Gods, Demigods, and Mortals: Taking Agency in Life

The Myth of Choice

In mythology there are often 3 classes that exist: Gods, Demigods, and good old regular Mortals. Outside of mythological powers, the real difference between each of them is Choice.

Mortals: The mortal has little to no choice and the river of fate directs them. They rely on luck, divine intervention, and an outcome they cannot control. The environment and people around them drive their lives.

Gods: Gods have choice in a box. They get cool powers, the ability to manipulate mortals, and what looks like some bit of agency over their lives. In reality, they are not much better than mortals. They get some freedom to do actions but rarely get to effect the outcome. They are subject to fate and are given limited boundaries in which they can exist.

Demi-gods: Demi-gods challenge fate and have, or create, the freedom to make any choice they want. They choose to become heroes, or anti-heroes. While they may not always like the outcome they do so willingly and on their own terms. They take advantage of what they have, and maneuver around obstacles put before them.

Now in the real-world theses classes do not exist, but the circumstances and people around us create an environment of choice akin to these classes. Someone struggling to put food on the table for their family may feel like the mortal, trapped in a cycle of work and sleep. A famous actor may feel like the God, money to spend, but unable to have a moment to be their real self away from the paparazzi. Some, however, have the power to look ahead in their lives, define their destination and make choices to navigate the path.

From the moment we wake up in the morning, life demands choices from us. Some are small like what shirt to wear, whether to eat cereal or toast. Others are monumental such as whether to pursue a new career, move to a different city, or commit to a relationship. Even trying to ignore a looming decision, not choosing, is still a choice. When you choose to avoid you are just the mortal handing over the choice to other people. Hopefully they have your best interest at heart.

This article is about reclaiming that power and being a Hero or a Demigod. Because while not every outcome is in our control, how we respond and the choices we make along the way shapes the life we ultimately live.

Choice as the Great Divider of Success and Failure

Spend time around high performers (leaders, entrepreneurs, athletes, or even everyday people who seem to “figure life out) and a common thread emerges. They see choice as active. They do not wait passively for opportunities; they create them, pursue them, and adapt when things don’t work out.

By contrast, those who continually struggle often externalize their failures. Something or someone else is always to blame: a bad boss, a rough economy, an unfair system, a stroke of bad luck. While external forces undeniably shape our circumstances, these individuals fail to recognize their power to choose differently, even within constraints.

The dividing line isn’t intelligence, talent, or luck. It is a mindset:

• Do I believe I have agency in my own life?

• Am I willing to make active choices, even when the outcomes are uncertain?

Those who succeed tend to answer “yes.” Those who fail, often by default, answer “no”. This distinction between passive and active choice is the silent divider between success and long-term dissatisfaction.

Why Avoiding Choice is Still a Choice

Think of choice as a coin toss. You can pick heads or tails, or you can refuse to play. But refusing doesn’t mean the coin does not get flipped.

Avoidance feels safer in the moment. “If I don’t decide, I can’t make the wrong decision.” But avoidance is itself a decision. A decision that usually favors stagnation, regret, or outcomes dictated by others.

Take the classic example of a stalled career. Someone hates their job, but instead of figuring out how to improve themselves or seeking new opportunities, they convince themselves it’s safer to keep their head down. The thought of dedicating time, effort, and resources to figuring out how they can take agency in their lives is overwhelming. They complain others are promoted, but done try and understand what made others promotable. They despise the bosses that don’t recognize their talent, but make no effort to take on new projects. They have no goal to shoot for and they avoid making hard choices. It is all about the external things, not the internal. The choice to avoid

Contrast that with the individual who acknowledges uncertainty but chooses action: learning new skills, applying for new roles, or even changing industries. One may fail temporarily, but the other guarantees long-term dissatisfaction.

The Complexity of Choice

Choice is rarely black and white…and this why people get overwhelmed and try to avoid. Choice a tangle of personal factors (what you bring to the table) and external forces (the environment you’re in and people around you). These combine with time pressures, resources, and how you perceive the events around you. It forms a really ugly equation (a topic for a future discussion!) .

Think about it like flying an airplane. You may be the pilot, but your freedom to fly is shaped by:

• Your training and skills (personal factors).

• The condition of the plane and runway (external factors).

• The weather (external factors outside your control).

• Air traffic control (human factors making decisions around you).

You still choose when to fly, but your choices can be heavily shaped by conditions both within and beyond direct control. Some people resent this reality and give up. Others adapt, navigate turbulence, choose to take off and land when they want, and still find ways to reach their destination.

The Myth of “Luck”

Many people explain away success or failure as “luck.” In truth, what we call luck is often the intersection of preparation, persistence, and opportunity.

Winning the lottery is luck in the purest sense. But most life outcomes like landing a dream job, building a successful business, creating meaningful relationships stem from the compounding effect of small choices made over time.

A person who consistently chooses to learn, grow, and build relationships increases the likelihood of being “in the right place at the right time.” The one who avoids choices or blames external forces decreases that likelihood.

As the Roman philosopher Seneca said: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

Choice in Crisis

To see the real power of choice, consider those who face life-altering decisions under extreme conditions. Millions of Syrians, for instance, chose to leave everything behind and flee civil war. For some, staying meant certain death; leaving meant unimaginable hardship with no guarantee of success.

There were limited great options and nothing to prepare for. Families and individuals just had to make a choice. This comes with the least visibility on the outcome and carries high risk. When we are forced to make choices in crisis, we can find ourselves in our most primitive state: fight, flight or freeze.

So, what do you do and what risk do you take? That depends on you and what risk you are willing to take. By making an active choice you steer the outcome, even at enormous cost, you may preserve the possibility of a future. For those who stayed, their choice (or lack of choice if they chose avoidance) still carried consequences…sometimes fatal ones.

While few of us face such extreme circumstances, the principle remains: every choice, big or small, closes some doors and opens others. Avoiding choice doesn’t stop consequences; it only ensures they are shaped by someone else.

The Ripple Effect of Decisions

One of the most powerful truths about choice is that every decision carries a ripple effect. Success or failure in the moment doesn’t end the story; it reshapes the landscape of what comes next.

• Choosing to attend (or skip) college shapes future career paths.

• Choosing to stay in (or leave) a toxic relationship shapes mental health and long-term happiness.

• Choosing to invest time in your health today determines the quality-of-life decades from now.

Even failures can open doors. An entrepreneur who launches a failed startup may meet future partners, develop new skills, or discover opportunities they would never have encountered otherwise. Failure is not the opposite of success and it’s often the price of admission.

Twin Force of Choice and Time

The relationship between choice and time is crucial. Time is both a friend and an enemy. Given enough of it, you can prepare, practice, and position yourself for success. Without it, you’re forced to make decisions under pressure, often with limited options.

But here’s the catch: we all have limited time. None of us knows how much. Those who succeed don’t waste it waiting for perfect conditions. Success comes from proactive choice, creating options before crises forces choice.

Think of financial planning and a goal of a million dollars in a retirement account. Someone who saves a little every month has time on their side, as compounding interest works in their favor. IF the market crashes, there is time to recover. Someone who delays until middle age faces the same choices with less time and higher stakes. Maybe their choice now becomes riskier investments, while the individual that started sooner has started to move their assets to safer options. The difference is not intelligence but the timing of their choices.

Time cannot be controlled, but how we use it is always a choice.

The Emotional Barriers to Choice

If choice is so powerful, why do so many of us avoid it? The reasons are deeply human:

• Fear of failure: “What if I choose wrong?”

• Overwhelm: Too many options create paralysis.

• Comparison: Measuring against others’ choices makes our own feel inadequate, or we fail to see the micro choices that led them to success.

• Ego: Refusing to admit we need help or more information.

These barriers are real, but they can be dismantled. Success requires not just logical decision-making but emotional resilience. Success comes from the ability to choose even when fear, doubt, or uncertainty loom large.

How to Reclaim the Power of Choice

Here are steps to help readers move from passive to active choosers:

1. Acknowledge Avoidance — Recognize when “waiting” or “not deciding” is itself a decision.

2. Clarify Priorities — Ask: What do I care about most? What does success look like for me?

3. Evaluate Factors — Separate what is in your control (personal factors) from what isn’t (external factors).

4. Make Small, Deliberate Choices — Big goals are built from small choices made consistently.

5. Reframe Failure — Treat it as feedback, not defeat.

6. Use Time Wisely — Start early, plan ahead, and accept that imperfect action beats inaction.

Reflection for Readers

Tonight, before you go to bed, write down one decision you’ve been avoiding. Ask yourself:

• What am I afraid of?

• What do I gain by not choosing?

• What’s the worst that happens if I act?

• What’s the best that happens if I act?

Then, commit to making one small step toward an active choice tomorrow.

Mere Mortals, Mighty Choices

The article is the first in a series I am working on I call Demigods and Mortals. It comes from the recognition that we are not gods and we do not have to be just mortals. We cannot control everything. We cannot predict the future with certainty. But we possess something even the gods envied and mortals wailed about in mythology, the ability to choose.

Your life, in the end, is not determined by fate or luck alone. It is shaped by the accumulation of choices: the ones you made, the ones you avoided, and the ones still ahead of you.

So the question is not whether you have the power of choice — you do. The real question is: What will you choose to do with it?