Resiliency is a novel virtue. Visions of an athlete or warrior handling stress and adversity without a grimace immediately come to mind. An individual who consistently jumps to solutions, not dwelling on the problem, never once batting an eye. For the resilient, nothing perturbs them. They are strong, steady, and unchanging. But in this last characteristic resides their downfall; resiliency is naturally unadaptable. What we should instead seek to attain is antifragility.
Coined by Nassim Taleb, antifragility is a system that takes in disorder, randomness, or stress and returns order, structure, or strength. For antifragile systems, negative inputs return positive outputs. Weight training is a prime example; we introduce a stimulus that acutely makes us weaker, but long-term, we grow stronger. With the mind, the same logic follows: antifragility is where the true value lies.
How do we become antifragile? How do we develop an antifragile mind? It is simple in theory but difficult in practice. Do things that suck. Do the things that we know are wholeheartedly good for us but that we hate doing. David Goggins knew he was onto something when others told him he was crazy. To challenge the status quo or do the unimaginable demands embracing absurdity. It requires mindfulness to recognize that our liberation lies beyond comfort, and the courage to act in that realm of randomness, chaos, and disorder.
We radically alter our reality when we combine strength of mind with strength of action, telling ourselves that discomfort and chaos are not to be avoided. They are only inputs. Then, we demand from ourselves the courage to act. The output is strength of mind and body, i.e., antifragility.
