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.
Life Principle
If a number of different believable people say you are doing something wrong and you are the only one who doesn't see it that way, assume that you are probably biased.
Be objective! While it is possible that you are right and they are wrong, you should switch from a fighting mode to an "asking questions" mode, compare your believability with theirs, and if necessary agree to bring in a neutral party you all respect to break the deadlock.
RECENT USER EXCHANGES
I applied the principle that if several credible people think you’re wrong and you’re the only one who disagrees, you’re probably biased. I brought in a neutral, more competent third party, which worked extremely well: my risk‑averse approach was justified, but my emotional way of explaining it was not.Reflecting on this, I realized I hadn’t delegated well and had taken on too much, leaving me exhausted and frustrated. Recognizing that helped me correct both my attitude and my mistakes.
Wonderful. The fact that you can see yourself making mistakes and change is huge because that’s where growth comes from. Most people are stuck with their biased opinions.
I agree that if many credible people say you’re doing something wrong and you’re the only one who disagrees, you should assume bias. But if you replace “you’re doing something wrong” with “that will never work,” does the same rule apply? If it does, many great inventions would not exist.
I think you are saying that a lot of great inventions have come from failures and learning from them. If so, we are entirely on the same page, assuming that the people doing the failings know how to convert them into learnings through quality reflecting.
Dalio's principle is a good way to overcome the bias blind spot that may afflict even the smartest people. Intelligence does not protect you from cognitive biases; in fact, it can make them worse. The smarter you are, the better you can rationalize your beliefs and articulate your arguments in favor of them. That's why really smart people sometimes do really stupid things.
It’s also why REALLY smart people know that success comes more from knowing how to deal with their not knowing even more than it comes from what they know (which is often a huge amount which is learned because of their desire to explore what they don’t know).
When credible people give you the same feedback and you’re the only one who disagrees, bias—not truth—is likely at play. Leaving ego out matters.Being non‑egotistical isn’t easy, but it opens you to growth. When feedback stops feeling like criticism, it becomes what it really is: building blocks for becoming better.
When ego stands in the way of seeing what best it’s a tragedy. Practice getting rid of the ego by noticing when it’s kicking in am trying to navigate it well. Meditation would help this a lot (and would help a lot of others things too).
Life Principle
- Be Radically Open-Minded
- Understand how you can become radically open-minded.
- If a number of different believable people say you are doing something wrong and you are the only one who doesn't see it that way, assume that you are probably biased.
- Understand how you can become radically open-minded.
Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.
Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles.com
