principles-by-ray-dalio.md

principles-by-ray-dalio.md

It is an interesting book which talks about how to live life. The author, who is extremely successful by societal standards, argues that all he has acheieved is a results of adherence to the principle he lays out, and that anyone who follows the same principles would be just as successful. None of the principles seemed mind blowing. They are all ideas I've heard before, with more emphasis. It talks about build good mental models for reality, iterating quickly by diagonizing problems clearly, being radically honest, better decision making, etc., It's again (like Derren Brown and many other mentioned before) interesting to hear such an accomplished man say that it's not clear that a live of more material wealth is necessarily better.

I also like the idea of writing down principles and acting by them in every situation. Any new problem will only be a combination of what we've faced before, having the principles in place can make it incredibly easy to get better.

On extracting principles from previous exeriences and sticking to them over time. It again talks about the theme, chasing after money doesn't make them much happier. Having a more relaxed and laid back life doesn't seem much better.

• Principle 1: Understand reality and build mental models for it.

  • Keep correcting your models each time they're violated. Keep your models out there for other people to criticize.
  • Embrace radical truth and radical transparency. Be open about your problems.
  • You can only have progress through pain and reflection. Pushing limits and fail, become addictive to it. Helps ascend to higher levels.
  • Take others people's perspectives, build models of them and put them in positions. If outcomes don't match goals, change models and reiterate. Put right people in the right positions (don't take einestein in your basketball team).

• Write down your principles and refine them over time. Live by these principle, walk the talk.

What are the most important things for me? (money is only a means to achieve these ends)

• Meaningful work and meaningful relationships. More money can't buy me either, as long as I earn enough to sustain myself.
• Writing down your principles helps people you work with make sense of your behavior.

how can I algorithmize by decision making?

My principles:

• Don't work for money. Don't compare with others. You already have enough.
• Fail often. Failing is better than being mediocre.

• Jotting down my life goals here:

• See life as a first people video game.

My principles:

• Set clear goals:

  • Vision: I want to increase the well being myself and the people around me. Like in ancient greek, I want to improve lives by using software updates about the
  • Goal: I want to make five high quality videos this month. (and continue creating such content this year)
  • Problems:
    • I'm not world-class at writing.
    • I might not enjoy video editing that much.
    • I don't clearly have scripts that seperate me from the crowd.
    • (do these things first so that I can confirm my strengths and weaknesses. identify cause of the problem.)
    • (don't tolerate problems)
  • Diagnosis:
    • Clearly think about solutions.
  • Have a plan:
    • Build a mental model of what's happening. Fix things. See progress as a machine, fix issues with the machine.
  • Push through to follow script and complete.

• Throughly enjoy the day and feel really good when you live a day by your plan.

• Thinking at multiple levels:

  • Big picture: want to do things that keep me happy
    • want to increase the well-being of myself and others
      • I can create content that helps people (in terms of videos, blogs)
        • I need to learn more and improve my knowledge. Read books.
        • I should talk to people and understand their problems
        • I should improve my writing skills
        • I should write scripts that can be turned into videos.

Situation:

• Talking with Ramya, and I'm out of things to talk about.

  • Watch a movie with her.
  • Talk about how the day went, and how we can improve for the next day.
  • Share about the books I've read for the day.
  • Today
    • Sru -- prepare ayyavu kada

• Exhausting social situations

• How to let people out easy during conversations

What are my three most harmful habits?

• Social media use
• Inconsistent workouts
• Not choosing the goals carefully.