How to live your values

What pursuits are you taking on? What are your hard boundaries? What guides your decision making process? The answer sits with your values…

What values guide you to enact your purpose?

When you think of values, you might come up with buzzwords that you like to uphold, things like commitment, trust, and loyalty. Basically words that companies like to have on their wall. For values to be meaningful you need to understand them in a deeper way than just a buzzword. Specifically you need to know how you enact that particular value.

In his book, ‘Principles’, Ray Dalio depicts the values that guide his life, both in and outside work. Dalio’s principles are used within his investment company, Bridgewater, through algorithms to assist the decision making process. You can see how this works in his TED talk. The principles, for me, are more than just a decision making tool, but actually a guide to life. Let me share a couple of his principles that are central to how he operates:

‘Believability weight your decision making’

It is simply not possible for you to know everything, but it is still important that you make the most informed decisions you can. This is where believable people come in. Believable people, as defined by Dalio are individuals who have:

1. ‘Successfully accomplished the thing in question at least three times’, and