A breath of fresh air.
This was my immediate response to You Can Just Do Things, by Cate Hall. At a time when most new books are written by AI, which makes them all blur into one continuous stream of boring advice, Hall has a refreshingly original voice and uses it masterfully to share a vital message.
If I’m honest, this is the book I’ve been wanting to write for years, except she does it better.
A former attorney turned top-ranked female poker player turned biotech founder turned CEO of one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations, she has the credentials and life experience to write a book about agency.
Her thesis: You only have one life. Reinvent yourself as many times as you need to wring the absolute most out of it. The key is agency, which she defines as “the capacity to see choices where others only see constraints.”
What follows is a primer in how to make things happen.
This is one of the best-written books I’ve read in a while. Every chapter has nuggets you’ll want to highlight and remember. Some you’ll relate to. Maybe you knew it but needed a reminder. Others you’ll want to write on your bathroom mirror so you don’t forget.
For example, “Agentic people do not wait for miraculous saves” or, for isolating where our biggest self-improvement gains can be found, the “forbidden feeling: that one horrible feeling that your whole adult personality has been devised to avoid.”
You Can Just Do Things is witty, wise, and infinitely worth the read. Don’t wait another minute. Your future depends on reading this book now.
