
  20. sometimes all it takes to win is to have the audacity to reach out and take the thing. the comments section will be like “boo, I could’ve done that” or “next time ima do that too”, but if you… (visakanv) — 32 likes
  21. having a clear vision for what you want sometimes feels almost like a sickening advantage over people who are navigating by social consensus (visakanv) — 32 likes
  22. I’ve gotten thousands of DMs over the years from people telling me about their problems. Here’s one interesting pattern/cluster I’ve noticed, which I’d loosely describe as “anxious self-flagellating… (visakanv) — 32 likes
  23. normalize 👏 asking 👏 your 👏 friends 👏 to 👏 tie 👏 you 👏 to 👏 the 👏 mast 👏 so 👏 you 👏 can 👏 hear 👏 the 👏 sirens 🚨 sing (bashu_thanks) — 32 likes
  24. the more and better access everyone has to tools, resources, etc, the clearer it becomes that the final boss bottlenecks are courage, imagination and giving a shit (visakanv) — 32 likes
  25. a lot of people fantasize about money n status as a proxy for having freedom to do what they really want. interesting thing is that if you're specific about what you really want, you'll often find… (visakanv) — 31 likes
  26. EVERYTHING THAT LIVES GROWS INSIDE SOMETHING ELSE so if you want to change yourself, change whet you're inside of (RichDecibels) — 31 likes
  27. a curious mind and earnest heart, sufficiently networked, can *imagine* wealth into existence (visakanv) — 31 likes
  28. okay but imagine if you wrote down: 1) everything you want in life 2) how other people can help you get it 3) why they want to help you get it some crazy stuff might happen, idk 🤷‍♂️ (__drewface) — 31 likes
  29. the most sick overpowered skill i unlocked in my 30s that wouldve been incomprehensible god-mode to my teen and early 20s selves is that ive learned how to enjoy being misunderstood (visakanv) — 31 likes
  30. have you considered just fucking *deciding* with your homies to "get" "good" collectively and smash through the problem to create a new golden age for humanity (myceliummage) — 30 likes
  31. imagine everybody in your life telling you can’t do something… and then you do it while this is glorious, it also means you will never fully be able to trust anyone again (visakanv) — 30 likes
  32. YOU NEED A SERIOUS PROJECT This cuts a couple different ways, in that A) choosing a well-aligned project can be jet fuel for moving your life and soul to unfold in the right direction, B) choosing a… (the_wilderless) — 30 likes
  33. as a teenager you look at your parents world like, "you guys are idiots. the government is dumb. the economy is dumb. jobs are so dumb" as an adult you learn that teenage impulse was mostly true,… (RichDecibels) — 30 likes
  34. Growth mindset is just replying to yourself with “skill issue” every time something goes wrong (eshear) — 30 likes
  35. I'm fucking fuming, can't believe this asshole is behaving exactly like I behaved 3 years ago 😡😡 (RichDecibels) — 30 likes
  36. if you ever think someone isn’t creative you should look at their excuses (visakanv) — 29 likes
  37. this one weird trick makes life 10x more meaningful: 1. check energy levels before & after any activity 2. do more of the stuff that gives you energy and less of the rest (RichDecibels) — 29 likes
  38. slowly and increasingly convinced that the nietzschean yes-sayers are the most powerful beings on the planet https://t.co/YfB4CfJNRc (visakanv) — 29 likes
  39. BRO THAT'S LITERALLY NOT A USEFUL NARRATIVE YOU SURE YOU WANNA EAT ALL THAT LIKE IM SURE YOU COULD TELL A FAR BETTER STORY IF YOU THOUGHT FOR HALF A SECOND ABOUT WHAT SORT OF EXPERIENCES YOU WANNA… (myceliummage) — 29 likes
  40. @VividVoid_ All good man. Thanks for saying this.I don't think it's crazy to get mad if someone seems like they're being a dick for no reason! esp if someone else is getting hurt (re the context in… (michaelcurzi) — 29 likes
  41. For as long as I can remember, I have always despaired at the ugliness and cruelty of the world. It’s a big part of why I do what I do. I chose to spend years of my life writing books like “Friendly… (visakanv) — 29 likes
  42. just realized I crossed an amazing milestone 90 days ago: I have now been a feral free agent for longer than I was ever a salaried employee (5.5 years), and I’ve also actually made more money since!… (visakanv) — 29 likes
  43. @michaelcurzi Plans are worthless, planning is priceless. Spend a day making elaborate plans and then disregard them completely to make whatever you think is most compelling. Repeat monthly or… (visakanv) — 28 likes
  44. i think there are people around here who are like 1-5 friends' worth of encouragement away from blowing up into era-defining talents https://t.co/C1Q3AYxKhM (QiaochuYuan) — 28 likes
  45. getting so good at life you get by without a job, you're just in demand and people want you around unblocking them, performing miracles and shit (exgenesis) — 28 likes
  46. to say I'm energized to be in founder mode again vastly underplays what's going on here. to be building on everything I learned (am learning) about inner work in my year long sabbatical is a… (_brentbaum) — 28 likes
  47. when i look at the young people I admire who are ambitious, the bottleneck keeping them from doing more rarely seems to be that their aspirations aren't high enough – the bigger issue tends to be… (visakanv) — 28 likes
  48. When did you first discover the malleability of social reality?For me, it was when I did my Eagle Scout project (building a boardwalk). I was advised to call up lumberyards and ask for wood for… (TylerAlterman) — 28 likes
  49. once you learn to shoot your shot just right you basically inhabit a completely different reality than 99.9% of people and it just looks like the world magically opens doors for you… (visakanv) — 28 likes
  50. Biggest mistake ppl make in trying to find their authentic self is thinking it has any particular shape. “I am an artist” “I am a warrior” no sir, those are just identities – the authentic self is… (TylerAlterman) — 28 likes

Most active posters

By posts in this topic: a volume measure, not trust.