Ray Dalio’s Principles for Life

Ray Dalio Principles explainer video

I hope these principles help you strive productively and get the most joy out of life.

• Think for yourself and decide:

  • (1) what you want;
  • (2) what the facts are; and
  • (3) in light of those facts, how to achieve your desires — with humility and an open mind to access your best thinking.

• Introduction to Life Principles

  • Study the patterns behind what affects you, understand the causes, and learn principles to respond effectively.

• Part II: Life Principles

  • 1 Embrace reality and deal with it
    • 1.1 Be a hyper‑realist
      • a. Dreams + reality + determination = a successful life.
    • 1.2 Truth (or, more precisely, accurate understanding of reality) underpins all good outcomes.
    • 1.3 Be extremely open‑minded and radically transparent
      • a. Radical open‑mindedness and radical transparency are invaluable for fast learning and effective change.
      • b. Don’t let others’ opinions become obstacles.
      • c. Embracing radical truth/transparency leads to more meaningful work and relationships.
    • 1.4 Observe nature and learn how reality works
      • a. Don’t cling to how you think things “should” be; that blinds you to how they are.
      • b. What is “good” must align with reality’s principles and advance evolution — that yields the biggest rewards.
      • c. Evolution is the most powerful force in the universe, the only constant, the driver of everything.
      • d. Evolve or die.
    • 1.5 Evolution is life’s greatest achievement and reward
      • a. Incentives for individuals must align with group goals.
      • b. Reality optimizes for the whole, not the individual.
      • c. Rapid trial‑and‑error adaptation is priceless.
      • d. Realize you are everything and nothing; decide who you want to be.
      • e. Your future depends on your perspective.
    • 1.6 Learn nature’s lessons
      • a. Maximize your evolution.
      • b. Remember: no pain, no gain.
      • c. A fundamental law: to gain strength, people must push limits — it hurts.
    • 1.7 Pain + reflection = progress
      • a. Confront pain, don’t avoid it.
      • b. Accept tough love.
    • 1.8 Consider second‑ and third‑order consequences.
    • 1.9 Accept outcomes.
    • 1.10 Look down on the machine from a higher level
      • a. See yourself as a small machine inside a bigger one, and know you can redesign your machine for better results.
      • b. Compare outcomes to goals to see how to improve the machine.
      • c. Distinguish you‑as‑designer from you‑as‑worker in the machine.
      • d. Most people fail by misjudging themselves/others and tripping over weaknesses.
      • e. Successful people transcend themselves, see objectively, and manage to shape change.
      • f. Ask experts where you’re weak; build guardrails to avoid mistakes.
      • g. Because self‑objectivity is hard, rely on others’ views and full evidence.
      • h. With enough open‑mindedness and determination, you can achieve almost anything.
  • 2 Use the five‑step process to get what you want from life
    • 2.1 Set clear goals
      • a. Prioritize: you can get almost anything you want, but not everything you want.
      • b. Don’t confuse goals with desires.
      • c. Reconcile goals and desires to clarify what you truly want.

Published at: Oct 8, 2025 · Modified at: Oct 26, 2025