Jon Kragh's Additional Life Principles in 2020
Capturing my principles is a life-changing habit that Ray Dalio influenced me to start.
The holidays have become my new time to pause and reflect on these beliefs.
I highly recommend organizing your list, not only for yourself but to help others understand who you are and to pass down your hard-earned lessons to your loved ones.
My principle #5 from 2019 saved me several times this year. "Everything looks big up close; that is why it is important to give yourself some time to step away from a problem to see it for what it is."
These are my top principles from 2020, which cluster a lot around conserving my energy and risk. My leading principle from 2019 is still my most important one, "Expectations drive behavior. Behavior impacts outcomes."
New in 2020
- Avoid thoughts that make you weak. (influenced by Peterson)
- Without risk, there can not be faith. (influenced by Kierkegaard)
- How you communicate is just as important as what you say.
- There is more to admire in humankind than to despise.
- Do not tranquilize yourself with the trivial; focus on what is meaningful. (influenced by Kierkegaard)
- Do not waste big energy on small problems.
- Get momentum at the right time - amplify effort when it's most important.
- Engaging with cynics that do not have their own ideas is a waste of time; engaging with cynics with unique and different approaches can be useful. It is much easier to describe problems than solve problems.
- Master the moment. Be grateful for beauty in the moment, push past your breaking point in the moment, control your emotions in the moment. (influenced by Brian Dawkins)
- You will never be fully ready; commit anyway.
- Avoid building things that people do not want.
- Be disciplined to work through terrible first ideas to get to the great idea.
- Work both smart and hard.
- Don't preach to people. Instead, plant a seed and let them discover. This approach is much more effective, and they will not be resentful.
- Turn your pain into your power. Willingly enter into pain.
- Build things that will be a possession for all generations.
- It's ok to have flaws but avoid fatal flaws. Fatal flaws are dangerous and timeless; they are the central idea of Greek tragedies (i.e., how many great people fell with one bad move?).