Page 222 - Ray Dalio - Principles

Now let’s look at what a month of workdays looks like.
Confusing, eh?

The chart below plots just the type X dots, which you can see are
improving.

People who are good at pulling out such patterns of events are
rare and essential, but as with most abilities, synthesizing through
time is only partially innate; even if you’re not good at it, you can
get better through practice. You’ll increase your chances of
succeeding at it if you follow the next principle.

a. Keep in mind both the rates of change and the levels of things, and the relationships
between them. When determining an acceptable rate of improvement
for something, it is its level in relation to the rate of change that
matters. I often see people lose sight of this. They say “it’s getting
better” without noticing how far below the bar it is and whether the
rate of change will get it above the bar in an acceptable amount of