I like the idea that everything that happens in my life, the good and the bad, happens because of my choices and my actions. It feels good to think that that's true because being agentic is one of the most appealing traits a person can have. What makes being agentic so appealing? It suggests the presence of other appealling traits: awareness, optimism, intelligence, confidence.

I've been thinking a lot about blind spots lately, how one person's obvious truth is another's mindblowing revelation. One of my blind spots is that I focus much more on avoiding negative outcomes than I do on pursuing positive outcomes. This tendency bleeds into every area of my life: I keep quiet out of fear of rocking the boat, I feel bad when I do what I want to do because that time could be spent doing things that could make money someday.

What would my life look like if I let myself be guided by all of the amazing possibilities instead of my fixation on avoiding harm? I would talk about what's on my mind more and care less about whether others think I'm boring or uninteresting. I would explore more and care less about being bad at things. I would ask for more things and care less about whether others think I'm needy or burdensome.

Do you see my negativity bias? I see it. I'm fixated on doing no harm to others, but instead I can play around with maximizing possible benefit to myself just to see what happens. Maybe it'll be amazing.