#28 How to Become Antifragile for the Future Chaos

SPEAKER_1 (0:09)

I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.

SPEAKER_2 (0:17)

Much that once was, is lost. For none now live who remember it.

Siim Land (0:33)

That's what Galadriel said in The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. And that's something that I'm going to be talking about in today's Body, Mind, Empowerment Podcast. This is some sort of a special episode where I'm simply going to talk about a few of the things that you need to learn in the year 2018 for the changes that are coming in the future.

My name is of course Siim, Body, Mind Empowerment.

SPEAKER_2 (1:04)

Get stronger, faster, smarter, quicker, friendlier, more helpful, more driven.

Siim Land (1:10)

Everything the body needs.

SPEAKER_2 (1:11)

Control your mind.

Siim Land (1:15)

Technology, globalization, the internet, social media, virtual reality, blockchain, artificial intelligence, biohacking, decentralization. We're living at a time where the world as we know, is about to be drastically changed. Us as humans are standing at the doorstep of this quantum leap in our evolutionary development. The pillar stones of culture and society are about to be disrupted, shaken from the old paradigms that have dominated the planet for thousands of years. Change is something that our brain is hardwired to avoid. We want to avoid uncertainty because it jeopardizes our survival and puts it into danger. At the same time, we're also prone to be curious and explorers because novelty sparks up excitement and it can lead to improvement. Whether you think it's good or bad is irrelevant to the fact that the floodgates of innovation and curiosity have been opened and it's very difficult to close them now. What you as a person can and must do is prepare yourself for the unpredictable chaos and uncertainty that is going to happen in the future. There probably isn't going to be this massive cataclysmic event that wipes us all out, but more like this gradual transition process during which you don't even notice how your life changes.

That's why you have to constantly keep yourself up to date with these changes and to continuously adapt to them because it's like George Darwin said, it's not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives, it's the one that's most adaptable to change. So in the remaining parts of this podcast, I'm going to give you some things you need to know and learn about in 2018 There is new skills, new paradigm shifts, new habits, new investments, new ways of being antifragile and gaining from all of this chaos.

The world may change in 2018, 2020 or 2045, it doesn't matter. You want to be preparing yourself in the present, so that you could improve your ability to adapt to whatever may come. So the first thing is meditation. Yeah, you should definitely sharpen your meditation skills. It's a mental technique that's been used for thousands of years. What you're basically doing is regulating your nervous system and brain through concentration and self-awareness. Meditation is going to become increasingly more useful and important over the coming few years, because technology is advancing further. Our smartphones and other gadgets are constantly keeping our monkey minds stimulated and wired up.

Social media notifications and marketing ads are targeting our crocodile brains to seek their feeling of reward from the likes that we get. The fast-paced lifestyle of working and trying to keep up with all the news causes a lot of stress and anxiety.

There have been studies that show how the attention span of average students has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds since the year 2000 A goldfish has the attention span of 9 seconds. So congratulations, you might be less focused than a goldfish now. But at the same time, this is probably not true, because if you were to really try, then you can definitely hold your concentration for longer than that, if you put on this focused look. But the fact of the matter is that you're probably listening to this with several of your browser tabs open, you're simultaneously on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, email, and you may be even eating. If you were to put a hunter-gatherer in the same situation, then their brain would simply melt down, because they aren't used to that much stimulation. Processed food, funny videos, social validation, all of those things are something that we modern humans have become desensitized to. We don't pay that much attention to those things anymore, but at the same time, our productivity and success may still suffer.

I've heard the saying, the ability to focus is gonna be the superpower of the 21st century, which is why you need to practice your ability to concentrate. Meditation is gonna train you how to control your thoughts and emotions, how to not become reactive to the signals you get from your environment, and how to develop more self-awareness in the present moment, so that you could know what needs to be done and to be able to do it.