A collection of principles that I aspire to live by.

Philosophy

  1. See Things for What They Are – “Truth – or, more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality – is the essential foundation for any good outcome.” –Ray Dalio
  2. Focus on what you can control – All efforts outside of it are wasted.
  3. Essentialism – Do less but Better. Focus on the few most important things and do them well.
  4. Take full responsibility for your life – The opposite is prone to victim mentality which will make your life miserable.
  5. Chose your influences carefully – What you read and watch, what you listen to, your friends… they make you who you are.
  6. Memento mori – Remember that you will die. Time is limited.

Performance

  1. Get clear on the problem/goal – Know what you want. Get clear on the problem, before considering solutions. Make sure that it’s the right problem to solve.
  2. Effectiveness over efficiency – Doing the right things is more important than doing things well. 20% of inputs will get you 80% of the returns.
  3. Prioritize Ruthlessly – Resources are limited. You can never do it all. Every time you choose something you say no to something else.
  4. Build momentum – Small consistent steps compound.
  5. Know Which Game You’re Playing – Life is More Often a Loser’s Game, not a Winner’s game.
  6. Always learn – Regardless of the outcome.
  1. Life is probabilistic – Nothing is certain. Everything is conditional. Use probabilistic thinking to improve your decisions.
  2. Survival of the fittest – The most adapted wins in the short-term. The most adaptable wins in the long-run.
  3. Progressive escalation – Try the simplest, least risky, and/or cheapest solution first.
  4. Beliefs must be earned – Only trust the opinions of people with skin in the game. An idea from Nassim Taleb.
  5. Build redundancy and margin of safety – Avoid over-optimization and relying too much on your predictions. You will be wrong eventually.

People

  1. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior – People can change, they just usually don’t.
  2. Follow the Silver Rule – “Do not treat others the way you do not want to be treated by them” –Nassim Taleb
  3. Hanlon’s Razor – Don’t attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by stupidity.