Many of you have told me you're interested in using your mistakes to help you evolve, so I'm sharing my principles for learning from mistakes here. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

Teams should operate like those in professional sports, where different skills are required to play different positions. Excellence in each is mandatory, the success of the mission is uncompromisable, and members that don't measure up may need to be cut. When teams operate with such high standards and shared values, extraordinary relationships are likely to develop. @principleoftheday

@RadyDalio

If you aren't working with people you care about and respect, your job probably isn't the one for you. I will be there for anyone who really needs me; when a whole community operates this way, it is very powerful and rewarding. Personal contact at times of personal difficulty is a must. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

The life that you will live is most simply the result of habits you develop. If you consistently use feelings of anger/frustration as cues to calm down, slow down, and approach the subject at hand thoughtfully, over time you'll experience negative emotions much less frequently and go directly to the openminded practices I just described. Of course, this can be very hard for people to do in the moment because your "lower-level you" emotions are so powerful. The good news is that these "amygdala hijackings" don't last long so even if you're having trouble controlling yourself in the moment, you can also allow a little time to pass to give your higher-level you space to reflect in a quality way. Have others whom you respect help you too. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

A proper goal is something that you really need to achieve. Desires are things that you want that can prevent you from reaching your goals. Typically, desires are first-order consequences. For example, your goal might be physical fitness, while your desire is to eat good-tasting but unhealthy food. Don't get me wrong, if you want to be a couch potato, that's fine with me. You can pursue whatever goals you want. But if you don't want to be a couch potato, then you better not open that bag of chips. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

Articulate your assessment of a person's values, abilities, and skills up front and share it; listen to their and others' responses to your description; organize a plan for training and testing; and reassess your conclusions based on the performance you observe. Do this on an ongoing basis. After several months of discussions and real-world tests, you and your report should both have a pretty good idea of what he or she is like. Over time this exercise will crystallize suitable roles and appropriate training or it will reveal that it's time for the person to find a more appropriate job somewhere else. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

If you limit your goals to what you know you can achieve, you are setting the bar way too low. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

In an idea meritocracy, openness is a responsibility; you not only have the privilege to speak up and “fight for right” but are obliged to do so. This extends especially to principles. Just like everything else, principles need to be questioned and debated. What you’re not allowed to do is complain and criticize privately— either to others or in your own head. If you can’t fulfill this obligation, then you must go.

Of course open-mindedly exploring what’s true with others is not the same thing as stubbornly insisting that only you are right, even after the decision-making machine has settled an issue and moved on. There will inevitably be cases where you must abide by some policy or decision that you disagree with. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

People lie more than most people imagine. I learned that by being in the position of being responsible for everyone in the company. While you might have an exceptionally ethical group of people, in all organizations there are dishonest people who have to be dealt with in practical ways. For example, don’t believe most people who are caught being dishonest when they say that they’ve seen the light and will never do it again because chances are they will. Dishonest people are dangerous, so keeping them around isn’t smart.

@RayDalio

At the same time, let’s be practical. If I tried to limit my relationships to people who never lied, I’d have nobody to work with. While I have extremely high standards when it comes to integrity, I don’t view it in a black-white, one-strike-and-you’re-out way. I look at the severity, the circumstances, and the patterns to try to understand whether I am dealing with a person who is a habitual liar and will lie to me again, or with a person who is fundamentally honest yet imperfect. I consider the significance of the dishonesty itself (Was the person stealing a piece of cake or were they committing a felony?) as well as the nature of our existing relationship (Is it my spouse telling the lie, a casual acquaintance, or an employee?). Treating such cases differently is appropriate because a basic law of justice is that the punishment should fit the crime. #principleoftheday

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@RayDalio

Thanks for boosts!
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@RayDalio

They are rare. Such relationships take time to build and can only be built if you treat such people well. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

Integrity comes from the Latin word integritas, meaning “one” or “whole.” People who are one way on the inside and another way on the outside—i.e., not “whole”—lack integrity; they have “duality” instead. While presenting your view as something other than it is can sometimes be easier in the moment (because you can avoid conflict, or embarrassment, or achieve some other short-term goal), the second- and third-order effects of having integrity and avoiding duality are immense. People who are one way on the inside and another on the outside become conflicted and often lose touch with their own values. It’s difficult for them to be happy and almost impossible for them to be their best.

@RayDalio

Aligning what you say with what you think and what you think with what you feel will make you much happier and much more successful. Thinking solely about what’s accurate instead of how it is perceived pushes you to focus on the most important things. It helps you sort through people and places because you’ll be drawn to people and places that are open and honest. It’s also fairer to those around you: Making judgments about people so that they are tried and sentenced in your head, without asking for their perspective, is both unethical and unproductive. Having nothing to hide relieves stress and builds trust. #principleoftheday

@RayDalio

So I certainly don’t want to dissuade you from going after whatever you want. At the same time, I urge you to reflect on whether what you are going after is consistent with your nature. Whatever your nature is, there are many paths that will suit you, so don’t fixate on just one. Should a particular path close, all you have to do is find another good one consistent with what you’re like.

But most people lack the courage to confront their own weaknesses and make the hard choices that this process requires. Ultimately, it comes down to the following five decisions:

Don’t confuse what you wish were true with what is really true.
Don’t worry about looking good—worry instead about achieving your goals.
Don’t overweight first-order consequences relative to second- and third-order ones.
Don’t let pain stand in the way of progress.
Don’t blame bad outcomes on anyone but yourself.

@RayDalio

If you're like most people, the idea of facing the unvarnished truth makes you anxious. To get over that, you need to understand intellectually why untruths are scarier than truths and then, through practice, get accustomed to living with them.

If you're sick, it's natural to fear your doctor's diagnosis--what if it's cancer or some other deadly disease? As scary as the truth may turn out to be, you will be better off knowing it in the long run because it will allow you to seek the most appropriate treatment. The same holds for learning painful truths about your own strengths and weaknesses.

#principleoftheday

@RayDalio

You only have so much time and energy; make sure you are investing them in exploring the problems that, if fixed, will yield you the biggest returns. But at the same time, make sure you spend enough time with the small problems to make sure they're not symptoms of larger ones.

#principleoftheday

@RayDalio

I've taken my best-selling book “Principles” and distilled it into a video mini-series that focuses on the life principles that have helped me the most. This will especially help those who are graduating this Spring and entering “the real world.”

This is Episode 1: The Call to Adventure, I hope you find these helpful.

#success #principles @raydalio #lifeadvice #mentor #motivation #graduation