Becoming antifragile is about more than just surviving change — it’s about learning to use change to become a stronger and more inspired version of yourself.
Achieving this does not happen overnight. Instead, we need to gradually become better at doing two things: knowing what matters most to us and putting that into practice. Then, the clearer we are about what matters most, the more inspired we feel, so the better we implement what we have chosen to do, and the more inspired we feel about the results, so the clearer we are about what matters most, the more inspired we feel, … and so on.
In other words, the way we become antifragile is by creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop that starts small and gradually grows.
To help you achieve this, The Churning, Inner Leadership provides a framework and a set of tools that enable you to progressively develop your abilities at seven key skills or competencies:
- The first is your ability to remain calm in a crisis, strongly connected with what matters most to you and who you are at your best. This brings you the stability that gets you through the storms — and when times are calm it expands your ability to reach out and influence the world.
. - In a world that no longer works the way it used to, it is easy to make mistaken assumptions. So the second key skill is to learn to spot these mistaken assumptions and make clearer sense of what is really happening — both rationally and by drawing on your unconscious intuition.
. - Next, having understood the situation, the third skill is the ability to find more opportunities in a situation. This expands the range of options available to you, boosts your morale, and puts you back in control — all of which make you more likely to succeed.
. - The fourth key skill is knowing how to choose the way forward that aligns best with your long term goals, even when you’re not sure what is happening or what the outcome of your actions might be.
. - The fifth core competence is the ability to get clear about your purpose and values: this will make you more focused, effective, enthusiastic, and adaptable, no matter what is happening around you.
. - The sixth key skill is the ability to describe your chosen way forward in ways that inspire you and the people around you to long to make it happen.
. - And the seventh skill or competency is the ability to ‘spin the flywheel’: increasing your momentum as you go forward by managing the psychological and emotional transitions that inevitably arise.
Together, these seven skills, abilities, or competencies will make you clearer about what matters most to you and increase your ability to achieve that. They will provide the Inner Leadership that enables you to use this time of change to become a stronger and more inspired version of yourself.
On a scale of 0-10 how strongly do you rate yourself at these seven competencies today? Which do you already feel strongest at? Where are you weaker? Where would an improvement bring you the most benefit most quickly?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.
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