Via Negativa - Why You Must Die In Order To Grow
[You may have noticed that I didn't publish an article last week. I've decided to cut my scheduled posts to a minimum of once per week to put more focus on my YouTube channel. I will still occasionally publish twice in a week. However, committing to the schedule of twice a week publishing was gruelling with all the other pursuits that I'm balancing. Thanks as always for deciding that what I write is worth reading.]
I've been back to reading Antifragile: Things That Benefit From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Within the book, Taleb explores two key concepts: Antifragility (the cornerstone of his thesis for the book) and via Negativa.
I'm fascinated by the concept of antifragility, as it's the optimal state for humans and our systems. Antifragility is simple. It's a state of being beyond resilience and robustness. If you're robust, you can undergo significant levels of stress and remain unaffected. If you're antifragile, you grow stronger in the face of stress.
A fantastic example of antifragility is Post-Traumatic Growth. Here, an individual not only rebounds to their previous state as a result of trauma, but transcends their prior level. The Post-Traumatic Growth takes many forms. It may look like a greater capacity to deal with stress, improved emotional regulation or other enhanced faculties.
Via Negativa refers to improvement through subtraction, which can assist in fostering antifragility. Perhaps instead of adding the newest fitness or productivity fad to your life, you may need cut a few things out. Removing what is unhelpful and doesn't work is a great route to antifragility. It's also generally simpler to identify the destructive aspects of your life than the optimal things you should add. It's simple, but not easy. This may look like ending friendships, cutting out useless fluff in your day, and removing dodgy foods from your diet.
I've recently had to apply the principle of via Negativa in my own life with a difficult sacrifice.
I've been lifting weights for the past 14 years or so, primarily focused on powerlifting. Between this and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I've gotten some mileage on my body. Aches and pains, cracks and pops. If you're athletic or active, this is all par for the course. I'm sure many of you are familiar.
I wear many injuries from years of pushing my body to its limit. My philosophy has always been to find a way forward. In the words of Bruce Lee "be like water". Find a way. Any way you can. If you cannot run, then jog. If you cannot jog, then walk. If you cannot walk, then crawl. I've lived by this philosophy and found ways to work around and through my injuries.
Yet, there has been one injury that has haunted me for years. Every few months, my lower back locks up. At its worst, electric shocks shoot down the nerves of either leg, and I'm rendered close to immobile. Walking itself becomes a painful task. When this happens, I have to dial back my training, get physio and massages, and back off training for a month or more.
I love lifting weights, but I'm met with the reality that my current method of training is making me more fragile, instead of antifragile. The difficult choice in me applying via Negativa is to sacrifice my pursuit of powerlifting at the altar of my on-going growth. I've found that there is no point finding a way forward if it ends up with me not even being able to crawl.
So, in this way, a small part of me must die. It's like in a video game or movie where one of the beloved characters must die for the protagonist's character development. Without sacrifice, you cannot exceed your current level. You cannot become antifragile while maintaining parts of yourself that are unuseful or fragile.
I share this with you as you may be facing a similar choice, but it's not visible to you or you aren't looking. There is a simple truth — what got you here won't get you to where you want to be. The tools, methods and approaches that got you from A to B may not get you from B to C. What parts of you must "die" in order to grow? If you've had the same thoughts, ideas, daily routine and perspectives your entire life, it's a fair assumption that you have curbed your growth.
I've also recently been reading The Ikigai Journey By Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. Within, they explore the development of the Japanese bullet train, the Shinkansen. History is clear that the Shinkansen project was a success, but in 1958 it was considered an impossibility.
Engineers were tasked with developing a train that would travel from Tokyo to Osaka at 200 km per hour. At the time, the trains travelling on the main trunk line between the two cities only averaged around 100 km per hour. Within six years, the engineers were successful in achieving their "impossible" goal. Yet, there were some key takeaways. To build a train to go from 100 km per hour to 110 km per hour, you only need to make a few minor improvements. To go from 100 km per hour to 200 km per hour, you need to fundamentally re-engineer the entire system.
This is where I'm at — re-engineering my whole system. Wiping the slate and starting again. Maybe you are too. These small deaths are not something to fear, but a necessary part of growth. So I ask you to reflect once more, and apply harsh and unmoving introspective honesty. What in your life must you discard in order to grow? Which parts of you must die? What is no longer serving you, truly?
Good luck on your search, and thank you for reading as always.