You can literally just do things. The line has been going around tech circles for a while, and it stuck with me because it’s true.

Part of it is timing. My team just shipped Canva AI, and in the run-up to that launch you could feel the acceleration: things are starting to move much more quickly, and coding agents haven’t even arrived yet.

Our instinct still runs the other way. When we’re uncertain, we defer: we look outward for direction, for someone with more authority to say it’s allowed.

Ask yourself: “If I had 10 times more agency than I do right now, what would I do?” Whatever comes to mind, notice how little of it needs anyone’s permission. The gap between thinking about those things and doing them is where most of them die.

The external barriers mostly aren’t there anymore. The technical ones have been dissolving for years, and generative AI knocked down most of what was left. If you’re clear on what you want to make, you can probably make it. What’s still standing is internal: impostor syndrome, fear of failure, perfectionism, and an imagined wall of red tape that usually isn’t there when you walk up to it.

We spend a lot of time debating how much agency to give AI agents, and much less on how much we claim for ourselves. That question feels more urgent to me, because if all you’re doing is waiting for instructions, the instructions will eventually get routed to an automated system that runs them more efficiently than you do.

High agency doesn’t mean grand gestures. Mostly it means turning something you want into a concrete step you take today.

  • Want to write a book? Write 500 words right now.
  • Want to build a software product? Put together a prototype with AI tools.
  • Want to remodel your house? Start a vision board on Pinterest.
  • Want to change careers? Spend an hour today learning a skill you’d need.
  • Want to improve your health? Take a 10-minute walk as soon as you finish reading this.