Measurement is an important part of all our lives, both for defining our objectives and tracking our progress towards them.
Antifragility might be more difficult to measure than some other things but it still matters. After all, it’s good to know our strengths and weaknesses. And it’s important to measure our progress as the tools of Inner Leadership start to make a difference.
So the book asks us to rate our abilities at the seven skills or competencies that make us antifragile: the seven skills or abilities that enable us to shift our inner state to become able to use change to become stronger and more valuable.
We start in the bottom left hand corner of the picture, in a state of ‘Churning’.
From here, the first skill or competency we need is the ability to shift this inner state to become ‘Centred’ and ‘Grounded’: connected with what matters most to us and who we are at our best. This starts us on the journey. The tools of Chapter 1 show us how to achieve this.
No matter how skilled we are at taking this first step, the second step is then to shift our inner state to feeling ‘Confident’ or ‘Sure’. We do this by being able to make clear sense of the situation, quickly and reliably. Chapter 2 gives us the tools to do this.
In Chapter 3 we realise that every challenge contains an opportunity and we learn how to find more opportunities in any situation. Now our inner state shifts to ‘Optimistic’. Now we have taken the third step in learning to use change to become stronger and more valuable.
Our fourth skill is the ability to choose our best way forward, even when the situation is unclear and the outcome is difficult to predict. The tools needed for this are covered in Chapter 4. And once we have learned to use them, they shift our inner state to become ‘Directed’.
In Chapters 5 and 6 we review our purpose and our values and create an inspiring description of the outcome we have decided to create. This enables us to inspire ourselves and other people to long to make it happen. Now, after taking the first six steps of becoming antifragile, our inner emotional state has become ‘Determined’, then ‘Inspired’.
Finally, in Chapter 7, we learn to maintain and build our inspiration in the face of the obstacles that will inevitably arise. With this skill in place we are ‘Ready’ to begin.
Each of these steps, on its own, is simple and straightforward. Combined in the right order they create a transformational staircase that anyone can climb. Then, the more you build your abilities at these seven competencies, the more antifragile you will become — more able to lead yourself and other people through change, in ways that make you stronger and more valuable.
If you want to use change to become stronger and more valuable, begin now. Rate your current ability (0-10) at each of the seven competencies. Then ask yourself what a ’10’ would look like for you for each skill. Then identify: Where is the biggest gap? Where would a small improvement make the biggest difference to your life right now? Where do you want to be in a year’s time? Finally, decide: what actions are you going to take to achieve that?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
You can sign up to daily posts here.
You can buy the book here and the workbook here.
(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also have to do the practice.)
Photo By William Warby via StockPholio.net