Anyone you see succeeding is only succeeding at the things you’re paying attention to – I guarantee they are also failing at lots of other things.
The two biggest barriers to good decision making are your ego and your blind spots.
My fear of being wrong pushed me to seek out other smart folks to poke holes in my view.
It is more inconsiderate to prevent people from exercising their rights because you are offended by them than it is for them to do whatever it is that offends you.
I began to experience painful moments in a radically different way. Instead of feeling frustrated or overwhelmed, I saw pain as nature’s reminder that there is something important for me to learn.
No matter what work you do, at a high level you are simply setting goals and building machines to help you achieve them.
Don’t pay as much attention to people’s conclusions as to the reasoning that led them to their conclusions. It is common for conversations to consist of people sharing their conclusions rather than exploring the reasoning that led to those conclusions. As a result, there is an overabundance of confidently expressed bad opinions.
I also feared boredom and mediocrity much more than I feared failure. For me, great is better than terrible, and terrible is better than mediocre, because terrible at least gives life flavor.
History has shown that we shouldn’t rely on governments to protect us financially. On the contrary, we should expect most governments to abuse their privileged positions as the creators and users of money and credit for the same reasons that you might commit those abuses if you were in their shoes.
I cannot say that having an intense life filled with accomplishments is better than having a relaxed life filled with savoring, though I can say that being strong is better than being weak, and that struggling gives one strength. My nature being what it is, I would not have changed my life, but I can’t tell you what is best for you. That is for you to choose. What I have seen is that the happiest people discover their own nature and match their life to it.
The courage that’s needed the most isn’t the kind that drives you to prevail over others, but the kind that allows you to be true to your truest self, no matter what other people want you to be.
I didn’t like school, not just because it required a lot of memorization, but because I wasn’t interested in most of the things my teachers thought were important. I never understood what doing well in school would get me other than my mother’s approval.
But I do know that having those jobs and having some money to handle independently in those early years taught me many valuable lessons I wouldn’t have learned in school or at play.
History has shown that we shouldn’t rely on governments to protect us financially.
El trabajo y las relaciones significativos eran, y son, mis objetivos principales, y lo subordinaba todo a ellos. Ganar dinero era una consecuencia accidental de lo anterior.
My experience over this period was like a series of blows to the head with a baseball bat. Being so wrong – and especially so publicly wrong – was incredibly humbling and cost me just about everything I had built at Bridgewater. I saw that I had been an arrogant jerk who was totally confident in a totally incorrect view.
Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life.
Money is a byproduct of excellence, not a goal.
Having a good set of principles is like having a good collection of recipes for success.
This included cash, which is the worst investment over time because it loses value after adjusting for inflation and taxes. I.