Page 18 - Ray Dalio - Principles

When we are children, other people, typically our parents,
guide us through our encounters with reality. As we get older,
we begin to make our own choices. We choose what we are
going after (our goals), and that influences our paths. If you

want to be a doctor, you go to medical school; if you want to
have a family, you find a mate; and so on. As we move toward
these goals, we encounter problems, make mistakes, and run
up against our own personal weaknesses. We learn about
ourselves and about reality and make new decisions. Over the
course of our lives, we make millions and millions of
decisions that are essentially bets, some large and some small.

It pays to think about how we make them because they are
what ultimately determine the quality of our lives.

We are all born with different thinking abilities but we
aren’t born with decision-making skills. We learn them from
our encounters with reality. While the path I went down is
unique—being born to particular parents, pursuing a particular
career, having particular colleagues—I believe that the

principles I learned along the way will work equally well for
most people on most paths. As you read my story, try to look
through it and me to the underlying cause-and-effect
relationships—at the choices I made and their consequences,
what I learned from them, and how I changed the ways I make

decisions as a result. Ask yourself what you want, seek out
examples of other people who got what they wanted, and try to
discern the cause-and-effect patterns behind their
achievements so you can apply them to help you achieve your
own goals.

To help you understand where I’m coming from, I am
giving you an unvarnished account of my life and career,

placing special emphasis on my mistakes and weaknesses and
the principles I learned from them.