The concept of anti-fragility was developed by the brilliant professor, former trader, and hedge fund manager Nassim Taleb.

Anti-fragile systems do not merely withstand a shock or a stress, but IMPROVE because of it.

Think about a new car driving down the road hitting potholes. Each pothole weakens the suspension. The first few may just knock it out of alignment, which will cause your tires to wear unevenly. After a while, the shock absorber gives way and the entire front end starts feeling the pain of the impact. A few more ruts may bend the rim or damage ball joint. Eventually after hitting enough potholes you’ll be replacing the entire suspension.

That’s because a new car’s suspension gets weaker with each impact.

Think of the same car situation above, but instead of the owner just letting the car get worse with every bump, he has his car frequently checked by a good mechanic who replaces wearing components on the car with premium better-than-OEM parts.

This new system is antifragile. Each detected defect is made stronger than it was before.

In Economics

The corollary of anti-fragility is that if you don’t stress and thereby strengthen an anti-fragile system, it will get weaker.

Talib applies anti-fragility concepts to economics. Prior to 2008, the U.S. economy went through many boom/bust periods. Growth periods turned into recessions and this kept the economy and us the participants strong.

Since 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank has stepped in and ‘saved’ the economy from recession by lowering interest rates and printing money. When growth waned, the Fed stepped in with its various programs of low interest rates and buying assets to help areas of the economy weather the storms.

But the unintended consequence of sparing our anti-fragile economy from growth/recession cycles was that the economy became weaker and dependent. Instead of recession; we ended up with huge amounts of government, corporate and personal debt; we devalued our currency; and because there are no more recessions and saved money loses value, people stopped saving money for a rainy day. Now, half the population has no savings.

Because our financial system is anti-fragile, taking away its down cycles has made it weaker to handle shocks in the future. This was very apparent with COVID-19, as the Fed and U.S. government threw trillions at the pandemic which resulted in runaway inflation.

Our Kids

We parents want our kids to have happy lives. We often cushion the blows of life by helping our kids avoid disappointment and difficulty.

“This is the tragedy of modernity: as with neurotically overprotective parents, those trying to help are often hurting us the most.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Prepare your child for the road, not the road for the child. – Unknown

Life is not fair. We would like everything to be equitable, but it won’t be. It would be much better if we let kids deal with this fact rather than trying to take the difficulty away.

Kids learn quickly in school that life is not fair. Some kids are ‘naturals’ in sports where others have to work hard for placement. Some kids have two parents that are involved and are active in the education of their kids. Other kids may only have one parent, who has little time and energy to be involved.

Life is not fair. But because we are anti-fragile, there is a silver lining.

Having to work to overcome obstacles makes one stronger. Working hard teaches us that obstacles are a means of getting better. Unlike the person that has everything going for them, the person who has worked for everything is at a different level – they are purified by fire.

Society holds those that achieve through difficulty in a higher status than those that just receive by chance. Being an heir to millions is far less admirable than being self-made.

I was watching a Tony Robbins special on Netflix where there was an obviously successful 30-something year-old woman complaining about how her parents neglected her when she was young. Tony asked her how she was doing now. She answered that things were going well with job and family. Tony mentioned that maybe instead of blaming her parents for what was wrong with her childhood she should give them credit for how she ended up.

Here’s the kicker: Attitude alone can determine whether you will lead an anti-fragile existence.

The Mind is Anti-Fragile

Being anti-fragile means adversity is turned into benefit.

The brain is an anti-fragile system. It needs to be challenged with complex problems to expand.

Too many of us want to turn off our brains and let other people do our thinking for us. This applies particularly to retired people.

“Most humans manage to squander their free time, as free time makes them dysfunctional, lazy, and unmotivated—the busier they get, the more active they are at other tasks.” ― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Regurgitating something we read or saw on the news doesn’t count as expanding our minds. Try listening – I mean really listening – to someone with an opposing viewpoint.

I believe much of the divisiveness in this country can be attributed to lazy thinking. It’s much easier to accept a narrative than to acknowledge that an issue is complicated and try to work through it.

What does count is taking on something that is challenging like a building project or a new job or hobby. Daily challenges in work or play build resilience.

Man-Made Anti-Fragile Systems

There are plenty of natural systems that are anti-fragile. As mentioned, it is also possible to set-up man-made anti-fragile systems as well.

A man-made antifragile system can be boiled down to simply learning from your mistakes.

“Further, my characterization of a loser is someone who, after making a mistake, doesn’t introspect, doesn’t exploit it, feels embarrassed and defensive rather than enriched with a new piece of information, and tries to explain why he made the mistake rather than moving on. These types often consider themselves the “victims” of some large plot, a bad boss, or bad weather.” ― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Learning from mistakes is a feedback loop. Once the error is made, the data is processed and the correction is made. The result is a better overall system.

Good business management teams do this all the time. They:

• Determine their objectives (sales, development, etc.)
• Collect data
• Make sure they are informed of the latest trends in their field
• Try new things (R&D)
• Monitor progress
• Correct as they go.

Good management teams also make sure that the high performing people in their company are taken care of. As Marcus Lemonis indicates, people are as important as process or product.

Anti-fragility and the Body

The physical human body is also an anti-fragile system. You have to work it to make it stronger. In fact, you have to work it just to maintain what you have.

But we can learn a valuable lesson about anti-fragility from the human body: anti-fragile systems have their limitations. We know that if you work the body too hard, we can make it weaker. We could overstress muscles, tendons, and ligaments and cause damage. Rigorous exercise and activity can also reduce your immune response.

Nietzsche’s comment about what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger is not totally accurate. Too much exercise or the wrong kind can cause you to suffer a set-back.

I remember when P90X first came out. I was in my forties then and wanted to take my exercise program to the next level. After 8 weeks on the program, the noticeable result was that I was exhausted all the time and that I was not getting any stronger.

I changed over to another program – Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne. The program utilizes Interval Cardio and basic strength training moves. Much less intense, much lower time commitment.

And much better results. I got much stronger on Craig’s program.

Ideally, you want to optimize your exercise and nutrition to get the best result. Just like any man-made antifragile system, this takes effort. It requires a clear goal and collection of data. It takes knowledge of what’s out there, trial and error (R&D), and monitoring of results. And it takes change.

And just like a good business makes sure employees enjoy the work, you want to make sure you enjoy your program. You want workouts that are rewarding and food that tastes good and is satisfying.

Also, just as businesses hire consultants and have a team of experts to guide them, for optimum results you would be best off to do the same.

Your Immune System is Anti-Fragile

If you moved to a remote island void of any other contact or vaccines for 20 years and then came back to civilization, you would likely die. There are so many bacteria and virus’ floating around that your body just could not handle them.

The reason we have so many vaccines is because vaccines bolster our anti-fragile immune systems by introducing weakened or dead virus. If we don’t introduce these virus, our bodies would have to fight with no defenses built up.

Vaccination is not the only way to boost the immune system. As I cover in Your Castle’s Defense System,

“The science tells us that the components of a responsive immune system include 1) maintaining a healthy weight 2) eating the right foods 3) having the right activity 4) reducing stress and 5) proper sleep.“

Anti-Fragile Gratitude

It’s February and about this time every year I wonder why I live in Upstate New York. I love the weather 10 months out of the year here, but the dead of winter is a little trying.

There’s no one that appreciates a nice day more than us Northerners. It was 43 degrees and sunny yesterday and the comments from those I encountered were overwhelming positive about the “wonderful weather” we’re having lately.

It’s amazing how a few weeks of temperatures in the 20’s can change your outlook. When I lived in Northern California, I don’t ever remember being grateful about the nice weather. I took it for granted.

“The best way to verify that you are alive is by checking if you like variations. Remember that food would not have a taste if it weren’t for hunger; results are meaningless without effort, joy without sadness, convictions without uncertainty, and an ethical life isn’t so when stripped of personal risks.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

And that’s what difficulty should do – help us appreciate what we have had in the past and what we have in the present. Those of us that have gone through a purification by fire know first hand how good we have it. No time should be wasted sulking about the past. Instead, we look forward and prepare for the best future we can make.

Ron