Notes from reading: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is a seasoned philanthropist, business magnet and a billionaire. He is also founder of Bridgewater Associates one of the most successful hedge fund, wealth management firm.

Ray attributes his successful mantra for life, relationship and business to Principle: a  decision making  algorithm. According to him all aspects of our life should be governed more logically rather than being emotional or on our prejudice.

Reading the book gives me a feeling that Ray spent good time reading Philosophy, psychology and Neuroscience.  The success and DNA of Bridgewater Associates are these Principles. So an employee has to meet or give feedback or present he/she is advised to go read/see the related defined Principles for same.

I loved reading the book, so much to learn from it. The book is recommended to everyone who wants to understand and learn from Dalio’s successful mantra on life, business and relationship.  Please check the website https://www.principles.com  for more details.

These are 10 quotes from the book I really loved:

  1. Look at the patters of those things that affect you in order to understand the cause and its affect.
  2. Observe your thoughts, what changes you and your thoughts. What can you do to keep yourself going.
  3.  Be hyper realist  [Dream + Reality + Determination = A Successful Life].
  4. Be radically open minded and radically transparent.
  5. Work effectively, do  not work hard. You will be more productive working effectively.
  6. Do not let fear of what others think of you stand in your way.
  7. Evolution is the constant and only reality. Evolve or die.
  8. Success is struggling and evolving out of it.
  9. Take the pain and don’t walk away from it.
  10. We all have some blind spots, find yours and work on fixing it.
  11. You are responsible : take a stand and fix it. Stop crying over things which are not in your control.
  12. Realize that our conscious mind is in constant struggle with our subconscious mind.
  13. The biggest barriers to good decision making is our ego and our blind spots.
  14. Don’t hide your observation about people in your organization. Give regular feedback, tell them when they are making mistake.
  15. Understanding the great brain battle between conscious & subconscious and how to control/train them to get what you want.
  16. Organizing people to complement their strengths & compensate their weakness is like conducting as orchestra.
  17. Radical truth & transparency are fundamentals to having real idea meritocracy.
  18. Making sure people are doing good job doesn’t require watching everything that everybody is doing at all times.
  19. Don’t hold opinions about things you don’t know anything about.
  20. What you know paints a true and rich picture of the realities that will affect your decision.

On Goal

  1. Have clear Goal
  2. Prioritize
  3. Don’t confuse goal with desires
  4. Decide what you really want in life by reconciling your goals and desires
  5. Never rule out a goal because it is in-attainable
  6. Great expectation create great capability. Don’t lose hope.
  7. You can do anything if you are flexible and self accountable

 

On hiring talents

  1. Transparency
  2. Values
  3. Skillset
  4. Abilities
  5. Go getter
  6. Thiker

 

The 3 C’s in team members:

  1. Character
  2. Common Sense
  3. Creativity

 

Other  interesting web links: