Lesson's From Ray Dalio's Principles Pt. 2: The Designer & The Worker

"It's up to you to connect what you want with what you need to do to get it and then find the courage to carry it through."

Ray Dalio advises to: “Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you have the ability to alter your machines to produce better outcomes."

You need to be BOTH the designer and the worker of your machine.

Most people get stuck just being the worker. It's much more important to be a good designer/manager than worker. To be successful, the designer needs to be completely objective about what the worker you is actually like. Don't put him in jobs he shouldn't be in.

Additionally, the worker doesn't get a say. The manager decides what the worker needs to do, and the worker needs to go to work - regardless of mood. This is how you can choose the path of discipline: to sacrifice what you may want in the moment (often moments of weakness) for what you really want in the long-term.

Dalio states, "Most people don't spend enough time as the designer, and as a result, they operate emotionally and in the moment. Consequently, their lives are a series of undirected emotional experiences, going from one thing to the next."

"By deeply contemplating higher aims, we energize ourselves to pursue them!"