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Cate Hall

@cate-hall · 9 positions · 0 changes of mind

Former Supreme Court litigator and the top-ranked female poker player in the world, later co-founder and COO of the pandemic-medicine company Alvea. Writes at Useful Fictions about agency, and turned the essay quoted here into the book "You Can Just Do Things".

Cate Hall did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    Radical agency is finding real edges: the things other people are unwilling to do because they are annoying or unpleasant.

    Their wordsIn my way of thinking, radical agency is about finding real edges: things you are willing to do that others aren’t, often because they’re annoying or unpleasant.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 1st of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    If you are only asking for things you get, you are not asking for enough, and rejection should be courted deliberately.

    Their wordsAsk for things that feel unreasonable, to make sure your intuitions about what’s reasonable are accurate (of course, try not to be a jerk in the process). If you’re only asking for things you get, you’re not aiming high enough.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 2nd of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    Not seeking honest feedback from the people who know you is the largest and least-taken opportunity for self-improvement, and it usually has to be anonymous to be honest.

    Their wordsIf you aren’t trying to get real feedback from people who know you, you’re cooking without tasting.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 3rd of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    You cannot predict which conversations will be useful, so the way to find opportunities is to take many meetings with no obvious benefit.

    Their wordsWhat I discovered by casting a wide net was that I have very little ability to predict how useful a call will be in advance.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 4th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    Most traits people treat as fixed — agency, confidence, charisma, warmth — are learnable if you believe they are and work at them.

    Their wordsMost subject matter is learnable, even stuff that seems really hard. But beyond that, many (most?) traits that people treat as fixed are actually quite malleable if you (1) believe they are and (2) put the same kind of work into learning them as you would anything else.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 5th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    Learning a new skill set requires crossing a moat of low status, and the willingness to be visibly bad in public is itself the advantage.

    Their wordsThe idea is that making changes in your life, especially when learning new skill sets, requires you to cross a moat of low status, a period of time where you are actually bad at the thing or fail to know things that are obvious to other people.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 6th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    Grinding raises output briefly while destroying the creativity and big-picture thinking the work depends on.

    Their wordsThe reality is that grinding, even if it temporarily increases output, kills creativity and big picture thinking.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 7th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    A drop in agency is the earliest sign of burnout, arriving before you consciously notice you are burning out.

    Their wordsBurnout is the ultimate agency-killer. This is so true that I’ve learned to identify a reduction in agency as one of the first signs of burnout, one that shows up even before I consciously realize what’s happening.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 8th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    Advice on how hard to work should only be taken from someone who has burned out before.

    Their wordsMy rule is never to take instructions on how hard I should work from someone who hasn’t burned out before.

    ↗How to be more agenticusefulfictions.substack.com 9th of 9 in this piece

    Interesting