Page 217 - Ray Dalio - Principles

5 Learn How to Make

Decisions Effectively

As a professional decision maker, I have spent my life studying how
to make decisions effectively and have constantly looked for rules
and systems that will improve my odds of being right and ending up
with more of whatever it is that I am after.
One of the most important things I’ve come to understand is that
most of the processes that go into everyday decision making are
subconscious and more complex than is widely understood. For
example, think about how you choose and maintain a safe distance
behind the car in front of you when you are driving. Now describe
the process in enough detail that someone who has never driven a
car before can do it as well as you can, or so that it can be
programmed into the computer that controls an autonomous car. I
bet you can’t.

Now think about the challenge of making all of your decisions
well, in a systematic, repeatable way, and then being able to describe
the processes so clearly and precisely that anyone else can make the
same quality decisions under the same circumstances. That is what I
aspire to do and have found to be invaluable, even when highly
imperfect.

While there is no one best way to make decisions, there are some
universal rules for good decision making. They start with:

5.1 Recognize that 1) the biggest threat to

good decision making is harmful

emotions, and 2) decision making is a

two-step process (first learning and

then deciding).