This article summarizes what anti-fragility is, and outlines my own hypothesis on how one can achieve an anti-fragile constitution: personal anti-fragility.
I first came across the concept ‘anti-fragility’ in the book of the same name by the writer, risk analyst and philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It immediately struck a chord with me and I’ll explain why shortly.
The term ‘anti-fragile’ was coined by Taleb but anti-fragility has been around since time began. We can see it in nature all around us, but for some reason most languages tend to only have words for ‘fragile’ and ‘robust’.
In his book, ‘Anti-fragile’, Taleb seeks to describe his interpretation of the idea and outlines the importance of being anti-fragile, which is what originally inspired me.
About anti-fragility
Anti-fragile is neither fragile nor is it robust. Anti-fragile has two opposites, I suppose, in the same way that 0 is the opposite of 1, but 2 is also the opposite of 1.
As you can imagine, when something is fragile, then mistakes are rare but severe. A china cup isn’t dropped very often, but when it is dropped, it cannot be fixed. In contrast, something that is anti-fragile accepts regular and small mistakes (so long as they are resolvable). The adaption and thriving through regular stresses, is anti-fragile.
Examples of fragile, robust and anti-fragile
An example using boundaries
- A glass pane – fragile
- A stone wall – robust
- A hedge – anti-fragile (always able to adapt and regrow and strengthen, especially if the hedge contains brambles!)
Examples in the world of professions
- Corporate executive – fragile
- Truck driver – robust
- Craftsman – anti-fragile
Examples from the world of software (an area I have been working in)
- One off developed piece of software: fragile
- Software with regular updates: robust
- A high performing team with a clear mission and live metrics: anti-fragile
Note here that the anti-fragility is derived from the fact that a team, with a mission and feedback loops can build whatever solution is needed. It may not be ‘software’, in the end. It might be hardware, it might be APIs. It might be a complete change of tack. I’ll refer back to this example later.
Ancient wisdom
In mythology, Taleb highlights the story of the hydra – every time one of its heads was cut off, two more would grow – a bit like the brambles in my dad’s garden.
My first hint of this concept came through the work of the professor of mythology, Joseph Campbell, and author of ‘Hero of a Thousand Faces’. In one of his talks, he states that the ‘insecure way is the secure way’. In other words, if you go down the path of security (e.g. a secure job or seeking money) then you must also realise that jobs and money can come and go. An insecure path (perhaps more daunting and difficult) will prompt us to build up the security within us so that we can continuously adapt to any unforseen circumstance that presents itself – and it will!
We live in a universe that is inherrently volatile and in constant flux. Strangely, we are led to believe that the world is secure and predictable – and we even have experts to predict what is likely to happen next. But we cannot predict things that we cannot imagine, in the same way that people could not predict that black swans existed if they had never seen one. Hence the term, black swan events – events that no-one could’ve predicted.
By being anti-fragile we can adapt to these events and, ideally, even thrive in such circumstances.
My quest
Over the course of the past year I have been experimenting with personal objectives and personal agility. I have sought to understand these two areas and also see, by applying the principles to my own life, what can be achieved. I have found both incredible helpful to me right now in my life.
I have come to realise that many aspects of my life are ‘fragile’. Other aspects are robust and some aspects have been anti-fragile all along!
I’m particularly interested in looking at the areas of my life / lifestyle that are fragile – especially those areas that have hidden fragilities.
I also want to ensure that the objectives that I work towards in life have anti-fragile outcomes. So, for example, I don’t want to ahcieve a ‘one-off piece of software’, instead I want to build a ‘high-performing team with metrics’ – but what might that look like in my own personal life?
I don’t know yet.
I imagine, it will probably be a combination of reducing fragility in some areas and increasing the optionality in other areas (i.e. potential for upside). It will probably mean reducing the risk exposure in some areas and increasing it in other areas (so long as the mistakes are small immediate and resolvable).
A soft underbelly
We are all fragile in different areas. Taleb give the example that a 90 year old woman will be physically more fragile than a fit strong young man. Emotionally, however, it will most probably be the young man who is the fragile one!
Part of this journey will be developing an awareness for finding out where the fragilities lie.
My hypothesis for personal anti-fragility
I believe that personal antifragility is the next stage on from personal objectives and personal agility.
In fact, I believe that personal objectives and personal agility provide both the vision and the strategy to achieve an anti-fragile constitution. It’s a natural and inevitable next step.
Why?
Because to achieve anything ambitious, it requires a powerful vision of the future to inspire us, a strategy to deal with a complex situation, and a radical focus to ensure we get the right things done.
This was the conclusion of my experiements over the past year and everything that I have read in that domain.
Achieving anti-fragility
To take things further towards a personal anti-fragility, there are, I believe, two new elements that I will need to integrate:
- optionality; increasing the small bets
- via negativa (Lat.); removing problems rather than adding solutions
I am currently experimenting with a few options for how to achieve this.
Wrapping up
My aim is to integrate personal anti-fragility into my life!
This is a quest which may lead me all the way back round to where I once started off! In fact, that’s exactly what I’m expecting.
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For more information about personal agility, see: personal agility
For more information about personal objectives, see the best sailors navigate via the stars