How to Become Antifragile

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Leadership, ManagementLeave a Comment

People are reacting in different ways to current events: the pandemic, civil unrest, election jitters, stock market swings, etc. Some are celebrating, some are screaming in despair, others are crouched in fear waiting for the next catastrophe. There’s hardly anyone who hasn’t been negatively affected by one or more of these events.

When we develop optionality, we look for options that create advantages. Living through 2020 has been an exercise in finding options and avoiding minefields.

In his book, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder Nassim Taleb explains that people who develop optionality are more resilient, adaptable, and better at making decisions in a world they don’t understand.

Getting up every morning, going to work, and coming home every night, day after day is the opposite of antifragile. There is no randomness and there are no options. People who prefer to live this way become fragile when chaos occurs. Stress and the necessity of reacting to the unexpected create growth.

We should try to make our lives more antifragile and learn from disorder. Learning to recognize and respond to options enables us to grow in situations that may make other people depressed, frustrated, or angry.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and this year has taught us many lessons. If we seek to understand, to learn and adapt, and to look for options, we are one step closer to being antifragile.

Click here to see a 4-minute YouTube book review of Antifragile.

The road is easier together,

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