Pockets of Agency (Ed Batista)

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Although in casual usage we may consider "agency" and "ownership" synonymous, philosopher Shaun Gallagher makes a distinction between the two under certain circumstances:

In the case of involuntary action...it is quite possible to distinguish between sense of agency and sense of ownership. I may acknowledge ownership of a movement--that is, I have a sense that I am the one who is moving or is being moved--and I can self-ascribe it as my movement, but I may not have a sense of causing or controlling the movement. That is to say, I have no sense of agency. The agent of the movement is the person who pushed me from behind, for example, or the physician who is manipulating my arm in a medical examination. Thus, my claim of ownership (my self-ascription that I am the one who is undergoing an experience) can be consistent with my lack of a sense of agency. [1]

The significance of this distinction is heightened when we consider the relationship between our perceptions of autonomy, our sense of stress, and the likelihood of a threat response (often referred to as a "fight, flight or freeze response.") As I've written before, "Our perception of our ability to exert control over our environment has a substantial effect on our response to stress factors in our life. When we feel more autonomous, we're much more resistant to stress--and when we feel less autonomous, we can perceive the same set of circumstances as much more stressful." [2] These conditions render us more likely to experience a threat response, a state in which we're physiologically optimized to take swift, forceful action; we're emotionally primed to make snap judgments on the basis of fear and anger; and we're less effective at processing cognitive data.

Even at the best of times, we must acknowledge limits on our agency and autonomy--we can control only so much, and our freedom of action extends only so far. But for many of us in the current environment these limits are both more sharply curtailed and more starkly visible. We have less control and less freedom of action, and we're even more aware of it--which means that many of us are feeling more stressed than ever.

These dynamics can pose a particular challenge for my clients, almost all of whom are CEOs or senior executives in growing companies. In many cases they opted out of conventional careers to pursue a more entrepreneurial path precisely because they wanted a greater degree of control over their professional lives. The companies that they founded or joined didn't promise a predictable future, but they did offer high degrees of autonomy and independence--and yet a number of factors today are changing these parameters, leaving them feeling more subject to external forces and more vulnerable as a result.

By Gallagher's definition, while we may continue to feel a sense of ownership over our experience in the current environment, most of us are feeling much less agency. So what can be done? Even--and especially--as we feel a loss of control in the world at large, we can strive to create "pockets of agency," smaller settings within our lives in which we can "cause or control the movement." I'm not suggesting that we categorically ignore larger issues, but, rather, that we engage with them in ways that are more deliberate and intentional--which includes setting them aside from time to time.

Versions I've discussed with clients include:

A morning routine in which they pursue a specific set of tasks (such as exercise or writing) upon rising rather than automatically checking email, social media or the news.
An evening routine in which they turn off all screens at least 30 minutes before going to sleep, read from a hard-copy book or magazine, and charge their phones outside the bedroom.
A mindfulness routine in which they commit to meditation or a similar practice on a consistent basis. [3]
An exercise routine in which they commit to some degree of physical activity on a consistent basis. [4]

Note the emphasis on routine--the less we have to think about whether or not we'll pursue a given activity, the more likely we are to follow through on our intentions. Also note the importance of disconnecting in these processes--as I've written before, "in an attention economy we're not merely consumers--we are also the product. A fundamental organizing principle of contemporary business is the capture, retention, and monetization of our collective attention--and this can put us at odds with the owners and orchestrators of the attention economy." [5] Social media and news platforms are carefully engineered to keep us clicking and doom-scrolling, and one of the most reliable ways of maintaining our engagement is by stoking the fears and anxieties that accompany our loss of control.

And although the list above focuses on activities outside the purview of professional or social issues, it's also possible to establish pockets of agency within these domains as well, although it can be more difficult. For example, my work with CEOs has sometimes involved supporting their efforts to cultivate "small projects that allowed [them] to get [their] hands dirty and feel the satisfaction of watching things grow." [6]

Creating pockets of agency won't entirely counteract the effects of the current environment, but that's not the intention behind the concept. The goal is simply to enhance our capacity to down-regulate the threat response that so often accompanies a loss of agency, to put us in a state of mind and body that will allow to make better decisions, to make our experience in this environment just a little more sustainable.

This post is the first in a series on coping in the current environment: