I’ve been reading a lot about the concept of anti-fragility. Take for example a glass cup, it falls to the floor and breaks because it’s fragile. But if you have a plastic cup and it falls to the floor, it doesn’t break because it’s resilient. But we’re talking about being anti-fragile, getting knocked to the floor and getting stronger for it. A good example is Roman concrete. Researchers have wondered why Roman architecture has withstood that tests of time. Well, the Romans added lime to their concrete. Many researchers wrote the lime off as a mistake, just impurities that got into mixtures. But in reality the lime, when injured, helps heal the concrete after damage and actually makes it stronger with time. This is anti-fragility.
How do we learn to use life’s inevitable injuries to strengthen us? Often we can stand against adversity relying on our resilience, but we don’t grow. We just survive. I’m interested in how we thrive.
Expect failure. It’s inevitable. I don’t necessarily want you to always think about the worst, but understand that the potential is there. This allows you to build a plan. Because you never know - the worst case scenario may lead to an even better outcome. But you have to show up in that place to make it so.
Take risks. The only way to get good at being anti-fragile is to practice. Don’t be scared to take a risk, fail, and pivot.
Produce more than you take in. We are in a space in time where everyone is absorbing and absorbing content, making it harder to hear our own voices. So one step on your anti-fragile path is to create.
Embrace chaos. Life is inherently uncertain. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can begin to roll with the tide of life. If life was like an ocean, there is no point fighting against the waves, they will come no matter what. Roll with them.
Build stress into your life. This one may sound wild. But we build in stress that makes us stronger all the time - workouts, cold showers, challenging reading assignments, the list goes on. In order to get used to hardship you must practice. Practice makes permanent.
I offer a number of products that help build anti-fragility.
The Doux You Deck is my card deck that helps you radically understand yourself, making you truly capable of rolling with chaos as opposed to against it.
The Holistic Equilibrium Wheel PDF gives you a window into where you’re personally off balance. This insight gives you the ability to assess areas for attention in the moment.
The Understanding Fear PDF course teaches you how to understand and relate to your fear in new ways. Aligning with my ethos Vincit qui se vincit, She conquers who conquers herself.