The Ikigai concept is taking the world by storm. So how can we be more antifragile?

The Japanese concept of ‘ikigai’ has been taking TikTok by storm in recent weeks, as individuals find practicing such a concept is associated with career satisfaction and overall life purpose.

The practice is about finding the ‘thing’ in our life that makes us feel fulfilment and happiness, such as a person’s sense of purpose and reason for living.

The book, Ikigai, explores this Japanese concept and explains how it leads to greater health and wellbeing through an in depth study into the lives of Okinawans.

In this edited extract from the book, authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles cover three ways that you can become more antifragile.

How can we be more antifragile?

1. Create more options

   Instead of having a single salary, try to find a way to make money from your hobbies, at other jobs, or by starting your own business. If you have only one salary, you might be left with nothing should your employer run into trouble, leaving you in a position of fragility. On the other hand, if you have several options and you lose your primary job, it might just happen that you end up dedicating more time to your sec ondary job, and maybe even make more money at it. You would have beaten that stroke of bad luck and would be, in that case, antifragile.

   Right now you might be thinking, “I don’t need more than one salary, and I’m happy with the friends I’ve always had. Why should I add anything new?” It might seem like a waste of time to add variation to our lives, because extraordinary things don’t ordinarily happen. We slip into a comfort zone. But the unexpected always happens, sooner or later.

2. Bet conservatively in certain areas and take many small risks in others

   The world of finance turns out to be very useful in explaining this concept. If you have $10,000 saved up, you might put $9000 of that into an index fund or fixed-term deposit, and invest the remaining $1000 in 10 start-ups with huge growth potential — say, $100 in each.

   One possible scenario is that three of the companies fail (you lose $300), the value of three other companies goes down (you lose another $100 or $200), the value of three goes up (you make $100 or $200), and the value of one of the start-ups increases 20-fold (you make nearly $2000, or maybe even more).

   You still make money, even if three of the businesses go completely belly-up. You’ve benefited from the damage, just like the Hydra.

   The key to becoming antifragile is taking on small risks that might lead to great reward, without exposing ourselves to dangers that might sink us, such as investing $10,000 in a fund of questionable reputation that we saw advertised in the newspaper.

3. Get rid of the things that make you fragile

   We’re taking the negative route for this exercise. Ask yourself: What makes me fragile? Certain people, things, and habits generate losses for us and make us vulnerable. Who and what are they?

   When we make our New Year’s resolutions, we tend to emphasize adding new challenges to our lives. It’s great to have this kind of objective, but setting “good riddance” goals can have an even bigger impact.

   For example:

   • Stop snacking between meals;
   • Eat sweets only once a week;
   • Gradually pay off all debt;
   • Avoid spending time with toxic people;
   • Avoid spending time doing things we don’t enjoy, simply because we feel obligated to do them; and
   • Spend no more than 20 minutes on Facebook per day.

This is an edited extract from Ikigai by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles. Published by Penguin Random House Australia, RRP $24.99, and available now at Booktopia.