Cedric Chin, (Chin 2018)

The Principles Sequence is a summary of [Ray Dalio | Principles].

Ray Dalio is best known for starting Bridgewater — one of the largest and best performing hedge funds in the world. The book was then a handbook for Bridgewater employees, but was really a how-to guide to becoming effective at life — that is, achieving your goals, no matter how difficult things might be. In 2017, Dalio published a paper edition of the book with publisher Simon & Schuster.

Both versions of Principles contain a mix of rationalist ideas on being effective, advice on good decision making, and some self-helpy bits about self control and self regulation.

Sequence

  1. Cedric Chin | Building Career Moats: A Confession
  2. Cedric Chin | Book Summary: Principles by Ray Dalio
  3. Cedric Chin | Ray Dalio’s Hyperrealism
  4. Cedric Chin | Ray Dalio’s 5 Step Process (To Getting What You Want Out Of Life)
  5. Cedric Chin | On Lying To Yourself
  6. Cedric Chin | Understand That People Are Wired Very Differently
  7. Cedric Chin | Being an Effective Decision Maker
  8. Cedric Chin | The End of the Principles Sequence

A note on book structure

The book is divided into three parts:

  1. Dalio’s Story — a condensed version of Dalio’s personal history.
  2. Life Principles — Dalio’s approach to life.
  3. Work Principles — Dalio’s approach to building Bridgewater.

The Principles Sequence is centered around Parts One and Two, the two most valuable parts of the book. Dalio intended Part Three to be a reference — you were supposed to read Parts One and Two sequentially, and then jump around to the bits that most interested you in Part Three. For good reason: not all the ideas in Part Three are universally applicable.

(Chin 2018)

Summary / Key points / Take-aways

Bibliography

References

Chin, Cedric. 2018. “The Principles Sequence.” Commonplace - the Commoncog Blog. https://commoncog.com/blog/the-principles-sequence/.