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Pursuit of Joy, Fulfillment, and Purpose

Tag: Project Management

  • High Agency: The Founder Superpower You Can Actually Train

    TL;DW

    High agency—the habit of turning every constraint into a launch‑pad—is the single most valuable learned skill a founder can cultivate. In Episode 703 of My First Million (May 5 2025), Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview marketer–writer George Mack, who distills five years of research into the “high agency” playbook and shows how it powers billion‑dollar outcomes, from seizing the domain HighAgency.com on expiring auction to Nick Mowbray’s bootstrapped toy empire.

    Key Takeaways

    1. High agency defined: Act on the question “Does it break the laws of physics?”—if not, go and do it.
    2. Domain‑name coup: Mack monitored an expiring URL, sniped HighAgency.com for pocket change, and lit up Times Square to launch it.
    3. Nick Mowbray case study: Door‑to‑door sales → built a shed‑factory in China → $1 B annual profit—proof that resourcefulness beats resources.
    4. Agency > genetics: Environment (US optimism vs. UK reserve) explains output gaps more than raw talent.
    5. Frameworks that build agency: Turning‑into‑Reality lists, Death‑Bed Razor, speed‑bar “time attacks,” negative‑visualization “hardship as a service.”
    6. Dance > Prozac: A 2025 meta‑analysis ranks dance therapy above exercise and SSRIs for lifting depression—high agency for mental health.
    7. LLMs multiply agency: Prompt‑driven “vibe‑coding” lets non‑technical founders ship software in hours.
    8. Teenage obsessions predict adult success: Ask hires what they could teach for an hour unprompted.
    9. Action test: “Who would you call to break you out of a third‑world jail?”—find and hire those people.
    10. Nation‑un‑schooling & hardship apps: Future opportunities lie in products that cure cultural limiting beliefs and simulate adversity on demand.

    The Most Valuable Learned Skill for Any Founder: High Agency

    Meta Description

    Discover why high agency—the relentless drive to turn every obstacle into leverage—is the ultimate competitive advantage for startup founders, plus practical tactics from My First Million Episode 703.

    1. What Exactly Is “High Agency”?

    High agency is the practiced refusal to wait for permission. It is Paul Graham’s “relentlessly resourceful” mindset, operationalized as everyday habit. If a problem doesn’t violate physics, a high‑agency founder assumes it’s solvable and sets a clock on the solution.

    2. George Mack’s High‑Agency Origin Story

    • The domain heist: Mack noticed HighAgency.com was lapsing after 20 years. He hired brokers, tracked the drop, and outbid only one rival—a cannabis ad shop—for near‑registrar pricing.
    • Times Square takeover: He cold‑emailed billboard owners, bartered favors, and flashed “High Agency Got Me This Billboard” to millions for the cost of a SaaS subscription.

    Outcome: 10,000+ depth interactions (DMs & emails) from exactly the kind of people he wanted to reach.

    3. Extreme Examples That Redefine Possible

    StoryHigh‑Agency MoveResult
    Nick Mowbray, ZURU ToysMoved to China at 18, built a DIY shed‑factory, emailed every retail buyer daily until one cracked$1 B annual profit, fastest‑growing diaper & hair‑care lines
    Ed ThorpInvented shoe‑computer to beat roulette, then created the first “quant” hedge fundBecame a market‑defining billionaire
    Sam Parr’s piano“24‑hour speed‑bar”: decided, sourced, purchased, delivered grand piano within one dayDemonstrates negotiable timeframes

    4. Frameworks to Increase Your Agency

    4.1 Turning‑Into‑Reality (TIR)

    1. Write the value you want to embody (e.g., “high agency”).
    2. Brainstorm actions that visibly express that value.
    3. Execute the one that makes you giggle—it usually signals asymmetrical upside.

    4.2 The Death‑Bed Razor

    Visualize meeting your best‑possible self on your final day; ask what action today closes the gap. Instant priority filter.

    4.3 Break Your Speed Bar

    Pick a task you assume takes weeks; finish it in 24 hours. The nervous‑system shock recalibrates every future estimate.

    4.4 Hardship‑as‑a‑Service

    Daily negative‑visualization apps (e.g., “wake up in a WW2 trench”) create gratitude and resilience on demand—an untapped billion‑dollar SaaS niche.

    5. Why Agency Compounds in the AI Era

    LLMs turn prompts into code, copy, and prototypes. That 10× execution leverage magnifies the delta between people who act and people who observe. As Mack jokes, “Everything is an agency issue now—algorithms included.”

    6. Building High‑Agency Culture in Your Startup

    • Hire for weird teenage hobbies. Obsession signals intrinsic drive.
    • Run “jail‑cell drills.” Ask employees for their jailbreak call list; encourage them to become that contact.
    • Reward depth, not vanity metrics. Track DMs, conversions, and retained users over impressions or views.
    • Institutionalize speed‑bars. Quarterly “48‑hour sprints” reset organizational pace.
    • Teach the agency question. Embed “Does this break physics?” in every project brief.

    7. Action Checklist for Founders

    • Audit your last 100 YouTube views; block sub‑30‑minute fluff.
    • Pick one “impossible” task—ship it inside a weekend.
    • Draft a TIR list tonight; execute the funniest idea by noon tomorrow.
    • Add a “Negative Visualization” minute to your stand‑ups.
    • Subscribe to HighAgency.com for the library of real‑world case studies.

    Wrap Up

    Markets change, technology shifts, capital cycles boom and bust—but high agency remains meta‑skill #1. Practice the frameworks above, hire for it, and your startup gains a moat no competitor can replicate.

  • Error Retrospection Framework: Unlocking the Power of Mistakes

    “To err is human,” Alexander Pope famously said. As humans, we indeed make mistakes. But as learning beings, we also have the unique ability to learn from these mistakes. Welcome to the world of the Error Retrospection Framework (ERF), a powerful tool for project management and continuous improvement.

    Let us share the story of ‘Acme Corp’, a fictitious but relatable company that learned how to turn their stumbling blocks into stepping stones using the ERF.

    Acme’s Challenge

    Acme Corp, a company providing tech solutions, was facing a recurring issue. Despite their team of competent engineers and project managers, they found themselves repeating the same mistakes in their projects. They decided they needed a systematic way to learn from their past errors to avoid their recurrence in future projects.

    Discovering the ERF

    They discovered the Error Retrospection Framework (ERF), a method focused on systematically documenting and analyzing the errors made during a project, breaking the project down into sections, and then highlighting the mistakes in each section. It was a comprehensive approach that seemed to answer Acme Corp’s needs perfectly.

    Implementing the ERF

    Acme decided to give ERF a try. They broke down their upcoming project into several stages, each representing a significant phase of the project. For example, the phases could be defined as Ideation, Planning, Execution, Testing, and Review.

    As the team worked through each phase, they diligently documented any mistakes, mishaps, or unexpected outcomes that occurred. They didn’t just record what went wrong; they explored why it happened, the underlying reasons, and the impact of the mistake on the project.

    Learning from Errors: A Case Study

    For instance, during the execution phase, they ran into a situation where a piece of functionality wasn’t working as expected. Upon documentation and analysis, they realized that the error stemmed from a misunderstanding of the requirements during the ideation phase.

    This mistake impacted the project’s timeline and required additional resources to fix. However, the team learned a valuable lesson from it. They recognized the need for clearer communication and more thorough validation during the ideation phase to prevent such misunderstandings in the future.

    Harvesting the Fruits of Retrospection

    Once the project was complete, the team didn’t just move on to the next one. They held a retrospection meeting, during which they went over the documented mistakes and their causes, and brainstormed preventive measures for the future. This meeting served not as a fault-finding exercise but as a learning opportunity for everyone involved.

    They identified patterns in their errors, discovered their weak points, and found ways to strengthen them. By doing so, they turned their past mistakes into future improvements, leading to more successful projects.

    Acme’s story is a classic example of the power of the Error Retrospection Framework. By using ERF, Acme managed to turn their recurring project challenges into opportunities for learning and growth. And the best part? Any team, regardless of its size or field, can adopt ERF.

    Remember, the goal is not to eliminate mistakes entirely, but to learn and grow from them. As we embrace our errors and the lessons they bring, we unlock our potential for continuous improvement. Here’s to making better mistakes tomorrow!

    Topics for further exploration:

    • The Role of Communication in Error Prevention: This topic can provide insights into how effective communication can help avoid misunderstandings that lead to errors, as demonstrated in the example of Acme Corp.
    • Psychology of Error Making and Learning: This research topic can explore the psychological aspects behind why we make mistakes, how we react to them, and what it takes to learn from them effectively.
    • Effective Techniques for Project Retrospection: A closer look at various techniques and methodologies for conducting project retrospections could offer different approaches and tools to implement within the Error Retrospection Framework.
    • Influence of Organizational Culture on Error Management: An investigation into how an organization’s culture can affect the way it handles, learns from, and prevents errors could be insightful for managing and implementing the ERF.
    • Case Studies on Successful Error Management: Researching real-world examples of businesses that successfully manage their errors can provide practical insights and reinforce the concepts of the Error Retrospection Framework.