I struggled for many years with the definition of being ‘successful’ in life. I always misinterpreted being ‘successful’ means being ‘victorious’, it meant crossing the finishing line. The pressure of being successful always left me feeling unacknowledged, insufficient, and unskilled- always short of winning the game. Having said that, what I mean to say is that even though both the words are synonymous, there is a thin line between being successful and being victorious in any domain.
Let me share a story of a friend here.
Just a few days ago, I met a friend over coffee for a deep and meaningful conversation and she shared with me how it has become critical to quit her 20 years of banking job to pursue her calling in the fitness business. Being an entrepreneur myself, I was happy with her decision of following her passion and pursuing dreams, but I was curious too to know what motivated her to make the choice. The reasons shared came from a successful person but not from a victorious one. She narrated to me how she did her job well, earned well, made good friends, achieved targets and recognitions, and kept the bosses happy, but the sharing had a hint of feeling unaccomplished. The fear of continued work pressure, corporate politics, seeing others get better projects, impact on mental and physical health, and unclear business goals – the other side of the story bothered me. I was concerned because I understand that escaping from one unfulfilled area and entering another area only create new sets of unfulfilled experiences. It is critical to leave victorious from one battlefield (job) to the next battlefield (business), therefore, it is important that she played the game of victory first.
Playing the game of victory is different from the game of success. It would mean that she faces the same people and experiences and past mistakes again, but this time leverage it with a different character. The former character may be fragile to accept all that was thrown or may have been defeated on the battlefield because she was at the impact of the situation. But victory appears when the new character develops the knowledge and power that operates from the source, which is not fragile nor robust, but Antifragile.
Antifragility is a type of character that basically make the person benefit from stress, extreme shocks, past mistakes, and volatility. Let me become more aggressive here and elaborate, it’s like an antifragile character gains or benefits from the disorder and uncertainty, the person operates from a completely new paradigm that is beyond resistance because the stressors instead of breaking you help you become a better version to thrive. The antifragile character has the full capacity to deal with the known and unknown making the behavior unpredictable for others. Because now with every hit, the character develops a new distinct strength and ability not only to win the battle but also develops an intellect to create a new battlefield of his own with his own rules.
Choosing a business life is a deliberate choice of bringing disorder and chaos. Everything is volatile and uncertain, hence it is important that the person develops the characteristic of antifragility and builds the intellect and intelligence to leverage the disadvantages too.
P.S: Antifragility is a concept that is discussed by Nassim Taleb in the field of philosophy. During my last phase of corporate life, I was able to successfully apply it and come out victorious in the battle against success.
Nice…