Page 209 - Ray Dalio - Principles

But a note of caution is in order too: When thoughts and instructions come to me from my
subconscious, rather than acting on them immediately, I have gotten into the habit of
examining them with my conscious, logical mind. I have found that in addition to helping me
figure out which thoughts are valid and why I am reacting to them as I do, doing this opens
further communication between my conscious and subconscious minds. It’s helpful to write
down the results of this process. In fact that’s how my Principles came about.

If you take nothing else away from this chapter, be aware of your subconscious—of how it
can both harm you and help you, and how by consciously reflecting on what comes out of it,
perhaps with the help of others, you can become happier and more effective.
b. Know that the most constant struggle is between feeling and thinking. There are no greater battles than
those between our feelings (most importantly controlled by our amygdala, which operates
subconsciously) and our rational thinking (most importantly controlled by our prefrontal
cortex, which operates consciously). If you understand how those battles occur you will
understand why it is so important to reconcile what you get from your subconscious with what
you get from your conscious mind.
That damned amygdala, which is a little almond-shaped structure that lies deeply embedded
in the cerebrum, is one of the most powerful parts of your brain. It controls your behavior,
even though you’re not conscious of it. How does it work? When something upsets us—and
that something could be a sound, a sight, or just a gut feeling—the amygdala sends notice to
our bodies to prepare to fight or flee: the heartbeat speeds up, the blood pressure rises, and
breathing quickens. During an argument, you’ll often notice a physical response similar to how
you react to fear (for instance, rapid heartbeats and tensing muscles). Recognizing that, your
conscious mind (which resides in the prefrontal cortex) can refuse to obey its instructions.
Typically, these amygdala hijackings come on fast and dissipate quickly, except in rare cases,
such as when a person develops post-traumatic stress disorder from a particularly horrible
event or series of events. Knowing how these hijackings work, you know that if you allow
yourself to react spontaneously, you will be prone to overreact. You can also comfort yourself
with the knowledge that whatever psychological pain you are experiencing will go away
before very long.
c. Reconcile your feelings and your thinking. For most people, life is a never-ending battle between
these two parts of the brain. While the amygdala’s reactions come in spurts and then subside,
reactions from the prefrontal cortex are more gradual and constant. The biggest difference
between people who guide their own personal evolution and achieve their goals and those who
don’t is that those who make progress reflect on what causes their amygdala hijackings.
d. Choose your habits well. Habit is probably the most powerful tool in your brain’s toolbox. It is
driven by a golf-ball-sized lump of tissue called the basal ganglia at the base of the cerebrum.
It is so deep-seated and instinctual that we are not conscious of it, though it controls our
actions.
If you do just about anything frequently enough over time, you will form a habit that will
control you. Good habits are those that get you to do what your “upper-level you” wants, and
bad habits are those that are controlled by your “lower-level you” and stand in the way of your
getting what your “upper-level you” wants. You can create a better set of habits if you
understand how this part of your brain works. For example, you can develop a habit that will
make you “need” to work out at the gym.
Developing this skill takes some work. The first step is recognizing how habits develop in
the first place. Habit is essentially inertia, the strong tendency to keep doing what you have
been doing (or not doing what you have not been doing). Research suggests that if you stick
with a behavior for approximately eighteen months, you will build a strong tendency to stick to
it nearly forever.
For a long time, I didn’t appreciate the extent to which habits control people’s behavior. I
experienced this at Bridgewater in the form of people who agreed with our work principles in
the abstract but had trouble living by them; I also observed it with friends and family members
who wanted to achieve something but constantly found themselves working against their own
best interests.