PolyPaths Recommends #1

Revisiting Agency and the Power of Saying No!

Nobody writes in vacuum — the best inspiration often comes from reading other authors and connecting the dots. Today, I want to share two recent nuggets of wisdom that I loved :)

Andrej Karpathy on Agency

Andrej Karpathy is a leading AI research scientist and educator who was a founding member of Open AI. He was also the senior director of AI at Tesla and led Tesla Autopilot. I loved the recent nugget featuring Andrej Karpathy on the Little Almanack on the importance of agency.

Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. 

It’s about being proactive rather than reactive — someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.  

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it.

I feel that taking initiative can really transform your life and I have shared my take on this a few months back. Taking initiative is especially important for PolyPaths since the kind of life they are looking for in terms of the right proportion of the paths is very unique to them. And hence it’s unlikely that something custom might work for them, and thus they need to proactively design the life and environments that they would thrive in 🙂

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Maya Shankar on Saying No

Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist who was an advisor to President Obama and the UN, she was also an international violinist and a graduate from the Juilliard’s School of Music. She is the host of the award-winning podcast A slight change of plans!

I found Maya's article on how to say no, quite pertinent as she provides some strategies for saying no. As PolyPaths, we are likely to be pulled into many different directions, since we have so many different interests. As I wrote recently in 3 strategies to protect your time, it’s very important to learn to say no, and yet can be very hard. We are wired to comply rather than defy.

One of Maya's powerful insights is —

By defying more, we can more strongly connect with our values and learn what matters to us.

Saying "no" becomes a tool for curating a life that truly aligns with our core values creating a space for deeper self-discovery. It allows us to discern which paths and commitments genuinely nourish us and contribute to our overall fulfillment.

PS: If you are thinking about how to design a life unique to your paths, schedule a call with PolyPaths today!