Meaning is the evidence of impact that reconstitutes your experience of agency. Meaning is evidence that who you are and what you do matter (directly or indirectly) to someone or something other than yourself. If the purposes and contributions you chose never managed to touch someone or something beyond yourself, the vessel through which you […]
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard According to Kierkegaard, rational, objective analysis (which works backwards) can never fully grasp the reality of the present moment. Kierkegaard’s philosophy is defined by a sharp distinction between internal reality (inwardness, subjectivity) and external reality (objectivity, the world), with a strong emphasis on the former […]
Knowing that you matter to someone reinforces your agency and purpose
Knowing that “you matter” is a matter of knowing that your presence, intentions, ideas and actions CONTRIBUTE to someone or something that feels PURPOSEFUL to you. It is about knowing that you have made a difference to someone or something you care about. The feedback loop of evidence of IMPACT and CONTRIBUTION fuels and sustains […]
Grit is built upon agency; agency is built upon social as well as psychological foundations
“They had factors in their lives that helped to influence their AGENCY.” – NYU sociologist Anindya Kundu Kundu is talking about students, but I suspect the same factors enhance people’s GRIT in all stages and walks of life. He argues that the AGENCY and PURPOSE that are the launch pad for GRIT and GROWTH are […]
AGENCY is an essential element of the foundation upon which both a good life and a good society are built
We assume everyone is born with the natural ability to notice, claim and make PURPOSEFUL use of AGENCY (主体性). The reality is more nuanced. AGENCY is a capacity requiring attention and cultivation. AGENCY is both personal and social, spontaneous and planned, internal and external, psychological and environmental… AGENCY does not require complete autonomy as a […]
Mistakes + Reflection = Insights for Long-Term Growth
‘Being audacious and working on big, risky things makes people inherently uncomfortable. You cannot yell at people and force them to fail fast. People resist. They worry, “What will happen to me if I fail? Will people laugh at me? Will I be fired?”‘ – Astro Teller in TED talk on how to build a […]
Are you ready for an economy that makes wealth a subset of health?
Ecological economist Tim Jackson wonders what our economy would look like if we made wealth a subset of health? This is fundamentally a question about what we choose to “value.” Wealth and health are both concepts that help us articulate value, but one of them helps us focus on how to protect, maintain and distribute […]
Are you willing to lead the herd toward a purpose worthy of pursuit?
There’s a lot of food for thought in the video at the bottom of this post. Still, the hackneyed call to NOT GIVE IN to “groupthink” or “the herd” doesn’t stand up to critical examination. It feels like an intellectual shortcut – maybe even a copout. Our capacity for peer emulation is not new. It […]
Does wellness have to be a luxury good?
“My working definition is wellness is ‘a luxury good.’ And it’s the packaging of our health and our beauty into a consumable for sale product.” – Amy Larocca author of “How to be Well” From Explain It to Me: What wellness costs us, Aug 10, 2025 — According to this feature, our modern conception of […]
Tests should induce “plus one thinking” by helping you see what you have already learned AND what you still have the opportunity to learn
The purpose of testing should be to boost learner agency and efficacy. Unfortunately, many tests actually have the opposite effect, increasing stress in ways that undermine both agency and efficacy. When administered in a thoughtful way, testing can serve as a feedback loop that enables learners to make (agential) decisions about how they want to […]