Antifragility: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

 

Antifragility

As the legend goes, the son of Zeus, Hercules, a man born with unimaginable strength, needed to accomplish a series of tasks known as the 12 Labours at the service of King Eurystheus in order to atone for his sins. 

However, as the second of his 12 Labours, Hercules had to face a creature unlike any other. A nine-headed, water-dwelling serpentine beast known as the Hydra of Lerna or more commonly known as the Hydra.

As the battle began to ensue, Hercules, despite all his might & bravery, was disheartened when he discovered that cutting off one of its heads would only mean that two more shall take its place. Essentially, Hercules would never be able to kill it, as it only got stronger with every wound. 

Now luckily for us, we no longer live in a day & age where we have to carry swords & shields to defend ourselves from mythical creatures or fantastic beasts. 

However, most of us are not equipped with adequate armor or protection in the form of emotional knowledge, as life can often times be a relentless storm that batters us, whether if we're prepared to take the hit or not. 

But the beautiful thing about this ancient epic is that the Hydra is the perfect example of what it means to be antifragile, even after taking a very hard hit/s.

Antifragility, as author and scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb puts it in his book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder; "we use the word fragile to describe people, things, and organizations that are weakened when harmed, and the words robust and resilient for things that are able to withstand harm without weakening, but we don't have a word for things that gets stronger when harmed." (at least up to a point)

Therefore, in order to describe the kind of power that makes the Hydra so unique yet formidable, Taleb proposes a term of his own making known as Antifragile. 

Fragile, Resilient, Antifragile

"Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same, the antifragile gets better."      -Nassim Nicholas Taleb

To help us better understand the concept of antifragile, the words fragile, resilient & antifragile can be best described in a group of three, with each being represented by a famous myth from ancient Greece. 

Fragile

An ancient myth that exemplified fragility is the Sword Of Damocles. The story goes that Damocles, an adviser to King Dionysius II of Syracuse, greatly exclaimed & praised the king for all his greatness, power and authority. 

Damocles reckon that anyone should be in awe of his magnificence & power. The king however, decided to offer a switch of places to Damocles for a day, so that he could know what that power is like firsthand. 

Surprised but excitingly pleased by this, Damocles, without hesitation, jumped at the chance of this breathtaking offer. And as quick as lightning, Damocles sat on the king's throne, with every fortune & luxury at his disposal. 

But King Dionysius however, had a trick up his sleeve. He asked that a sword be arranged to hang precariously over the throne of where Damocles was sitting, held in place only by a single strand of horsehair.

Astounded & terrified by this, Damocles hastily questioned Dionysius of why he did so, to which he replied that the sword represented the feeling of what it is like to be king, as during his reign, King Dionysius had made quite a few enemies. 

Even though he had all the wealth in the world, & was protected by an army, he had to constantly watch over his back out of fear and anxiety against dangers that might try to overtake him. 

Damocles, upon hearing this, relented the throne as fast as he could, as he realized that being so "fortunate" harboured many ills as well. 

Therefore, being fragile means that a person or organization is unable to withstand too great a conflict in any way, as despite having immense wealth, they could stand to lose everything as they do not have adequate ways of protecting it. 

Resilient/Robust

An iconic myth that beautifully symbolizes resiliency & robustness is the Phoenix. The Phoenix is a beautiful & majestic bird typically portrayed as an eagle or peacock, with feathers that burn like the flames of a bonfire & a glowing aura that illuminates from it like that of a rising sun. 

Although its origins are not entirely from Ancient Greece, as cultures around the world such as the ancient Chinese & Egyptians have their own unique mythology on the mythical bird, what everyone generally agrees on is that the Phoenix is a revered creature that possesses the incredible ability to reborn or rebirth itself after its death. 

The Phoenix is often seen as a symbol of renewal & fertility, such as the case of the flooding of the Nile river in ancient Egypt, where crops and other edible plants flourish during the wet season.

But in the context of self-improvement, the Phoenix can also be seen as resiliency in its purest form. Its ability to endure the harshest of treatment & come back well and strong again is a testament to that. 

However, unlike the Hydra (as mentioned earlier) it does not have the ability to heal from its wounds to come back stronger. It's strength only remains the same while the challenge at hand may require more strength (or tactics) to overcome. Thus, one could be locked in an endless battle with an adversary whose undying will is equal to yours.

Here's another example:

Imagine two students are about to enter a classroom. One of the students prides himself on his hard work ethic, but the other student prefers to go with a methodical approach to life. 

And as soon as they walk in, the door behind them suddenly shuts! Realizing that they are both trapped in the room for whatever reason, the students try to figure their way out.

And immediately, the student with the hard work ethic tries to break down the door, ramming & kicking with all his might. And while all this was going on, the student with the methodical approach decides to sit back & look around. 

As he was looking through the classroom, he found a screwdriver in one of the table drawers and reckon to the other student that they can either unscrew the bolts on the door, or the bolts on the window. 

But not wanting to give up & believing in his might, the hard-working student ignores the other and continues trying to break down the door. 

The problem solver on the other hand, pauses to observe the hard-working student for a moment before turning around, facing the window, unbolting its frame, and was on his merry way. While the other student continued his battle with the unyielding door.

So the moral of the story was that although it is highly important to have a great work ethic & the resiliency for life, trying to push through a situation that is just as unyielding is not always the best solution. 

As how Albert Einstein would put it; "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." 

Antifragile 

Since we have already gotten to know what it means to be antifragile with the help of the Hydra, let's take a look at how can we implement this unique concept into our lives.

Antifragility Tips:

1)Working out regularly. Yes, it's that simple. Having a regular exercise regime as part of your lifestyle is one of the best & most effective ways to practicing antifragility. 

Take our body's skeleton for instance. In order to become stronger & thicker, our bones require constant amounts of daily movement and stress. 

Another classic example of  how strong our bones (& mind) can be are Muay Thai athletes. Through constant repetitive kicking and exercising, countless Muay Thai athletes have fundamentally trained themselves to become literal, walking-Terminators. 

That is why you get to see crazy footages on the internet of highly-trained people bashing their shins, and ACTUALLY breaking through dense objects such as, banana trees, baseball bats & even steel poles. (Although I highly recommend against the last one)

But if having the ability to go through objects like a superhero is a bit too much for you, then even simpler programs such as running or jogging, weightlifting, bodybuilding, calisthenics, football, yoga & even dancing would allow you to reap the benefits of antifragility. 

The most important thing is to see yourself improve in a task that demands a decent amount of energy expenditure. Once you sense that you've naturally outgrown and even surpassed that set program, challenge yourself to take on more obstacles & I guarantee that you'll briefly feel what the Hydra once felt. 

2)Redundancy(Have back-ups for back-ups). Now back when I was in high school, there was a period in my life where I became a doomsday prepper. 

Now I know you're all thinking that that was a silly & childish thing to do, and believe me, looking back now, I came to realize that some of the things I did was not exactly healthy for me. 

But on the other hand, certain things that I learned during my time as a prepper have come to be an invaluable resource. (Especially in our day & age now) And one of the things that I took away from was the concept of redundancy, or in prepper terms: "Having back-ups for your back-ups".

So for example, if you only have a single salary at the moment, try to invest your time in pursuing other passions. It could be turning your hobby into a teaching program, part-timing for other jobs or even starting your own online business, etc. 

I highly support this idea of thinking because should your employer be unable to pay you or if the company becomes compromised in any way, you might be left with nothing. 

But on the other hand, creating more options for yourself is the perfect way of avoiding fragility, as you avoid having all your eggs in one basket. You not only get to have a variety of options to pool your income from, you also get to enrich your experiences by doing what you love in life. :)

3)Letting go of unhealthy habits. Now, In order to let go of our unhealthy habits, you need to take the time out of your day to sit down alone & ask yourself: What are the things that makes me fragile? What are the things that makes me weak? What are the things that limit me from achieving my dreams?

It could be certain people, tasks or activities, or even habits that makes us feel vulnerable & limits our potential. When we make our New Year's resolutions, we tend to focus on adding new challenges into our lives. 

And while enriching our lives to further our growth is a beautiful & honorable endeavor, setting "good riddance" goals for certain aspects of our life can actually have an even bigger impact. Here are a few suggestions:

• Limit the intake of junk food

• Avoid sleeping late often

• Reduce the amount of smoking 

• Drinking moderately

• Gradually pay off all debt

• Avoid spending time with toxic people

• Avoid spending time doing things that you don't enjoy, simply because we feel "obligated" to do them

• Spend no more than twenty minutes of scrolling through social media per day

The Diamond That You Are

Ultimately, to build resiliency in our lives, we shouldn't fear adversity. Rather, we should embrace it, as each setback we face is an opportunity for growth. Taking a hit or two from the trials of life can either be seen as a painful misfortune or a learning experience, what matters most is that we have the power to continually make corrections and set new & better goals for ourselves.

Imagine a piece of glass, bulletproof glass & coal were laid out on a table with each of them representing fragility, resiliency & antifragility, and you subject them to high pressure & stress through the means of a hammer. 

Expectedly, the glass (representing fragility) will fracture upon impact as it is unable to withstand the force of the hammer. The bulletproof glass on the other hand, fairs better as its resiliency to pressure allows it to withstand a blow (if not, several blows) from the hammer. But its strength ultimately, has a limit as well, as it can only endure so much of pressure. 

Coal on the other hand, may not look like much & may even seem more brittle than glass itself. But if you subject it to continuous pressure for a long period of time, it will slowly and surely transform into a beautiful diamond whose beauty is unparalleled, & its strength that has no equal. 

It is through that pressure & hardship as well as stress that truly transformed the coal into the precious diamond that it was meant to be. And even though it may not seem like it now, you are the diamond that you will eventually see. 

Thanks for reading!

Yours Sincerely,

Satori Café