Page 225 - Ray Dalio - Principles

percent of the information or effort. (It’s also true that you’re likely
to exert 80 percent of your effort getting the final 20 percent of
value.) Understanding this rule saves you from getting bogged down
in unnecessary detail once you’ve gotten most of the learning you
need to make a good decision.

d. Be an imperfectionist. Perfectionists spend too much time on little
differences at the margins at the expense of the important things.
There are typically just five to ten important factors to consider
when making a decision. It is important to understand these really
well, though the marginal gains of studying even the important
things past a certain point are limited.

5.4 Navigate levels effectively.

Reality exists at different levels and each of them gives you different
but valuable perspectives. It’s important to keep all of them in mind
as you synthesize and make decisions, and to know how to navigate
between them.

Let’s say you’re looking at your hometown on Google Maps.
Zoom in close enough to see the buildings and you won’t be able to
see the region surrounding your town, which can tell you important
things. Maybe your town sits next to a body of water. Zoom in too
close and you won’t be able to tell if the shoreline is along a river, a
lake, or an ocean. You need to know which level is appropriate to
your decision.

We are constantly seeing things at different levels and navigating
between them, whether we know it or not, whether we do it well or
not, and whether our objects are physical things, ideas, or goals. For
example, you can navigate levels to move from your values to what
you do to realize them on a day-to-day basis. This is what that looks
like in outline:

1 The High-Level Big Picture: I want meaningful work that’s full of
learning.

1.1 Subordinate Concept: I want to be a doctor.
• Sub-Point: I need to go to medical school.

• Sub-Sub Point: I need to get good grades in the sciences.

• Sub-Sub-Sub Point: I need to stay home tonight and
study.