Those who do not make their own decisions have to live with the consequences of other people’s ideas.

This is one of the principles that I have adopted from Ray Dalio. If you don’t know who Ray Dalio is, you can find him in Wikipedia as one of the most successful hedge fund managers of our time.

One of the hundred richest people on the planet according to Forbes list, but a likeable and helpful man.

In addition, he is the author of the book Principles, in which he describes the criteria he used in his life to make decisions that led to his success.

He himself describes these principles as a means to decide how to act in a situation before it occurs.

He also believes in dealing with reality as it is.

He believes in radical honesty.

It makes no sense to gloss over reality, but if you deal with it rationally, you will be able to learn from your mistakes and avoid them in the future.

When I was 16 years old I wanted to solve a problem with my extremely dry skin.

Numerous dermatologists had not been able to solve it and I had to treat myself every day with such an expensive greasy cream so that I wouldn’t wake up at night itching.

And therefore I drove every time with my moped to a city library 20 km away.

There I systematically took all the books on dermatology from the shelves one after the other and looked for something that could help me.

This cost me a lot of time, gas money and effort but I found a solution.

What I learned from these books as a 16 year old has helped me for over 35 years.

Since then I have understood that there are certain things where the investment of time, money and effort pays off for the rest of your life.

With other things it is rather the other way around.

When I was 16 years old, my father signed me up for an apprenticeship with a master electrician around the corner and I had to become an electrician.

Actually, I was already much more interested in computers at that time.

But since I had no studies and no good school education I had no other choice.

I learned nothing in these three and a half years.

And I don’t work in this profession anymore.

It was already clear to me at the beginning of this apprenticeship that I would give up the electrician profession on the first possible day.

From today’s point of view, it was a complete waste of time!

And that’s why one of the most important principles I relearned from Ray Dalio is that it makes more sense to create a long-term goal-oriented system than to waste a lot of time, money and effort chasing after other people’s goals that aren’t worth it.

And the best way to do that is to find people who are already where you want to be.

I learn something every day and now have a complete system for doing so.

There is a software called Scribd that allows anyone to read or listen to the books of the best teachers in the world on their smartphone.

It doesn’t cost 12 euros a month and yet I don’t know anyone in my circle of acquaintances who uses this option or is at all interested in learning something new.

Most people spend hours on social media watching funny cat videos or trying to figure out how to put makeup on their eyes.

Today, the problem isn’t finding information, it’s filtering out the incredible mass of information we’re bombarded with every day into the few pieces of truly valuable information that can actually help you improve your life.

Ray Dalio is a crucial part of this for me and if available I will link his video in this playlist.