A Hundred Truths! — Quotidian — 492

(Transcript of video originally posted on 15 Aug 2023)

This is Tom Bodett. An American radio voice artist. As well as an author. And, he has said something beautiful and quotable. I guess he is an academician. He says, there is a very simple difference between School and Life. What is it? Between school life and real life? Well, in School, you are taught a lesson and then given a test. Unfortunately though, in real life, the tables turn. In Life, you are given a test that teaches you a lesson. A good, hard test, and if you fail at it, if you suffer and struggle, you learn a lesson. How beautiful, is it not?

Namaste! Four hundred and ninety two. A hundred truths.. I don’t have the time to tell you about all hundred of them. I don’t think I NEED to tell you about all hundred of them! Find out why!

There is this book! The book is titled “100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late!” Like Tom Bodett said, you face the test first. You fail at it. Then, they teach you the lesson you needed to know before the test! Too late! What’s the point even writing that book, my dear Luca, if I am going to anyway learn it too late, I thought, when I opened the book and flipped through. I found quite a lot of interesting stuff in it.. A short book, but many many interesting tidbits.

Also, personally, a fulfilling moment.. What was that? These are the chapter titles. Just by looking at them, and quickly glancing through the content, I saw a kinda resonance. We have, many times not just once, addressed these recurring themes at Quotidians ourselves. It was a fulfilling, uplifting, feel-good effect that washed over me. And, while at it, one chapter caught my eye. We haven’t talked about THAT concept yet, and I thought, probably, today is the day! Independence Day and all that!

We have met this person, earlier. Nassim Nicholas Taleb. We have encountered a few books that he has written. We have learned a few quotes from those books too. Of the very few people that our CEO follows on Twitter, this guy is one of them! Philosopher. Thinker. He is the guy who made the concept of the Black Swan famous. He has written a book titled quite interestingly as “AntiFragile”. “I have a concept for this, I even have a mathematical proof for this, it is corroborated by so much that is happening in history, but it is quite surprising that the English language doesn’t yet have a word to represent this..” he opined.. Decided that one has to invent it then, and came up with “Antifragile”. The opposite of Fragile. Things that GAIN from disorder. Nassim Nicholas Taleb..

What is this Antifragility..? Well, first, what is meant by Fragile? “Hey, don’t drop this. It will break into pieces..” That is where we have encountered the “Fragile” word. But, he takes it a step forward. He says, something is fragile if it is averse to change. It can’t handle the unexpected. He points at things like a car, for example. He says, a car is fragile because, if the road is slightly uneven and filled with potholes, any challenges that are thrown at it, it tends to deteriorate. A used car is cheaper than a new car. It will get beaten up. It will wear out. There will be wear and tear. It will forever be becoming worse. BUT, systems like the human intellect, like human physiology and biology, those systems seem to possess a property called antifragility. Take, for example, this person. When she goes to the gym, and challenges her body, whatever happens to her actually ends up making her better. Don’t confuse yourselves with words like robustness or resilience. No! It is not that. It is beyond that. Robust means, Resilient means, it can withstand any assault on it. It won’t “break down”. That’s robust. But, this is a step further. Left to itself, it remains like itself. Challenged, it becomes better. THAT is Antifragile!

Those hundred beautiful rules.. The author calls them TRUTHS. And, in that, there is a chapter called Antifragility, containing four rules. 74. 75. 76. And 77. That is what we are going to review now.

Seventy Four. It says, “Learn to trigger overcompensation”. What does overcompensation mean? You do this, and this is the response. You do that, and this is the reaction. Nope. Not good enough. OVERcompensation! You do one, and I do FIVE. TEN even. That is Overcompensation. Any antifragile system overcompensates. Three examples coming up. Fatigued now, Fresh later. Hasn’t it happened to you? Who enjoys going to the gym? Who enjoys going to the terrace early in the morning, sun on your face, doing those exercises? Nobody! But, when you look back at what exercise did to you, even as early as afternoon, when you look back at the game you played, or look back at the run you ran, there is already overcompensation setting in. You are fatigued now, but you are fresher later. One more example. Take the simple act of learning! When you are learning, the simplest and clearest indication that you are learning? That is when you are helluvalot confused! Confused now! Clearer later! If you don’t do anything at all, you won’t improve at all in any way. But, if you agree to be confused now, you will bounce back higher and get clearer later! That is Overcompensation. Struggle in the short term, benefit in the longer term. Look for things, look for scenarios, look for opportunities and challenges that give you trouble in the short term, but have.. like the pot at the end of the rainbow.. have that long term benefit that clearly offsets the initial starting trouble. Trigger Overcompensation.

What is Seventy Five? Seventy Five is about surviving before optimising. Many of us make this grievous mistake. We try to optimise even before putting that safe platform below us, to ensure survival! Only after survival should optimisation come! Take this skier for example. This skier is not the fastest skier. He may have won the Olympics Gold Medal, but unfortunately, the truth is, he is NOT the world’s fastest skier. He is.. the world’s fastest skier who has ensured he doesn’t have a broken ankle. Isn’t that correct? One more! That investor who has made a billion dollars of money? Cleverly, smartly investing? He is NOT the world’s smartest investor. He is THAT investor who has ensured, somehow, a firm safe platform, he has ensured somehow that he doesn’t go bankrupt first. That is when we can even talk about that successful billionaire investor. The foundation goes first! Here is another example. That smart lady, who climbed very fast, meteoric rise, CEO of the Year Award? Is she the smartest, hardest working woman in the entrepreneurial space? No! Probably no! She is the one who took care that she didn’t burn out too quickly. Do you get it? That is the point. So, survive before optimising. Remember the series of car movies, titled “The Fast and the Furious”? Even in those movies, our hero, he will “preserve” the Nitro-Firing moment.. He won’t switch it on until that last moment! For, switching it on prematurely will not yield an optimised result, and the car might even explode. But, when you kick it on at the right moment, it gives you that special speed boost and you win the race. Go watch it!

Seventy Six is about taking risks! Remember the Sweet Spot they often talk about? We have encountered it earlier too. Goldilocks Tasks. Remember? Not too much. Not too easy.. Similarly, some say, “Taking risks is risky. Please don’t take any!” and there are others who say, from the other side, “The biggest risk you are taking is the fact that you are not taking any risks at all!” So, do we take a risk or not? That CEO lady, for example, should she work hard? Or not? That investor? Should he invest in this stock or not? That sportsperson? Should he try this new move or not? And for that, Nassim gives a very simple suggestion. Don’t try to change ten percent all of a sudden. Try one percent instead. In a controlled, safe environment. So, when a rulebound game is in progress, when it is a win/loss situation, don’t try smart stuff. On the other hand, when you are practising down a slope, when you are challenging yourself, try a one-percent different move. And practise it. Similarly, instead of dumping it like the proverbial “All the eggs in one basket”, spread it around! And for the CEO lady? Don’t burn yourself out with HARD work. Try SMART work instead. Try empowering people around you instead. Bank on their support system. So, “Find the Sweet Spot” is Rule Number 76. Antifragility.

What is Seventy Seven? Seventy Seven, very beautiful, almost Buddhist in its message. The author says, think of yourself as a Container. You are a vessel.. What is he trying to say with this cryptic message? If somebody sends me feedback thus:- “What sorta silly video is this? And you are posting them on YouTube? Whoever watches all this drivel?” I can collapse and feel devastated and doomed, and accept it as a label applied to me as a person. That directly impacts my ego and probably freezes me from making Video 493. On the other hand, the same criticism, I can analyse and try to find out what part of my mental model, what pattern, what aspect, what quality of my personality, or my creation, is being talked about. I am a vessel. I am container. I am a hundred little things. Which little thing is being given feedback about? If we put in the effort needed to identify that correctly, our image, our ego, our self is intact. And there is a possibility that you might change for the better. 493 is going to be better. Similarly, he gives the same advice not just for negative feedback but for positive feedback too. Imagine somebody tells you, “Oh! Wow! Whatta video!” You shouldn’t immediately start levitating in joy, don’t start flying! Wait! There is a little aspect of your personality that this feedback is coming to. This doesn’t obviate the need for you to do introspection and clean up the other stuff. Some random little thing, somebody has praised. That’s ALL! You are a Container! A container filled with a lot of gravel, sand, and stones. One little diamond has been hiding somewhere under the surface, and they have spotted it, and they are appreciating its splendour. That’s it! Isn’t that cool! For, antifragility thrives on these three words. Usage, Variation, Feedback! Keep trying. Keep varying. Keep asking for feedback on what worked and what didn’t. What do other people say? What can you change? What can you vary? What can you keep doing? That is the antifragility-magic, says the author. Cool! 74, 75, 76, and 77. We may come back to this book to look at other chapters that we haven’t covered yet in Quotidians. But, personally, fulfilling thought. Just what we have been talking about, provided in extremely concise, actionable form, here in this book. I really liked it.

That brings us to the closing thought. I showed you a lady earlier. Let me tell you her name too. Sonaali Swami. And who is she? When I wanted to convey “muscle” and “bodybuilding”, I immediately went in search of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Lee. But, I kinda pulled myself back, and wondered, are there bodybuilders in India? Who are women? Here is one. Here is one of MANY. She was 37 when she entered the gym for the first time! She has entered a competition at the age of 38, and she’s an ecowarrior, and she is a body builder and personality coach. Sonali Swami. Bengalurian. Inspiring! Antifragile! What do you think? We will meet again soon! Thank you!