↑ [[Agency]] High agency is the ability of an individual to navigate complex environmental and social challenges with relative ease. It is one dimension of self-actualization in a hierarchy of needs. There are many social, economic, and cultural reasons a person may not achieve a sense of high agency. I might argue that [[Hyperagency|hyperagents]] have low agency, due to the staffing and scheduling requirements necessary to remain relevant and influential at higher social levels. Individuals with high agency share a number of qualities: 1. Intentionality. The ability to make conscious choices for oneself to improve one's life. 2. Power. The resources, capabilities, and knowledge to act on one's goals. 3. [[Rationality MOC|Rationality]]. The ability to understand the circumstances of a situation and keep track of the outcomes of one's actions. 1. Forethought. The ability to choose appropriate actions toward one's goals and anticipate the outcomes of those actions. Experience informs the range of awareness of possible outcomes. 2. Self-regulation. The ability to monitor emotions, behaviors, and motivations as a person acts upon their goals. 3. Self-efficacy. The belief in one's ability to succeed. Developing high agency is a matter of disciplined introspection and personal practice. - **Examine beliefs**. Interrogate the experiences and emotions behind existing beliefs (your [[frame]]), and their soundness against established fact. - **Practice intentionality.** [[Cultivating Habits|Cultivate habits]]. - **Understand your circumstances**. Know what resources are available and what you need to acquire. Find out what you don't know you don't know! [[situational awareness|Understand your situation]]. - **Find support**. Coaches, mentors, friends, family. Seeking help from others provides a range of benefits including guidance, listening, and creating time. ### anger in an emotional ecology ### Thoughts Emotional skillfulness is a form of high agency. By experiencing our difficult emotions, we unlock ways to experience our pleasant emotions. What we know as pleasant or painful are externally defined, and thus our experience is [[Impoverished Emotional Lives|emotionallly impoverished]]. By wrestling with difficult feelings, we become aware of our own evaluation of easy/difficult, pleasant/unpleasant, and thus are able direct ourselves through the world with greater agency. #theme/freedom