Pain Guides Evolution: Embrace Growth Over Comfort
Realizing that we innately want to evolve--and that the other stuff we are going after, while nice, won't sustain our happiness--has helped me focus on my goals of evolving and contributing to evolution in my own infinitely small way. While we don't like pain, everything that nature made has a purpose, so nature gave us pain for a purpose. So what is its purpose? It alerts us and helps direct us. #principleoftheday
Authority Assigned, Accountability Tested, Not Transferred
Everyone does not report to everyone. Responsibilities and authorities are assigned to individuals based on assessments of their ability to handle them. People are given the authority that they need to achieve outcomes and are held accountable for their ability...
Iran Conflict Signals Next Phase of Global Cycle
Most people look at wars as isolated events. I look at them as part of a Big Cycle that has repeated many times, so for me watching what is happening is like watching a movie I've seen many times before. What we’re seeing...
Self‑Correcting Cycles Drive Markets, Economies, and Nations
This evolutionary cycle is not just for people but for countries, companies, economies—for everything. And it is naturally self-correcting as a whole, though not necessarily for its parts. For example, if there is too much supply and waste in a...
Money Equals Debt; Currency Valuation Drives Economic Reality
Money is debt, and debt is money. It confuses a lot of people when I say that, but the mechanics are fairly straightforward. A debt instrument is just a promise to deliver money in the future. What that money is worth...
Become Life’s Designer, Not Just Its Worker
One of the hardest things for people to do is to objectively look down on themselves within their circumstances (i.e., their machine) so that they can act as the machine's designer and manager. Most people remain stuck in the perspective...
Open‑minded Apprenticeship Accelerates Personal and Organizational Growth
Trainees must be open-minded; the process requires them to suspend their egos while they discover what they are doing well and what they are doing poorly and decide what to do about it. The trainer must be open-minded as well,...
Sharing Timeless Principles for Today’s Risky World
At this stage in my life, my main goal is to pass along the principles that I have learned that have helped me. Those principles are especially valuable now because the times we are in are so risky. I’m sharing...
Respect Principles, Speak Up, or Change Them Properly
Principles are like laws--you can't break one simply because you and someone else agree to break it. Remember that it's everyone's obligation to speak up, own it, or get out. If you don't think the principles provide the right way...
Control of Hormuz Strait Determines Global Power Balance
Already both the U.S. and Iran are claiming to have won the war and are negotiating about the negotiations. As explained in my recent note, it all comes down to who controls the Strait of Hormuz, which will have big implications...
Reward Follows Reality‑aligned Contributions to Evolution
To be “good,” something must operate consistently with the laws of reality and contribute to the evolution of the whole; that is what is most rewarded. For example, if you come up with something the world values, you almost can't...
When Debt Outpaces Income, Fiat Currency Weakens
Throughout history, all fiat currencies eventually face the same pressures. When debt grows faster than income and money needs to be created to fill the gap, the value of that money changes. This isn’t a prediction—it’s a pattern that has repeated...
Adopt a Higher-Level, Objective View of All Perspectives
You are expected to go to the higher level and look down on yourself and others as part of a system. In other words, you must get out of your own head, consider your views as just some among many,...
Challenge Biases, Embrace Analytical Perspective on Nature
It’s important not to let our biases stand in the way of our objectivity. To get good results, we need to be analytical rather than emotional. Whenever I observe something in nature that I (or mankind) think is wrong, I assume...
Respect Rules, Not Unlimited Arguments, in Idea Meritocracies
In an idea meritocracy, there is bound to be more disagreement than in a typical organization, but when it's taken to an extreme, arguing and nitpicking can undermine the idea meritocracy's effectiveness. At Bridgewater, I have encountered some people, especially...
