Radical open-mindness

From Principles by Ray Dalio:

Radically open-mindness is the ability to effectively explore different points of view and different possibilities without letting your ego or your blind spots get in your way.

It requires you to replace your attachment to always being right with the joy of learning what’s true.

Beautifully written.…

Higher level thinking

I’m currently reading Principles from Ray Dalio. It’s amazing. Dalio is an American billionaire investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. Dalio is the founder of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

In principles Dalio describes ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life.

I could write a post about basically every principle of his book, but some strike me just a bit more than others.

One that’s really insightful is the principle of “higher level thinking”.…

Is it true?

I learned this one earlier during one of my leadership trainings and I heard it again during a podcast I listened to this week from Michael Pilarczyk.

The original thought comes from Byron Katie, author of The Work. Katie went to deep troubles in her life, until one day she figured out that everything that bothered her where just thoughts.

We see these limiting thoughts everywhere around us. people in professional environments often think they can’t make mistakes, or if they make a mistake, the worst possible things will happen.…

Deliberate practice

Unfortunately, I’m not very gifted with the talent of being attentive. I often wish I could be better at it. I can improve in my personal life, by being attentive on asking how a certain event was, or bringing home a present on a specific occasion. Or at work, where for example it’s appreciated when you wish a colleague good luck on the day of a big presentation.

I almost always think about doing these things, but somehow never at the right time.…

The motivation cycle

Another insightful one from Mark Mansons’ book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. In fact, he claims it took him eight years to sink in, but it’s perhaps the most important thing he ever learned in life:

Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.

Mark Manson

As he writes, most of us commit to action only if we feel a certain level of motivation. And we feel motivation only when we feel enough emotional inspiration.…

Appreciation instead of expectation

This is an idea advocated by Tony Robbins, the famous life and business coach. In life we’re constantly chasing more: more money, more friends, a bigger house, a bigger career.

But instead of chasing and expecting more, Robbins argues that you must focus on what’s there. Be appreciative and grateful of what you have.

Appreciation instead of expectation removes fear and anxiety, because there is nothing more to need. And as with a lot of things, being appreciative often leads to more.…

Everything is a choice

This is a bit of a controversial one. I recently read the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (affiliate link) by Mark Manson.  The book is full of interesting pseudo scientific wisdom, so probably more posts will follow from this one.

One interesting position is the idea that everything is a choice. In life, a lot of unhappiness, fear and stress comes from not making choices. Or the fear of what the consequences of making a choice might be.…

I’m confident I’ll figure it out

This one has been obvious, but profound and potentially life changing for me. I picked it up in the Strategy Skills podcast which is published by Firms Consulting. It’s a podcast on Management Consulting.

Unfortunately, I can’t recall the exact episode (and thus the exact quote) but the insight is along this lines: 

I have no confidence in knowing the exact right answer, but I have full confidence in knowing I will figure it out. 

Why did this quote has such a big impact on me?…

Extreme ownership

This is a concept I picked up from a podcast with Tim Ferris and Jocko Willink. Jocko is (Tim’s words) the scariest Navy SEAL imaginable. He served several wars and is now an accomplished business man. In this podcast Jocko talks about how discipline equals freedom and the concept of Extreme ownership.

Extreme ownership is about taking full responsibility for realizing your ambitions, dreams and desires. It discards the idea that outside factors can’t be influenced and can get in the way of achieving your goals.…