Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life.
Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, cites principles as his key to success.
In 1975, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Over forty years later, Bridgewater has grown into the largest hedge fund in the world and the fifth most important private company in the United States (according to Fortune magazine), and Dalio himself has been named to TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way Dalio discovered unique principles that have led to his and Bridgewater’s unique success. It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio, that he believes are the reason behind whatever success he has had. He is now at a stage in his life that he wants to pass these principles along to others for them to judge for themselves and to do whatever they want with them.
Work Principle
Train your ear.
Over time, you’ll hear the same verbal cues indicating that someone is thinking about something badly or failing to apply principles appropriately. Common examples of these cues include:
- The anonymous “we,” which indicates that someone is likely depersonalizing a mistake (e.g., “We should have been more careful” instead of “John should have been more careful.”)
- “I think I,” which is a marker of a self-assessment and could be a cue that someone is more confident in their own performance than is accurate (e.g., “I think I’ve been managing the project well”)
- Answering a question like, “How’s it going?” with a statement of the trend (e.g., “It’s been getting better”) vs. a crisp synthesis of whether what’s in question is adequate (e.g., “It’s below the bar.”)
- Saying something “isn’t totally true,” which often means it’s by and large true.
- “I don’t know / I could be wrong, but…” People often follow this caveat by expressing an opinion that isn’t believable, so the listener should use it as an indication to ask questions instead of accepting the view.
- Responding to a question with, “I’m not sure, but I do know that…” This often leads to the conversation being diverted into talk about what the responder claims he or she “does know” instead of what you were asking about. Don’t fall into this trap!
Work Principle
Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.
Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles.com
