A couple of months back, I was at a dev event where AI agents (specifically coding agents) were being discussed. I asked some questions based on some deductions about their agent by knowing how coding agents typically function. A little while later, 3 people walked up to me and asked me about giving them a roadmap to follow which would help them be able to understand these things because they couldn't understand my questions, let alone their answers. This wasn't the first time that someone had (very enthusiastically) asked me for a roadmap that they could follow. I've been on the other end of this as well and because of that, I know that this bump of enthusiasm only lasts till the ride home because the desire was mimetic and not intrinsic. 1. An older friend I respect and admire had done SEO consultancy and so I started trying for that. He had also done content writing and I started writing tech articles on the internet. He was in the web3 space and that's what I started following too. Admittedly, it took me longer than I would've liked to realise that I was doing exactly what those 3 people had done- I was just following it for the output and not for the life that it entails. 2. Imagine you're shopping for clothes. There are too many shirts to choose from and you end up unable to pick a single one. Then, your friend comments that a particular one looks nice and now, that shirt has suddenly gained presence that it did not have before. This shirt has become the one you had been wanting all this time. This shirt is the only thing that can cure your anxiety now. But this shirt and the happiness connected to it will always be ephemeral. Searching for "how to be more agentic" is kind of funny to me because this search query itself, on the surface, is rather unagentic. Sonnet's definition about agency is:"Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own free choices. It's about having control over your actions and the ability to influence your own life and environment. When someone has agency, they're not just passively responding to circumstances—they're actively shaping outcomes". Dotted down roadmaps are doing the opposite of this because you're indirectly asking someone else to give you a system that will influence your life. This is an impossible task to do. There is no way to transplant the unique circumstances, values, motivations and systems. And if you dig a little bit deeper you'll realise that the person doesn't actually want to be that thing, they just want to have what that thing produced. If you zoom in on this, this is very much like the problem with productivity boosters and "second brain apps". I want to be able to give advice that actually is of benefit- even when I'm asked to give a roadmap. And at that event, I did just that too by telling them about some source material to start with. But, even when I was saying it I knew that it probably wouldn't work. Because I've yet to see it work. If we take out the context that is required for advices to be valuable, we end up assuming that the path of that roadmap is clear because it seems clear to us in our minds. That is because the prerequisite for it to be clear is already present in the systems we end up developing and adopting. Moving forward with this assumption is, at times, dangerous because it can end up in giving the wrong advice. Following a roadmap like that is akin to following a Udemy course. How likely is it that you're going to end up with answers of problems in future if you're being told the solution (and how to get there) at every step of the way? This can and should be solved by knowing what you want and whether you truly want it. More time should be spent thinking about this so that you can keep optimising your path. You don't have to have a solid picture of what kind of a life you're going to end up living, but you absolutely need to keep this feedback loop active so that the outcome becomes one that would actually free you of the constant anxiety for that one magical shirt.You don’t have to do things others do, or have things they have, at the expense of the deeper things you want. You really don’t. Almost everything is an option. You have full permission to ask yourself what really matters to you—whatever that is—and then optimize for that in all hard tradeoffs of life. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices anyway. Might as well not sacrifice the wrong thing. Sacrifice Thinking back, I still don't know how I should have answered those people whenever I was asked questions like this. Maybe there's nothing that will make a difference. But, I actively choose to not believe this because I believe that anyone can do anything. The question then that is left open is what it is that you actually want to do? Because when someone asks you for a broad roadmap like this with sheer enthusiasm that they will follow it to the dot, what they might really be asking is: tell me what to want and how to get it. And that's the one thing that no one can and should decide for you.
Thanks to Talha Ashraf for the critiquing this with valuable feedback.