There’s a lot out there on being resilient, leaning into being punched in the face over and over again and not allowing it to bring you down.
But what if you could be more than just resilient?
What if you could be antifragile?
“The fragile wants tranquility, the antifragile grows from disorder, and the robust doesn’t care too much” ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Are you just living, or are you living in a way where you’re antifragile?
Antifragility is about benefiting from being exposed to shocks, thriving and growing when exposed to crisis, disorder and stressors in life.
The resilient resists shocks and stays the same.
The antifragile among us get better from the shocks; they reset and grow from being challenged.
Things that are antifragile benefit from uncertainty, randomness and variation in life.
SO HOW DO WE BECOME ANTIFRAGILE?
We’re living in a time where this messy world we live in feels like it’s getting messier.
Can we get ourselves into a place where we not only recover from this, but we get stronger?
Take the analogy of lifting weights to achieve stronger, larger muscles.
When weight training and progressively overloading muscles, microtears are created in the muscle fibres, which are essentially tiny injuries.
The body then sends increased blood flow and nutrition to the area to allow it to heal.
Over time (and if done properly), this leads to healing and increased muscle mass, which benefits the body.
So essentially, you have to break muscle down in order to build it back up so it’s stronger than it was before.
This is what it means to be antifragile.
If you allow each crisis or random, uncertain chain of events to make you stronger after it breaks you down, you’re living an antifragile life.
Top tips for living an antifragile life:
– when life throws you a curveball, roll with it and go with the flow.
– know that it is all happening FOR you, not TO you.
– experiment with it, be courageous with taking small risks
– avoid larger risks that could wipe you out completely if they don’t work out
– focus on what is working
– keep on top of your routine and do what you know works for you to get you through stress – focus on good sleep, exercise, nutrition and time spent outside in nature
– roll with the resistance, don’t fight it. Choose the path of least resistance
– stay positive and ALWAYS keep your sense of humour
– surround yourself with a good tribe of peeps who will be your cheerleader at all times no matter what life is throwing at you
– play the long game, keep your vision focused on the future instead of narrowly focusing on the present – you have to be willing to look like an idiot in the short term to look like a legend in the long term
Aim to be antifragile.
Catcha on the antifragile flip side,
