Agency is our conscious, self‑reflective power to direct thought and action.

Every day we make hundreds of decisions and choices that lead to outcomes.

Circumstances and choices have an impact on who we are and on the trajectory of our lives.

Every day, we all make hundreds of small and large decisions and choices: This may involve deciding whether to start or complete a task, whether to speak or respond, whether to pause before reacting, whether to avoid or confront a difficulty, whether to be positive or negative, and whether to be ethical or unethical. And this is only a few of the myriad decisions and choices we make every day. And here’s one more now: “Will I continue reading this narrative?”

If you have chosen to continue reading, it is important to recognize that every decision and choice has consequences, and that each choice contributes to “who we are” and to the life we live. We are here right now, reading these words, because of all the choices we have ever made; and life therefore continues through the decisions and actions that stem from those choices; even a non-choice is a choice (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Purje, 2014).

Our ongoing daily decisions, choices, and consequences continually shape our cognition and agency. Agency is also associated with the self-reflective, conscious capacity that provides the cognitive means to make our decisions and choices, to appreciate them, and, of course, to continually hope that positive consequences will follow the decisions and choices we have made (Bandura, 2006; Purje, 2014).

Circumstances and outcomes, self‑evidently, have an impact on who we are and on the trajectory of our lives; however, they do not determine character. In neurobiological and existential terms, consciousness and our self-reflective cognitive capacities provide self-directed control and agency, expressed through our decisions, actions, and self-initiated choices, which then determine character (Baumeister & Vohs, 2002; Walker, 2022; Zimmerman, 1989).

The difference is not in circumstances, outcomes, or even in........

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