Barbell strategy means to do two absolute different things to extremes rather than two middling things.

It comes from investing where you invest half in high risk/reward stocks, and half in risk free assets rather than just average stocks.

Some real life, non-financial examples:

• Read a challenging hard book and a soft book.
• Exercise or diet hard one day, and do the opposite the following day.
• Spend a week doing an intensive educational course, and then spend the next month applying your knowledge.

A more detailed description and more examples are at: https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155302/https://dwarkeshpatel.com/barbell-strategies/