Daily Reminder #3: Handling Change

How you prepare yourself for volatility is what matters

Enough trips around the sun you realize change is happening all around you, all the time. Hard times don’t last, but neither do great times. And people (including yourself) will act in all manner of ways you could have never, ever predicted. This too shall pass rings true in every corner of the universe. With this in mind, here are three classes of people:

Class #1 : FRAGILE. They deteriorate with change and uncertainty. In the lightest examples they have a bad attitude when things don’t go their way. The darker side is when tragedy strikes and life ceases to ever be as it was. Forever changed (not positively).

Class #2 : ROBUST. They withstand change and uncertainty. They don’t grow or evolve, but they don’t wither either.

Class #3. ANTI-FRAGILE*. They benefit from change and uncertainty. Though they cannot predict what maladies will come along, they are mentally, physically and spiritually prepared to face challenges and grow from them. This isn’t pollyanna or “seeing the bright side.” It’s holding two contrasting ideas at the same time: this sucks; and I will be better because of this.

THE BUFFALO: I’ll end with this, and to be honest I don’t even know if this is true. But I’ve heard buffaloes, in the face of an impending storm, charge toward and through it. Class #1 would run away from the storm. Abandon the tribe and try to avoid any storminess. Class #2 would hunker down, endure the storm and hope it ends sometime soon. Class #3 is the buffalo. Head-on into the storm, they both demonstrate courage and get through the storm faster.

*Coined and explained far better by Nassim Taleb in his book Antifragile. Also elaborated on by Shane Parrish in The Great Mental Models