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
Pull all suspicious threads.
It's worth pulling all suspicious threads because: 1) Small negative situations can be symptomatic of serious underlying problems; 2) Resolving small differences of perception may prevent more serious divergence of views; and 3) In trying to create a culture that values excellence, constantly reinforcing the need to point out and stare at problems--no matter how small--is essential ( otherwise you risk setting an example of tolerating mediocrity).
Prioritization can be a trap if it causes you to ignore the problems around you. Allowing small problems to go unnoticed and unaddressed creates the perception that it's acceptable to tolerate such things. Imagine that all your little problems are small pieces of trash you're stepping over to get to the other side of a room. Sure, what's on the other side of the room may be very important, but it won't hurt you to pick up the trash as you come to it, and by reinforcing the culture of excellence it will have positive second- and thirdorder consequences that will reverberate across your whole organization. While you don't need to pick up every piece, you should never lose sight of the fact that you're stepping over the trash nor that it's probably not as hard as you think to pick up a piece or two as you go on your way.
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
