I learned that wrestling with my problems, mistakes, and weaknesses was the training that strengthened me. Also, I learned that it was the pain of this wrestling that made me and those around me appreciate our successes. So I learned that the people who make the most of the process of encountering reality, especially the painful obstacles, learn the most and get what they want faster than people who do not. In short, I learned that being totally truthful, especially about mistakes and weaknesses, led to a rapid rate of improvement and movement toward what I wanted. Specifically, I found that: While most others seem to believe that learning what we are taught is the path to success, I believe that figuring out for yourself what you want and how to get it is a better path.

And it is unproductive because it does not lead to the exploration of “Is it true? ” which can lead to understanding and improvement. We are fed with facts and tested and those who make the fewest mistakes are considered to be the smart ones, so we learn that it is embarrassing to not know and to make mistakes. Our education system spends virtually no time on how to learn from mistakes, yet this is critical to real learning. While most others seem to believe that pain is bad, I believe that pain is required to become stronger. It is now more than 35 years after I started Bridgewater and about the same number of years since I got married and began my family. And, quite frankly, I never found them very rewarding. I feel that I have gotten these in abundance and I am happy. And I feel that I got what I wanted by following the same basic approach I used as a year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i. Here are the most important principles that I learned along the way.

My Most Fundamental Principles In pursuing my goals I encountered realities, often in the form of problems, and I had to make decisions. It might take repeated tries, and seeking the input of others, but I could eventually get there. As a result, I have become someone who believes that we need to deeply understand, accept, and work with reality in order to get what we want out of life. In other words, I have become a “hyperrealist. In fact, I believe that without pursuing dreams, life is mundane. Let me explain what I mean. For me, money has always been very important to the point that I could have these basics covered and never very important beyond that. So, while I spend money on some very expensive things that cost multiples relative to the more fundamental things, these expensive things have never brought me much enjoyment relative to the much cheaper, more fundamental things.

They were just like cherries on the cake. Though being in a job that provides me with what I want is best of all, for me. Also, from having come from having next-to-nothing to having a lot, I have developed a strong belief that, all things being equal, offering equal opportunity is fundamental to being good, while handing out money to capable people that weakens their need to get stronger and contribute to society is bad. These laws and the principles of how to operate in harmony with them have always existed. We were given these laws by nature. He can only hope to understand them and use them to get what he wants. For example, the ability to fly or to send cellular phone signals imperceptibly and instantaneously around the world or any other new and beneficial developments resulted from understanding and using previously existing laws of the universe.

These inventions did not come from people who were not well-grounded in reality. Success is achieved by people who deeply understand reality and know how to use it to get what they want. The converse is also true: idealists who are not well-grounded in reality create problems, not progress. For example, communism was a system created by people with good intentions who failed to recognize that their idealistic system was inconsistent with human nature. As a result, they caused more harm than good. Its perfection and brilliance staggers me. When I think about all the flying machines, swimming machines, and billions of other systems that nature created, from the microscopic level to the cosmic level, and how they interact with one another to make a workable whole that evolves through time and through multi-dimensions, my breath is taken away. That is because, though man is unique, he is part of nature and subject to most of the same laws of nature that affect other species.

So there are many different takes on what is good and bad that each group uses to call others “bad” and themselves “good,” some of which are practical and others of which are impractical. This perspective gives me a non-traditional sense of good and bad: “good,” to me, means operating consistently with the natural laws, while “bad” means operating inconsistently with these laws. In other words, for something to be “good” it must be grounded in reality. In other words, I believe that understanding what is good is obtained by looking at the way the world works and figuring out how to operate in harmony with it to help it and yourself evolve. But it is not obvious, and it is sometimes difficult to accept.

At face value, this seems terrible; the poor wildebeest suffers and dies. Some people might even say that the hyenas are evil. Yet this type of apparently evil behavior exists throughout nature through all species and was created by nature, which is much smarter than I am, so before I jump to pronouncing it evil, I need to try to see if it might be good. When I think about it, like death itself, this behavior is integral to the enormously complex and efficient system that has worked for as long as there has been life. And when I think of the second- and third-order consequences, it becomes obvious that this behavior is good for both the hyenas, who are operating in their self-interest, and in the interests of the greater system, which includes the wildebeest, because killing and eating the wildebeest fosters evolution, i. In fact, if I changed anything about the way that dynamic works, the overall outcome would be worse.

I believe that evolution, which is the natural movement toward better adaptation, is the greatest single force in the universe, and that it is good. It is good because evolution is the process of adaptation that leads to improvement. I believe that the desire to evolve, i. Enjoying your job, a craft, or your favorite sport comes from the innate satisfaction of getting better. Though most people typically think that they are striving to get things e. that will make them happy, that is not usually the case. Instead, when we get the things we are striving for, we rarely remain satisfied. In the process of this seeking, we continue to evolve and we contribute to the evolution of all that we have contact with. The things we are striving for are just the bait to get us to chase after them in order to make us evolve, and it is the evolution and not the reward itself that matters to us and those around us.

Then it would be foolish to continue to have making money be your goal. People who acquire things beyond their usefulness not only will derive little or no marginal gains from these acquisitions, but they also will experience negative consequences, as with any form of gluttony. So, because of the law of diminishing returns, it is only natural that seeking something new, or seeking new depths of something old, is required to bring us satisfaction. In other words, the sequence of 1 seeking new things goals ; 2 working and learning in the process of pursuing these goals; 3 obtaining these goals; and 4 then doing this over and over again is the personal evolutionary process that fulfills most of us and moves society forward.

I believe that pursuing self-interest in harmony with the laws of the universe and contributing to evolution is universally rewarded, and what I call “good. ” Look at all species in action: they are constantly pursuing their own interests and helping evolution in a symbiotic way, with most of them not even knowing that their self-serving behaviors are contributing to evolution. Like the hyenas attacking the wildebeest, successful people might not even know if or how their pursuit of self-interest helps evolution, but it typically does. In return, society rewards those who give it what it wants. Look at what caused people to make a lot of money and you will see that usually it is in proportion to their production of what the society wanted and largely unrelated to their desire to make money. There are many 18 In fact, it appears to me that everything other than evolution eventually disintegrates and that we all are, and everything else is, vehicles for evolution. Instead, they simply engaged in the work that they were doing, produced what society wanted, and got rich doing it.

In other words, there is an excellent correlation between giving society what it wants and making money, and almost no correlation between the desire to make money and how much money one makes. I know that the same is true for all the successful, healthy i. It is equally relevant when dealing with setbacks, which are inevitable. That is why many people who have had setbacks that seemed devastating at the time ended up as happy as or even happier than they were before, once they successfully adapted to them. The faster that one appropriately adapts, the better. Because we can learn, we can evolve more and faster than other species. I also believe that all things in nature have innate attributes that are both good and bad, with their goodness and their badness depending on what they are used for.

For example, the thorns on a rose bush, the stinger on a bee, the aggressiveness of a lion, the timidity of a gazelle are all both good and bad, depending on their applications. However, because man has the ability to look at himself and direct his own change, individuals have the capacity to evolve. Most of us are born with attributes that both help us and hurt us, depending on their applications, and the more extreme the attribute, the more extreme the potential good and bad outcomes these attributes are likely to produce. For example, highly creative, goal-oriented people who are good at imagining the big picture often can easily get tripped up on the details of daily life, while highly pragmatic, task-oriented people who are great with the details might not be creative. That is because the ways their minds work make it difficult for them to see both ways of thinking.

In nature everything was made for a purpose, and so too were these different ways of thinking. They just have different purposes. We all have things that we value that we want and we all have strengths and weaknesses that affect our paths for getting them. The most important quality that differentiates successful people from unsuccessful people is our capacity to learn and adapt to these things. Unlike any other species, man is capable of reflecting on himself and the things around him to learn and adapt in order to improve. It is the part of the human brain that gives us the ability to reflect and conduct other cognitive thinking. These reactions take place in the part of the brain called the amygdala. This is explained by the law of supply and demand. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ” 25 Your ability to see the changing landscape and adapt is more a function of your perceptive and reasoning abilities than your ability to learn and process quickly. Which path they choose, more than anything else, determines how good their outcomes are.

So it is tragic when people let ego barriers lead them to experience bad outcomes. The Personal Evolutionary Process As I mentioned before, I believe that life consists of an enormous number of choices that come at us and that each decision we make has consequences, so the quality of our lives depends on the quality of the decisions we make. But, as we get older, we increasingly make our own choices. We choose what we are going after i. For example, if you want to be a doctor, you go to med school; if you want to have a family, you find a mate; and so on. As we move toward our goals, we encounter problems, make mistakes, and run into personal weaknesses. Above all else, how we choose to approach these impediments determines how fast we move toward our goals. What is essential is that you are clear about what you want and that you figure out how to get it.

However, there are a few common things that most people want. As I mentioned, for most people success is evolving as effectively as possible, i. Personally, I believe that personal evolution is both the greatest accomplishment and the greatest reward. Also, for most people happiness is much more determined by how things turn out relative to their expectations rather than the absolute level of their conditions. However, judgment is primarily learned. This basic principle suggests that you can follow one of two paths to happiness: 1 have high expectations and strive to exceed them, or 2 lower your expectations so that they are at or below your conditions. Most of us choose the first path, which means that to be happy we have to keep evolving. Another principle to keep in mind is that people need meaningful work and meaningful relationships in order to be fulfilled.

Your Most Important Choices As I mentioned, as we head toward our goals we encounter an enormous number of choices that come at us, and each decision we make has consequences. So, the quality of our lives depends on the quality of the decisions we make. We literally make millions of decisions that add up to the consequences that are our lives. Of these millions, I believe that there are five big types of choices that we continually must make that radically affect the quality of our lives and the rates at which we move toward what we want. Choosing well is not dependent on our innate abilities such as intelligence or creativity, but more on what I think of as character. For this reason, I believe that most people can make the right choices. The following five decision trees show these choices.

Nature gave us pain as a messaging device to tell us that we are approaching, or that we have exceeded, our limits in some way. At the same time, nature made the process of getting stronger require us to push our limits. When we encounter pain, we are at an important juncture in our decision-making process. It can be any kind of long-term challenge that leads to personal improvement. And relationships are the natural connections to others that make us relevant to society. They have “fight or flight” reactions to it: they either strike out at whatever brought them the pain or they try to run away from it. This is because most learning comes from making mistakes, reflecting on the causes of the mistakes, and learning what to do differently in the future.

Believe it or not, you are lucky to feel the pain if you approach it correctly, because it will signal that you need to find solutions and to progress. Second: People who confuse what they wish were true with what is really true create distorted pictures of reality that make it impossible for them to make the best choices. They typically do this because facing “harsh realities” can be very difficult. They work as though they were two different brains that fight for control of decision-making. The pre-frontal cortex is the logical part of the brain that evaluates choices logically and the amygdala is the “animal instinct” part of the brain that triggers emotional reactions like the instinct to fight or flee.

When faced with an obstacle or threat, an emotional reaction e. This can result in our making decisions that produce consequences that we do not want. This typically causes really big problems. The more difficult the problem, the more important it is that you think hard about it and deal with it. ” …because knowing what is true is good. How much do you let what you wish to be true stand in the way of seeing what is really true? Why do they behave in this unproductive way? Not only does this view not square with reality, but it also stands in the way of progress. I have never met a great person who did not earn and learn their greatness. In addition, the amounts of knowledge and the capabilities that anyone does not have, and that could be used to make the best possible decisions, are vastly greater than that which anyone no matter how great could have within them. So, what are your biggest weaknesses? Think honestly about them because if you can identify them, you are on the first step toward accelerating your movement forward.

So think about them, write them down, and look at them frequently. Recognizing such “harsh realities” is both very painful and very productive. Also, I am terrible at doing tasks that require little or no logic, especially if I have to do them repeatedly. On the other hand, I have a great contextual memory and good logic, and I can devote myself to things that interest me for untold hours. How much do you worry about looking good relative to actually being good? Fourth: People who overweigh the first-order consequences of their decisions and ignore the effects that the second- and subsequent-order consequences will have on their goals rarely reach their goals. For example, the first-order consequences of exercise pain and time-sink are commonly considered undesirable, while the second-order consequences better health and more attractive appearance are desirable.

Similarly, food that tastes good is often bad for you and vice versa, etc. Quite often the first-order consequences are the temptations that cost us what we really want, and sometimes they are barriers that stand in our way of getting what we want. By contrast, people who choose what they really want, and avoid the temptations and get over the pains that drive them away from what they really want, are much more likely to have successful lives. For more on the probabilities of personal decision-making, please refer to the “To Make Decisions Effectively” section at the end of Part 3. Fifth: People who blame bad outcomes on anyone or anything other than themselves are behaving in a way that is at variance with reality and subversive to their progress.

Successful people understand that bad things come at everyone and that it is their responsibility to make their lives what they want them to be by successfully dealing with whatever challenges they face. In summary, I believe that you can probably get what you want out of life if you can suspend your ego and take a no-excuses approach to achieving your goals with open-mindedness, determination, and courage, especially if you rely on the help of people who are strong in areas that you are weak. If I had to pick just one quality that those who make the right choices have, it is character.

However, because of the law of nature that pushing your boundaries will make you stronger, which will lead to improved results that will motivate you, the more you operate in your “stretch zone,” the more you adapt and the less character it takes to operate at the higher level of performance. But it is not a reason for an excuse. In life, we have a large number of choices, and luck can play a dominant role in the outcomes of our choices. A superior decision-maker will produce superior outcomes. But he approached his situation well and became as happy as anybody else because there are many paths to happiness.

Because I believe this, I believe that whether or not I achieve my goals is a test of what I am made of. It is a game that I play, but this game is for real. In the next part, I explain how I go about playing it. As always, it is up to you to ask yourself if what I am saying is true. As the next part delves into this concept more, you might want to reserve your judgment until after you have read it. They are able to assess and improve how their “machine” works by comparing the outcomes that the machine is producing with their goals. Schematically, the process is as shown in the diagram below.

It is a feedback loop. That schematic is meant to convey that your goals will determine the “machine” that you create to achieve them; that machine will produce outcomes that you should compare with your goals to judge how your machine is working. Your “machine” will consist of the design and people you choose to achieve the goals. While having the right design is essential, it is only half the battle. It is equally important to put the right people in each of these positions. If your outcomes are inconsistent with your goals e. In other words, your most important role is to step back and design, operate, and improve your “machine” to get what you want. You 2 is a resource that you 1 have to get what you 1 want, but by no means your only resource. To be successful you 1 have to be objective about you 2. Whatever your goals are, achieving them works the same way.

If you 1 see that you 2 are not capable of doing something, it is only sensible for you 1 to have someone else do it. The biggest mistake most people make is to not see themselves and others objectively. If they could just get around this, they could live up to their potential. How good are you in approaching life as a “higher level thinker” rather than as a doer? How much would you like to get better at this? How much do you think that reading this is a waste of time? My 5-Step Process to Getting What You Want Out of Life 40 There are five things that you have to do to get what you want out of life. First, you have to choose your goals, which will determine your direction.

Then you have to design a plan to achieve your goals. On the way to your goals, you will encounter problems. As I mentioned, these problems typically cause pain. The most common source of pain is in exploring your mistakes and weaknesses. You will either react badly to the pain or react like a master problem solver. That is your choice. To figure out how to get around these problems you must be calm and analytical to accurately diagnose your problems. Only after you have an accurate diagnosis of them can you design a plan that will get you around your problems. Then you have to do the tasks specified in the plan. Through this process of encountering problems and figuring out how to get around them, you will become progressively more capable and achieve your goals more easily. Then you will set bigger, more challenging goals, in the same way that someone who works with weights naturally increases the poundage.

This is the process of personal evolution, which I call my 5-Step Process. In other words, “The Process” consists of five distinct steps: Have clear goals. Accurately diagnose these problems. Design plans that explicitly lay out tasks that will get you around your problems and on to your goals. You need to do all of these steps well in order to be successful. Before discussing these individual steps in more detail, I want to make a few general points about the process. Blurring the steps leads to suboptimal outcomes because it creates confusion and short-changes the individual steps. Doing each step thoroughly will provide information that will help you do the other steps well, since the process is iterative. Most probably, you have lots of some of these and inadequate amounts of others. If you are missing any of the required talents and disciplines, that is not an insurmountable problem because you can acquire them, supplement them, or compensate for not having them, if you recognize your weaknesses and design around them.

So you must be honestly self-reflective. Figure out what techniques work best for you; e. Your mission is to figure out how to get around your challenges to get to your goals. In the process of playing the game or practicing this martial art, you will become more skilled. I will explain what these skills are in the next section. But if you work through this discomfort and reflect on it in order to learn, you will significantly improve your chances of getting what you want out of life. Once you accept that playing the game will be uncomfortable, and you do it for a while, it will become much easier like it does when getting fit.

When you excel at it, you will find your ability to get what you want thrilling. Like getting physically fit, the most important thing is that you keep moving forward at whatever pace you choose, recognizing the consequences of your actions. With practice, you will eventually play this game like a ninja, with skill and a calm centeredness in the face of adversity that will let you handle most of your numerous challenges well. You will have an enormous number of decisions to make, so no matter how many mistakes you make, there will be plenty of opportunities to build a track record of success. Does what I am saying make sense to you? Do you agree that it is true? If not, why not? Either you will get comfortable with it and internalize it or you will point out something that is wrong and the process will get better. The first, most important, and typically most difficult step in the 5-Step Process is setting goals, because it forces you to decide what you really want and therefore what you can possibly get out of life.

This is the step where you face the fundamental limit: life is like a giant smorgasbord of more delicious alternatives than you can ever hope to taste. So you have to reject having some things you want in order to get other things you want more. Some people fail at this point, afraid to reject a good alternative for fear that the loss will deprive them of some essential ingredient to their personal happiness. As a result, they pursue too many goals at the same time, achieving few or none of them. In other words, you can have an enormous amount: much, much more than what you need to have for a happy life. Get on with making your choices. It is important not to confuse “goals” and “desires. For example, a goal might be physical fitness, while a desire is the urge to eat good-tasting, unhealthy food i.

So, in terms of the consequences they produce, goals are good and desires are bad. I believe you can choose to pursue any goal you want as long as you consider the consequences. So, staying with this example, I think it is perfectly OK for you to make your goal to enjoy eating good-tasting, unhealthy food if that choice will bring you what you really want. In other words, failing to make the distinction between goals and desires will lead you in the wrong direction, because you will be inclined to pursue things you want that will undermine your ability to get things you want more. Another common reason people fail at this stage is that they lose sight of their goals, getting caught up in day-to-day tasks. Avoid setting goals based on what you think you can achieve. As I said before, do each step separately and distinctly without regard to the others. Once you commit to a goal, it might take lots of thinking and many revisions to your plan over a considerable time period in order to finalize the design 41 Some societies define evil to be the desires that can take you away from your goals, which I think is a good way of seeing the difference between goals and desires.

So you need to set goals without yet assessing whether or not you can achieve them. Initially you have to have faith that this is true, but after following this process and succeeding at achieving your goals, you will gain confidence. If you like, you can start with more modest goals and, when you build up the track record to give you faith, increase your aspirations. But I have learned that I can achieve them if I think creatively and work hard. This no-excuses approach helps me do whatever it takes to get whatever I want most. Not all goals are achievable, of course. There are some impossibilities or near-impossibilities, such as living forever, or flying with just the power of your arms. Since trying to achieve high goals makes me stronger, I become increasingly capable of achieving more. Great expectations create great capabilities, in other words. And if I fail to achieve my goal, it just tells me that I have not been creative or flexible or determined enough to do what it takes, and I circle back and figure out what I need to do about this situation.

Inevitably, you must deal with setbacks. They might also be keeping what you do have, minimizing your rate of loss, or dealing with irrevocable loss. Life will throw you challenges, some of which will seem devastating at the time. Your goal is always to make the best possible choices, knowing that you will be rewarded if you do. Generally speaking, goal setting is best done by those who are good at big-picture conceptual thinking, synthesizing, visualizing, and prioritizing. In the process of doing the other four steps especially designing you will thoroughly think through what is possible. Then you will circle back and enter the goal-setting mode again. As I mentioned, this five-step process is iterative, but it must be pursued one step at a time in order to do each step excellently.

What are your most important goals? Are you good at setting your goals? How confident are you that your assessment of your ability to set goals is right? If you are confident of your self-assessment, why should you be confident e. On the way to achieving your goals and executing your design, you will encounter problems that have to be diagnosed, so that the design can be modified to get around these obstacles. Most problems are potential improvements screaming at you. Whenever a problem surfaces, you have in front of you an opportunity to improve. The more painful the problem, the louder it is screaming. As a result, it is essential to bring problems to the surface. But most successful people know that they have to do this. ” • Thinking about problems that are difficult to solve can produce anxiety that stands in the way of progress.

• Sometimes people are simply not perceptive enough to see the problems. • Some people are unable to distinguish big problems from small ones. Since nothing is perfect, it is possible to identify an infinite number of problems everywhere. So push through the pain of facing your problems, knowing you will end up in a much better place. The more difficult the problem, the more important it is that you stare at it and deal with it. I also believe that one of the best ways of getting at truth is reflecting with others who have opposing views and who share your interest in finding the truth rather than being proven right. While it can be tempting to react emotionally to problems and seek sympathy or blame others, this accomplishes nothing. Remember that the pains you are feeling are “growing pains” that will test your character and reward you if you push through them. Try to look at your problems as a detached observer would.

Remember that identifying problems is like finding gems embedded in puzzles: if you solve the puzzles you will get the gems that will make your life much better. Doing this continuously will lead to your rapid evolution. How good are you at perceiving problems? How confident are you that your assessment of your ability to perceive problems is right? Be very precise in specifying your problems. It is essential to identify your problems with precision, for different problems have different solutions. If your problems are related to lack of skill or innate talent, the most powerful antidote is to have others point things out to you and objectively consider whether what they identify is true.

Problems due to inadequate skill might then be solved with training, whereas those arising from innate weaknesses might be overcome with assistance or role changes. What exactly is that problem? To avoid confusing the problem with its causes, try to identify the suboptimal outcome, e. ” Once you identify your problems, you must not tolerate them. Tolerating problems has the same result as not identifying them i. Tolerating problems might be due to not thinking that they can be solved, or not caring enough about solving them. How confident are you that your assessment of how much you tolerate problems is right? Remember that you need to do each step independently from the other steps before moving on. Can you comfortably identify your problems without thinking about how to solve them? It is a good exercise to just make a list of them, without possible solutions. Only after you have created a clear picture of your problems should you go to the next step. For a more detailed explanation of identifying and not tolerating problems, please read my management principles.

It is a very common mistake for people to move directly from identifying a tough problem to a proposed solution in a nanosecond without spending the hours required to properly diagnose and design a solution. Diagnosing and designing are what spark strategic thinking. You must be calm and logical. When diagnosing problems, as when identifying problems, reacting emotionally, though sometimes difficult to avoid, can undermine your effectiveness as a decision-maker. By contrast, staying rational will serve you well. So if you are finding yourself shaken by your problems, do what you can to get yourself centered before moving forward. You must get at the root causes. Root causes, like principles, are things that manifest themselves over and over again as the deep-seated reasons behind the actions that cause problems.

So you will get many everlasting dividends if you can find them and properly deal with them. It is important to distinguish root causes from proximate causes. ” Proximate causes are typically described via verbs. ” Root causes are typically described with adjectives, usually characteristics about what the person is like that lead them to an action or an inaction. Identifying the real root causes of your problems is essential because you can eliminate your problems only by removing their root causes. In other words, you must understand, accept, and successfully deal with reality in order to move toward your goals. But people often find it difficult to identify and accept their own mistakes. Because people are often upset when their mistakes are pointed out to them, most people are reluctant to point out mistakes in others. It is at this stage that most people fail to progress. I call the pain that comes from looking at yourself and others objectively “growing pains,” because it is the pain that accompanies personal growth.

No pain, no gain. Of course, anyone who really understands that no one is perfect and that these discoveries are essential for personal growth finds that these discoveries elicit “growing pleasures. However, if you can make this connection, such moments will begin to elicit pleasure rather than pain. It is similar to how exercise eventually becomes pleasurable for people who hardwire the connection between exercise and its benefits. So to be successful, you must be willing to look at your own behavior and the behavior of others as possible causes of problems. For example, if lightning strikes, it causes problems that have nothing to do with human error. All problems need to be well-diagnosed before you decide what to do about them.

For a more detailed explanation of diagnosing problems, please read my management principles. In diagnosing problems, how willing are you to “touch the nerve” i. Are you willing to get at root causes, like what people are like? Are you good at seeing the patterns and synthesizing them into diagnoses of root causes? How confident are you that your assessment of your ability to diagnose is accurate? So design will occur at both stages of the process, though it will occur much more often in figuring out how to get around problems. In other words, most of the movement toward your goals comes from designing how to remove the root causes of your problems. Problems are great because they are very specific impediments, so you know that you will move forward if you can identify and eliminate their root causes.

Creating a design is like writing a movie script in that you visualize who will do what through time in order to achieve the goal. Visualize the goal or problem standing in your way, and then visualize practical solutions. Then think about how the machine should be changed to produce good outcomes rather than bad ones. But an effective design requires thinking things through and visualizing how things will come together and unfold over time. You should visualize this plan through time, like watching a movie that connects your past, present, and future. The list of tasks falls out from this story i. The story, or plan, is what connects your goals to the tasks. For you to succeed, you must not lose sight of the goals or the story while focusing on the tasks; you must constantly refer back and forth.

In My Management Principles Part 3 , you can see one such plan. When designing your plan, think about the timelines of various interconnected tasks. Sketch them out loosely and then refine them with the specific tasks. This is an iterative process, alternating between sketching out your broad steps e. These will lead you to modify your design sketch until the design and tasks work well together. Being as specific as possible e. It will also give you and others the to-do lists and target dates that will help direct you. Of course, not all plans will accomplish everything you want in the desired time frame.

This is where perspective is required, and discussing it with others can be critical. But designing is very important because it determines what you will have to do to be effective. Most people make the very big mistake of spending virtually no time on this step because they are too preoccupied with execution. This process is explained in detail in my management principles. People successful with this stage have an ability to visualize and a practical understanding of how things really work. How confident are you that your assessment of your ability to visualize is accurate? Remember: Designing precedes doing! The design will give you your to-do list i. You need to “push through” to accomplish the goals. This requires the self-discipline to follow the script that is your design. I believe the importance of good work habits is vastly underrated.

However, it is critical to know each day what you need to do and have the discipline to do it. People with good work habits have to-do lists that are reasonably prioritized, and they make themselves do what needs to be done. There are lots of tools that can help e. You need to know whether you and others are following the plan, so you should establish clear benchmarks. Ideally you should have someone other than yourself objectively measure if you and others are doing what you planned. If not, you need to diagnose why and resolve the problem. People who are good at this stage can reliably execute a plan. They tend to be self-disciplined and proactive rather than reactive to the blizzard of daily tasks that can divert them from execution.

They are results-oriented: they love to push themselves over the finish line to achieve the goal. If they see that daily tasks are taking them away from executing the plan i. But they succeeded nonetheless because of great symbiotic relationships with highly reliable task-doers. For a more detailed explanation of doing what you set out to do, please see My Management Principles. How good are you at pushing through? How confident are you that your assessment of your ability to push through is accurate? Said differently, goals are the sole purpose of designs and tasks. Frequently I see people feel great about doing their tasks while forgetting the goals they were designed to achieve, resulting in the failure to achieve their goals.

In order to be successful, your goals must be riveted in your mind: they are the things you MUST do. To remember the connections between the tasks and the goals that they are meant to achieve, you just have to ask, “Why? ” It is good to connect tasks to goals this way with the “Why? ” , because losing sight of the connections will prevent you from succeeding. Again, this 5-Step Process is iterative. This means that after completing one of the steps you will probably have acquired relevant information that leads you to modify the other steps. If this process is working, goals will change much more slowly than designs, which will change more slowly than tasks. Designs and tasks can be modified or changed often because you might want to reassess how to achieve the goal , but changing goals frequently is usually a problem because achieving them requires a consistent effort. I often find that people who have problems reaching their goals handle these steps backwards; that is, they stick too rigidly to specified tasks and are not committed enough to achieving their goals often because they lose sight of them.

Most importantly, ask yourself what is your biggest weakness that stands in the way of what you want. As I mentioned before, everyone has weaknesses. As I said early on, I believe that we would have a radically more effective and much happier society if we taught the truth, which is that everyone has weaknesses, and knowing about them and how to deal with them is how people learn and succeed. When you encounter that pain, try to remember that you can get what you want out of life if you can open-mindedly reflect, with the help of others, on what is standing in your way and then deal with it. But being weak at any one of these steps is not a problem if you understand what you are weak at and successfully compensate for that weakness by seeking help. It is easy to find out what weaknesses are standing in your way by 1 identifying which steps you are failing at and 2 getting the feedback of people who are successful at doing what you are having problems with.

You would do this by 1 identifying the step s that you are failing at, 2 noting the qualities required to succeed at that step, and 3 identifying which of these qualities you are missing. To repeat, the five steps and the qualities that I believe are required to be good at them are as follows. At which step do you have the most problems? Which qualities needed do you wish you had more of? In a nutshell, my 5-Step process for achieving what you want is: Values 1 Goals 2 Problems 3 Diagnoses 4 Designs 5 Tasks Your values determine what you want, i. In trying to achieve your goals, you will encounter problems that have to be diagnosed. Only after determining the real root causes of these problems can you design a plan to get around them. Once you have a good plan, you have to muster the self-discipline to do what is required to make the plan succeed.

Note that this process starts with your values, but it requires that you succeed at all five steps. This requires you to put your ego aside, objectively reflect on your strengths and weaknesses, and seek the help from others. As you design and implement your plan to achieve your goals, you may find it helpful to consider that: • Life is like a game where you seek to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving your goals. • You get better at this game through practice. • The game consists of a series of choices that have consequences. While all this may sound very theoretical, it is integral to how we operate every day. For example, my management principles, which are explained in the next section, are based on the principles that I described in this section.

So, Bridgewater is based on the core belief that everyone here is evolving together. How well and how quickly we do that will have a huge effect on our well-being and the well-being of all the people we have contact with e. These two things are inextricably linked. Bridgewater is also based on the belief that to be successful and happy, not only do we have to be excellent, we have to continue to improve at a surprisingly fast rate. Bridgewater operates consistently with the belief that to be excellent and improve at a fast rate, we must be hyper-realistic and hyper-truthful. Bridgewater is based on the belief that both meaningful work and meaningful relationships are required to be happy and successful.

So, our relationships, like our work, must be excellent; as a result, we expect people to be extremely considerate and caring with each other. This does not mean being soft on each other, especially if that means avoiding harsh realities to avoid causing discomfort. It means true caring, which requires recognizing and successfully dealing with our realities, whatever they are. The management principles that follow reflect these core values and the specific ways that they are lived out at Bridgewater. They speak of a comfort zone, a stretch zone, and a panic zone. In Part 2, I explained my most fundamental principles.

In this part I explain my management principles. Naturally, my management principles reflect the principles I believe are best throughout my life. If you read any of the earlier parts you know that I believe that having principles is essential for getting what you want out of life. That is as true for groups of people e. as it is for individuals. It will drive how the people in the group set goals, identify problems, diagnose problems, design solutions, and make sure that these designs are implemented. If these two things are great your organization can navigate the twists and turns to get you where you want to go. Of course, you have to know where you want to go. Organizations, like individuals, have to choose what they are going after i. As they move toward their goals, they encounter problems, make mistakes, and discover weaknesses.

Above all else, how they choose to approach these impediments determines how fast they move toward their goals. Every organization works like a machine to achieve its goals. This machine produces outcomes. By comparing the outcomes to the goals, those running the machine can see how well the machine is working. This is the feedback loop that those who are responsible for the machine need to run well in order to improve the machine. Based on the feedback, the machine can be adjusted to improve. By diagnosing what is wrong, designing improvements, and implementing those improvements, the machine will evolve. In short, the evolutionary process is as follows. Take a minute to look it over and see what you think. I believe that this is equally true for individuals and organizations.

I also believe that the most important difference between great organizations and bad ones is in how well they manage their feedback loops. Most importantly, I value meaningful work and meaningful relationships that are obtained by striving for truth and excellence with great people. I am confident that through this constant striving, we will evolve rapidly together. And when faced with difficult choices, I want them to see the choices as follows. I am confident for two reasons. First, it is logical that the cause-effect relationships are such that being this way produces good results. Second, this theory has been tested over the last 40 years and has worked.

While 40 years ago being this way seemed logical, back then that was an untested theory. Now that we have 40 years of testing to look back on, we can see that the results verify the theory. Because what I have said is pretty abstract, I need to spell out exactly what it means to run a company this way. I need to get very specific. Over time, I have collected and refined my principles so that they now encompass almost all aspects of management. I believe that virtually all problems you might encounter are addressed by one or more of the principles that follow. There are too many principles to read this as a book. There are over principles here that are well-explained and are meant to be used more as a reference book than a book that is read from cover to cover. Said differently, these principles are presented in a big picture way in this Summary and Table of Principles and in a more thoroughly explained way in the section that follows.

a Record almost all meetings and share them with all relevant people. Love them! a The most valuable tool we have for this is the issues log explained fully later , which is aimed at identifying and learning from mistakes. ” and “Does it make sense? a Ask yourself whether you have earned the right to have an opinion. b Recognize that you always have the right to have and ask questions. c Distinguish open-minded people from closed-minded people. e Be wary of the arrogant intellectual who comments from the stands without having played on the field. a Expect more open-minded disagreements at Bridgewater than at most other firms.

b There is giant untapped potential in disagreement, especially if the disagreement is between two or more thoughtful people. a However, when people disagree on the importance of debating something, it should be debated. b Recognize that “there are many good ways to skin a cat. ” c For disagreements to have a positive effect, people evaluating an individual decision or decision-maker must view the issue within a broader context. d Distinguish between 1 idle complaints and 2 complaints that are meant to lead to improvement. a To avoid confusion, make clear which kind of conversation debate, discussion, or teaching you are having b Communication aimed at getting the best answer should involve the most relevant people. c Communication aimed at educating or boosting cohesion should involve a broader set of people than would be needed if the aim were just getting the best answer. d Leverage your communication. a A hierarchy of merit is not only consistent with a meritocracy of ideas but essential for it.

” a Ask yourself whether you have earned the right to have an opinion. b People who have repeatedly and successfully accomplished the thing in question and have great explanations when probed are most believable. a Make it clear who the meeting is meant to serve and who is directing the meeting. b Make clear what type of communication you are going to have in light of the objectives and priorities. c Lead the discussion by being assertive and open-minded. d A small group 3 to 5 of smart, conceptual people seeking the right answers in an open-minded way will generally lead to the best answer. f Navigate the levels of the conversation clearly. g Watch out for “topic slip. ” h Enforce the logic of conversations. i Worry about substance more than style. j Achieve completion in conversations.

k Have someone assigned to maintain notes in meetings and make sure follow-through happens. While this process is generally difficult for both managers and their subordinates, in the long run it has made people happier and Bridgewater more successful. Remember that most people are happiest when they are improving and doing the things that suit them naturally and help them advance. Even as you help people develop, you must constantly assess whether they are able to fulfill their responsibilities excellently. By the same token, you may be tempted to give an employee who rubs you the wrong way a worse evaluation than he or she deserves. An idea meritocracy requires objectivity. Many of the management tools we have developed were built to do just that, providing us with an unbiased picture of people and their performance independent of the biases of any one manager.

This data is essential in cases where a manager and a report are out of sync on an assessment and others are called in to resolve the dispute. Improvements in abilities are more difficult but essential to expanding what a person can be responsible for over time. Every leader must decide between 1 getting rid of liked but incapable people to achieve their goals and 2 keeping the nice but incapable people and not achieving their goals. Whether or not you can make these hard decisions is the strongest determinant of your own success or failure. Learn More. Work Principle Constantly Train, Test, Evaluate, and Sort People. Copied to Clipboard! Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.

Author: Ray Dalio Submitted by: Maria Garcia Views Request a Book Add a Review. Principles: Life and Work PDF book by Ray Dalio Read Online or Free Download in ePUB, PDF or MOBI eBooks. Published in the book become immediate popular and critical acclaim in business, non fiction books. Suggested PDF: Big Debt Crises pdf. Principles: Life and Work is a beautiful novel written by the famous author Ray Dalio. The book is perfect for those who wants to read non fiction, self help books. The book was first published in and the latest edition of the book was published in September 19th which eliminates all the known issues and printing errors. by Ray Dalio. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. by John Medina. The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work.

by Shawn Achor. The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work: A practical guide from the international bestselling relationship expert. by John M. Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life. by David Allen. Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters. by Michael Bungay Stanier. by Melissa Gira Grant. Rachael Ray No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners. by Rachael Ray. BooksVooks Genres Business Ray Dalio Principles: Life and Work pdf. FREE Principles: Life and Work PDF Book by Ray Dalio Download or Read Online Free Author: Ray Dalio Submitted by: Maria Garcia Views Request a Book Add a Review Principles: Life and Work PDF book by Ray Dalio Read Online or Free Download in ePUB, PDF or MOBI eBooks.

Principles: Life and Work PDF Details Author: Ray Dalio Book Format: Audio CD Original Title: Principles: Life and Work Number Of Pages: pages First Published in: Latest Edition: September 19th Language: English Genres: Business , Non Fiction , Self Help , Leadership , Economics , Finance , Self Help , Personal Development , Philosophy , Biography , Business , Management , Economics , Formats: audible mp3, ePUB Android , kindle, and audiobook. J Baptiste. Popular Books Page Views. Related Books Reads. Business , Non Fiction , Self Help , Leadership , Economics , Finance , Self Help , Personal Development , Philosophy , Biography , Business , Management , Economics ,. Big Debt Crises pdf by Ray Dalio.

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School pdf by John Medina. The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work pdf by Shawn Achor. The Seven Principles For Making Marriage Work: A practical guide from the international bestselling relationship expert pdf by John M. Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life pdf by David Allen. pdf by Michael Bungay Stanier. Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work pdf by Melissa Gira Grant. Rachael Ray No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners pdf by Rachael Ray.

Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles. Your Most Important Choices As I mentioned, as we head toward our goals we encounter an enormous number of choices that come at us, and each decision we make has consequences. So it is tragic when people let ego barriers lead them to experience bad outcomes. I felt about this fork-in-the- road choice the way I felt about most others—that whether or not we could have our cake and eat it too was merely a test of our creativity and character. Connect the dots without ego barriers. Take a minute to look it over and see what you think. Disclaimer: This site complies with DMCA Digital Copyright Laws.

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