Book 241 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 5/5)

Reflection Title: First, Do No Harm!

Book – Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Part 5 of 5)

Book Description:

In The Black Swan Taleb outlined a problem, and in Antifragile he offers a definitive solution: how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. For what Taleb calls the "antifragile" is actually beyond the robust, because it benefits from shocks, uncertainty, and stressors, just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension. The antifragile needs disorder in order to survive and flourish.

Reflection:

We conclude our final reflection from Antifragile with its most important message of all “First, do no harm”.

To do nothing will be more effective 99.9% of the time over doing something.

We, as humans, are drawn to action. I get that, and I’m the same way. We feel compelled toward action about anything and everything that stirs our emotions. We don’t want to see people in pain, suffering, dying, living an inequitable life, not having access to the things they need, etc. We want to see our fellow human being happy and thriving. This is our greatest downfall and strength; we think we can “fix” everything. Whether it is be our politics, culture, mental health, safety, commerce, health, or anything else we feel compelled to act if things aren’t going according to our desired plan. You see it every day in our 24-hour news cycle driven world – this thing happened today…what are we going to do about it????

We see something negative and we “act” and think we “fixed” the problem. Almost every single time, that action to fix the near-term problem was short sided at best and sets into effect a chain of events that leads to some unforeseen outcome down the road that we would have never expected…and why should we? How are we supposed to know? That’s the answer…we aren’t.

The truth is that nobody really knows anything. We think we have some good ideas, but every single time we act, we set into motion the compound effect that no one has any control over. Some call it karma, some call it fate, some call it luck, you can call it whatever you want to call it, what it means is that we don’t know what our actions will bring long term and there will never be anyone to understand.

So, what do we do Chris? Sit around and do nothing? That sounds like a terrible existence!

I agree, and that is not what I’m suggesting at all…quite the opposite actually!

My solution is to live a life of action that we crave to our core, but only do it toward what you know deep in your heart will do no harm to yourself and yourself alone. That is living a purpose driven life with your whole soul in the game.

While I have no idea where my life and my actions will ultimately take me, I know that if I live my values that I will do no harm to myself. I will have lived a life where I can safely look back and the wake left from my actions and say, I’m okay with whatever outcomes they bring. Of this, I’m 100% certain, which is about the only thing you can be certain of in this world.

So let mother nature, and her billions of years of tinkering and wisdom, handle the big problems in life. In your world, worry about yourself. If you do decide to act, and you should, make sure it is always 100% in alignment with your values, mission, and purpose. If you do that, I promise that you will never regret the outcomes it produces.

Question: Are you actions for others or for yourself?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb