antifragile – From the desk of Adam Thomas

Are you willing to be bad?

I mean purely awful.

Are you ready to…

If you are, then you’ll learn something new.

Congratulations.

Now, are you ready to forgive yourself?

I think this question is more important than any other when it comes to doing something new.

The reason?

If you can forgive yourself for awful questions, then you’ll ask bad questions until you ask good ones.
By forgiving yourself for horrible decisions, you’ll research the “why” to figure out how to make better ones.
Understanding and forgiving yourself for looking “stupid” gives you the chance to learn the “why” so you can either fit into the norms or break them.

How rich our lives can depend upon on how willing we are to try new things and how often we can forgive ourselves when we do wrong because we’re not aware.

It seems vulnerable, and as a result, we think beating ourselves up absolves us of our “sins.”

However, the risk of rigidity is far more dangerous.

Well, That Was Bad

I bungled a presentation in front of the senior leadership that I sweated over and ultimately got wrong. It affected my work over the next week and threw me into a depression.

Lesson: Always know the game rules before playing.

True story. I tried to pitch something that was a slam dunk and realized I wasn’t prepared for the moment. That initiative took two more years and I failed to show my potential.

When we learn lessons, they often come with some experience. Sometimes it’s awful, but you get to take the lesson with you.

Don’t make the mistake of taking the experience with you.

If you aren’t careful, you risk becoming the experience instead of becoming yourself.

Your self is dynamic, resilient, antifragile.

Your experience is static, spiritless, fragile.

This is a major difference between being a leader and being bitter. The leader just takes the lesson.