Anti-Fragile Thoughts
1. Mother Nature Is Always Right
Just because something doesn’t make sense to us in the moment does not mean it’s wrong. If in nature the best at something is doing that thing repeatedly there’s probably a reason. Now apply this to sports where we try and “fix” freak athletes. Or where we have gone so far away from basic fundamental human movements of sprinting, jumping, rolling etc in place of everything we do in the weight room. “Don’t Lecture Birds how to fly” Just watch and enjoy.
2. Don’t Buy Calloused Feet
We have walked around for thousands of years barefoot, developing calloused feet, then we tried to “fix” it by developing shoes, now we are going back to “Minimalistic Shoes” as the new craze. Don’t Buy Calloused Feet. Technology Finds a way to make itself invisible. Everything that is fancy and new, either wont last or is just a reiteration of what nature already had for us. Apply this to many sports science fields where we have millions of “perfect” ways to track data but the best way, actually watching and talking to your athletes, is probably right in front of our eyes and being ignored. There is a big difference between signal and noise and data in large quantities is toxic.
3. Via Negativa
In all aspects of your life it is usually much better to cut out than to add. It’s much easier to pursue a life of avoiding things that make you unhappy than the actual pursuit of happiness. It’s much better to cut things out of your sports programs than to continue to add on. It’s better to undercook you’re athletes than to burn them. It’s better to master the basics. Avoid the BS. In your everyday life try to make things as barebones as possible. Avoid the Noise. Batch answer, put Do Not Disturb on, only engage in conversations, and people that are worth talking to.
4. Don’t Be the Turkey
The Turkey, who is fed by the Butcher, thinks it’s his best friend, until Thanksgiving when he isn’t. Don’t be the turkey. Don’t get sucked into the false trap of security (a salary, the comforts you surround yourself with, etc.) In our pursuit of comfort (being the turkey) we eliminate small errors, which are chances to learn and grow. The big errors (the floods in your life) are going to happen regardless and if you haven’t been prepared by a ton of lessons these are going to hit you way harder. In the world of sports performance I relate this to many “injury prevention” methods that you’ll see in the PT world. We spend so much time “doing no harm” and working on some glute band exercise that we are eliminating any real stressor we can grow from and still not eliminating the chance that a big injury happens. The soccer mom kills her kids in the long run.
5. People Shouldn’t Like You
The truth hurts feelings and does not bring any prizes. Success brings envy. Boring People hate non boring people. People in the mold hate people breaking the mold. So if there aren’t people that hate you, you’re probably not doing a good enough job. Write your own book, the ones that want to read will read. “Every line you write under someone else’s standards kills a corresponding segment of your soul”
6. Barbell of Life
Stay out of the middle ground in all aspects of your life. Training, relationships, jobs and passions. Go all in or stay completely out. Take huge risks or stay completely safe. Go really hard in your session then recovery completely. Fucking send it at a project or stay away. Ask the smoke show out or stay single. Don’t Settle. And this isn’t something you fight. You know if you want to be in or not. You know if its there or not. So do it.
7. Skin In the Game
If you don’t have skin in the game, your opinion is worthless. If you aren’t at risk of losing something when a decision is made, you’re not fit to make the decision. If you have skin in the game and your decisions or your actions are influenced by someone else who’s skin isn’t in the game, think about how to get out of that situation.
8. One Sentence Rule
Spend your whole life writing one sentence and the book will write itself, not the other way around. If you want to crush life, spend all of your time on your “Why” and living it out first and the rest will take care of itself.
Thank You For Reading
Keep Chopping Wood
