It’s never too late to control your own fate

In my way of thinking, radical agency involves finding real edges: things you are willing to do that others aren’t, often because they’re annoying, unpleasant, or obscured in a cloud of aversion.

The idea of finding real edges, rather than eking out wins by grinding harder than everyone else, clicked for me when I started playing poker. Pros spent nearly as much time studying as they did playing, using solvers to seek out tiny mathematical advantages. I noticed a massive edge that was almost entirely ignored: physical reads, or tells.

Court rejection

Seek real (anonymous) feedback

Increase your surface area for luck

Assume everything is learnable

Learn to love the moat of low status

Don't work too hard!