Antifragile approach: The ultimate example!

Sachin Tendulkar on Steve Waugh

Sachin Tendulkar releasing his book

Steve Waugh

While writing in an earlier blog that it's better to be Anti-fragile than just resistant to stress, I had explained that 'an anti-fragile object actually benefits by being under stress or disorder'. 

It means stress actually strengthens and improves the anti-fragile object. This is applicable to individuals as well.

I had received two queries from students asking me for a real life example of anti-fragility phenomenon.

I had a few examples in mind relating the anti-fragility phenomenon to cricket and sledging.

Sledging is done to unsettle players. The fragile get unsettled (so many examples), whereas the resistant remain unaffected (Rahul Dravid and a few more, may be).

But I was still searching for the best example for anti-fragility phenomenon and I found it while reading Sachin Tendulkar 's autobiography 'Play it my way' where he describes Steve Waugh's personality.

While Steve Waugh batted, they used to observe silence instead of sledging him as sledging would strengthen him further.

Steve Waugh was not just resistant, but anti-fragile!