(Total read time: 8 minutes)

THE APPETIZER

Who was the last person you called when you were in trouble to help you out?

Who was the last person who you inspired you to do something new?

Today’s newsletter is about those people, and how to be that type of person in someone else’s life.

Also a nice reminder to reach out to those people and catch up with them.

Amazing what happens when you replace 5 minutes of scrolling on social media to do something like this.

And with that, and as always, I hope you enjoy my sauce.

- Patrick Frank

A helpful reminder that the accomplishment of getting to the top comes through the pain of the process. If you were dropped at the goal you were working towards, the individual you are today would not know what to do with their tomorrow. Enjoy the process. You’ll get there. 

PATTY’S PICKS:

Top Article Of The Month: High Agency - The Deep Dive of what inspired the meta-trend and this newsletter edition. 

• 🚀 How To Start A Business On Easy Mode: LINK

• 🔥 Roast Anyone… For Anything.…getroasted.ai.

  (Seriously. Check it out.)

• 🛠 Cool Tool Alert: LINK - Your personal AI Agent for everyday life.

  (Not Business) 

• 📈 Best Post: LINK - After 20 years, Marc Andreessen changed his productivity principles. 

• 📚 Best Read Of The Month: LINK - High Agency. The Deep Dive of what inspired the meta-trend and this newsletter edition. 

THE MAIN COURSE:

Are You a High-Agency Individual?

I recently re-examined the concept of high-agency due to events in my own life that forced two tough questions to the surface, questions I’ve long struggled not just to answer, but to act on:

1. Am I surrounded by people who are pushing me to grow, or am I just playing it safe with people who simply accept me?
   

2. Am I taking control of the outcomes in my life, or am I letting life just happen to me?

Those questions hit hard. And they’ve made me revisit what “high agency” really means.

The concept has been buzzing around a lot this year and for good reason. If you haven’t come across it yet, you’re in for a treat. If you have, maybe this is the nudge you’ve been waiting for to actually start fighting for more agency in your own life.

That’s why I wanted to dedicate this newsletter to it. Because if you want to separate yourself from the pack, forget IQ, forget credentials, forget how “connected” you are. Agency is the real cheat code.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

🔑 What Is High Agency?

High agency is the belief that you can shape the outcome of a situation and then having the guts to act on that belief.

It’s the difference between living like a pawn on the chessboard versus living like the player moving the pieces.

• Low agency mindset: “I can’t because the rules/system/boss/client won’t let me.”
  

• High agency mindset: “Cool. What’s the hack, the loophole, the backdoor? How do I make it happen anyway?”

That one shift in thinking is what separates people who talk about their dreams from people who actually live them.

🏆 Real-World Examples

• The Dinner Table Upgrade
  Most people stick with the same friend group out of comfort. Same bar. Same conversations. Same jokes from 2017.
  A high-agency person looks around and thinks: “Am I actually growing here—or just being accepted?” Then they deliberately start grabbing coffee with people who scare them a little founders, thinkers, mentors. It’s uncomfortable, but the room you choose to sit in dictates the person you become.
  

• The Escape Artist
  Imagine waking up in a third-world jail cell with one phone call (this is the classic high-agency test). Who do you call? The answer in your head is the most high-agency person you know. Why? Because you trust they’ll figure it out talk to the guard, bribe the warden, or find the backdoor. That’s resourcefulness in action.
  

• The Career Backdoor
  Most people follow the job application process like obedient little robots. Submit the resume. Wait. Hope.
  High-agency people? They cold-email the founder with a deck titled “10 ways I’d grow your company tomorrow.” Suddenly, they’re sitting in an interview that didn’t even exist.

👉 High agency doesn’t always mean going to Mars. Sometimes it’s just refusing to be another person stuck in the waiting room of life.

🌟 Why High-Agency People Are Magnetic

Here’s the kicker: high-agency people don’t just change their own lives, they change the room they’re in.

• They create momentum where others see obstacles.

• They ask better questions that pull everyone to think bigger.

• They radiate a restless energy “things are possible, let’s figure it out” that makes people want to follow them.

• They don’t waste cycles whining about the problem. They’re already testing solutions.

That’s why high-agency people are sought after as teammates, partners, and friends. They lift the baseline of everyone around them.

Think about it: who do you want in your corner when the plan goes sideways? The person shrugging? Or the one already moving pieces to fix it?

High-agency people are the latter and that’s why people want to be around them.

🧪 The High Agency Self-Test

Here’s how you check yourself:

• When you hear “no,” do you stop… or think, “Okay, what’s plan B?”

• Do you wait for permission… or create your own?

• Do obstacles feel like dead ends… or puzzles waiting to be solved?

• Are you waiting for the perfect conditions… or building with what’s in front of you?

• Do you spend more time consuming answers… or creating your own?

The more often you lean toward the second response, the closer you are to high agency. If you don’t, no problem, this isn’t a fixed trait. Agency is a muscle, and muscles grow when you stress them.

⚙️ How to Build High Agency (The 4 Levers)

Here’s the playbook I’ve been working on (inspired by this article and my own scars):

1. Default to Action
   Overthinking is the enemy. Movement is the medicine. Ship the ugly draft. Send the email. Launch the MVP. You’ll learn faster by doing than by planning.

2. Challenge the “Rules”
   Most rules aren’t rules, they’re just social defaults nobody’s questioned. Ask yourself: What would actually happen if I ignored this? You’ll find 80% of the time, the answer is: nothing.

3. Run the Story Test
   When you’re torn between two options, ask: Which one makes for the better story in 5 years? That’s usually the bold, uncomfortable option. And it’s the one that grows you the fastest.

4. Build Feedback Loops
   High-agency people don’t hide from criticism, they metabolize it. Feedback isn’t kryptonite. It’s protein. Use it to self-upgrade.

🎯 This Week’s Challenge

Think of one thing you’ve been waiting on:

• Waiting for approval.

• Waiting for timing.

• Waiting for the “right” conditions.

Now stop waiting. Break it into one micro-step and do it today.

Send the email. Make the ask. Ship the draft.

That little jolt you feel when you move? That’s agency. Stack enough of those jolts, and you’ll be living in a different world than the people still waiting in line.

Your Score:

• 0–3 points: Passenger Mode → You’re letting life drive. Time to grab the damn wheel.

• 4–6 points: Middle Lane → You’ve got sparks, but you coast too often. Push into the uncomfortable zone.

• 7–8 points: High Agency → You bend reality more than it bends you. Double down.

• 9–10 points: Elite Operator → You’re the person people call from a foreign jail cell. Dangerous. Keep building.

🧠 Your Action Plan:

💥 Pick one “dumb” idea you’ve been sitting on
🛠 Use my tech stack above — or steal my entire system inside Business In A Box
📦 Ship it within 14 days
🔥 Share it. Iterate it. Scale or scrap it.

That does it for the special editions of the sauce, next edition we will be back to the normal style. If you like this type of format better let me know and I can cook up some new editions that are catered to you! 

Stay Saucy,

- Patrick Frank