Ray Dalio. Hedge Fund billionare reportedly worth more than >USD$18billion. Founder of Bridgewater Associates.1 Dalio has a number of publications, one which has been ranked in the top 13 business books of 20171 is his manifesto – Principles. Principles is part autobiography and part “text book” of his personal principles for life and business. At the time of writing this book has received >850 reviews on Amazon with 70% rating it as 5 star. 20% rate the book 3 stars or less2. I agree with the 20%. This book contains so many principles it is asinine to even think that someone could actually read these and put them all into use. There literally are 100’s of principles. As a result, these principles all become slogans, considerations and aphorisms. Principles should be tight, well-constructed and universally applicable. If they meet these criteria, they therefore cannot number in the 100’s. They should be limited in number but applicable to a wide variety of situations.
This did get me thinking about what would be my principles if I were to commit them to writing. This is not a simple exercise in regards to prioritisation. In order to be applicable and tight it requires you to think very carefully about what is your quiddity. The following are the principles that I believe an Iron Exec should consider carefully;
· Be objective: Do not react instantaneously to something you hear, see or read. This I admit is not easy. In this day and age of everyone been “outraged” at some form of perceived wrong doing it is almost a badge of honour to lose your shit over something you believe is of the highest moral injustice. Why not differentiate yourself by not doing this? This will not mean you are morally bankrupt or ethically challenged. What it will mean is you do not live a binary perception of the world, with things having to be good and evil, wrong or right. By remaining objective you see what is actually going on. Having the discipline not to be blinkered by an emotional hijacking allows you the opportunity to observe both sides of an argument, both sides of a business case, regardless of the situation, you can remain detached enough to appropriately see all sides and then be in a position to formulate an opinion or position that will be more in keeping with your true character.
· Make physical exercise a daily habit: No one can argue that in the 21st century, for the vast majority of the worlds population we live a more sedentary life. There is no need for me to go into chapter and verse as to why this is bad for your health. This leaves you with two options. Get a job and lifestyle that requires you to be physically active every single day for the rest of your life (Think of such occupations as farming, furniture removal, labourer etc) or prioritise and make a habit of exercising every day. You don’t need to be an elite level athlete. What you do need to do though is exert yourself. Vary the intensity of course but nonetheless do something. One day it may be an hour walk. The next day may be some heavy deadlifting and benching. Just make it a habit. As an Iron Exec I would urge you to prioritise resistance training that is periodised between periods of heavy lifting (strength building) and other times of more volume and time under tension (hypertrophy training). Combined with weekly low intensity steady state cardio and at less frequent times high intensity interval training, this will forge a highly functioning human machine.
· Trust – Treat people how you wish to be treated. Should people not trust you to deliver? Should people treat you like a child? Do you need to be micromanaged at work? Do you like when you do things for people and they don’t acknowledge your work? Why then should you do this to your colleagues or family members? Trust is actually not that difficult but for some it is incredibly tough to do. They just don’t like to feel as if they relinquished control in some way. Showing trust in people is usually repaid through that person doing right by you. If they don’t, you no longer trust them. Pretty simple concept. If trusting people seems challenging to you, why not start small, trust someone to complete a small task. When the task is completed to your liking show some more trust on something slightly larger or more important. You will be pleasantly surprised.
· Be curious – Being curious requires a number of possible traits. A sensible dose of cynicism, a hunger to understand things at a deeper level and a thirst for wanting to understand the drivers and motivations of those around you. When you combine these traits you have recipe for positive curiosity. This will lead to insights. Insights, particularly in business, but also in maintaining relationships, are what will set you apart as been different. The ability to generate insights will mean in business you will make wise decisions. Insights into what makes people tick gives you a differentiated advantage. You will be able to influence, guide and support the people around you in a genuine but also incredibly touching way cause it will show that they are understood, listened too and that they mean enough to you for you to actually care. This is powerful. Curiosity needs to be part of everything you do as it will drive those insights you are constantly seeking.
If you like what you read here and want to learn more about Iron Exec principles for Strength and Business, check my book out here mybook.to/IronExec
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio#Published_works
2.https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1501124021/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1551028505&sr=8-2&keywords=Dalio+PRinciples