Category: Living Well

I (finally) finished reading Ray Dalio’s book, Principles this week.

…I say “finally,” because sheesh did this book take me a while to complete.

…Two months in case you’re wondering. And not just because of it’s length (567 pages), but because of how dry it felt to me.

What I thought it was going to be were economic principles from one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time (i.e. when to invest and in what based on varying economic markets). But, what it ended up being were personal and company principles, laid out like a legal document, outlining every single principle he’s incorporated into his life and business over the decades of his work.

…To be clear, the value is massive and there’s a ton to learn from it.

But, to read before bed after a long day of work?

…It proved to be an incredible uphill battle.

“Why didn’t you stop and read something else?” …You might be wondering.

To which I’d reply, I almost did.

But what I always come back to, and the reason I didn’t and stayed the uphill course, was the idea of seeing challenges through.

We do hard things not so we can suffer unnecessarily, but so we can prepare ourselves better for life.

…Illustrated perfectly in how easily I’m able to read my next book, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. One night and I’m already halfway through. And not because I’m a fast reader, but because I’ve trudged my way through hard reading—and now have context that gives my reading depth, confidence, and appreciation.

…The same kinds of things that come from doing other hard things in life, too.

As a leader/role model/parent/etc, saying what you expect is one thing.

…Inspecting what you expect is another.

If getting certain tasks done is important, delegating them and asking someone to do it once isn’t enough. You must follow up. And even after you’ve confirmed a good track record, it’s still important to inspect their work regularly—albeit maybe in less frequent time intervals.

What’s important to remember is that we humans have the tendency to skew our directions towards the path of least resistance—always—and oftentimes even unbeknownst to us.

And without any checks… there won’t be any rebalances.

If we want to keep our trajectory pointed towards excellence—then we’re going to need to hold each other accountable. Because excellence, essentially, is the path filled with the most resistance. And we don’t just stay on that type of path without help, accountability, or well built self-discipline.

The path we’re innately wired to follow is the one that leaves us bound to land somewhere in the middle or below—where average effort and results reign supreme. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But if excellence is what you’re after (what you’re seriously after), then rewiring is going to need to be involved. And not just a one-and-done kind of rewiring… but, the constant, deliberate, above-and-beyond kind.

…The kind that always gets checked so it’s always staying balanced.

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