Ray Dalio’s 5 step formula to get what you want in your life Part 2.

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Ray Dalio’s 5 step formula to get what you want in your life Part 2.

Greetings from Hitesh! In the last two posts we had seen the two preliminary steps before we embark on our journey to fulfil dreams. The main thing is to EMBRACE REALITY of yourself. This is more of inside phenomenon than outside thing. Let us see the 5 steps in details.

Have a CLEAR GOALS:-

I am sure most of you would have read/listened about advantages of goal settings and achieving them. But most of them have been shared by COACH or Motivational speakers. Here Ray Dalio shares his own formula modified by him by his long journey of success and failures. He says……..

1.  You can have Almost ANYTHING you want in your life but not EVERYTHING. So, PRIORITZE your GOALS.

2.  Don’t confuse DESIRE with GOALS. What you really want is something different from what you desire day in and day out.

3.  Reconcile your DESIRES and YOUR GOALS. Unless both are same, you will not go wholeheartedly in the direction of achieving them.

4.  Don’t mistake TRAPPING of SUCCESS with the SUCCESS itself. This is the most important factor. We go for a thing – say a MERCEDES CAR – without the surrounding eco system to support your standard of living, you will not stay with your Mercedes for a long time. Same thing happens in share market. Looking at somebody’s success many guys come to the market. But they lack the required skill set and attitude to stay in the market and the results is they get wiped out sooner than later.

5.  Never Rule out GOAL because it seems unattainable. Way of Life is the most SECRETIVE. It unfolds the most unexpected thing at the most unexpected time. So, the first rule – you can achieve ANYTHING. Just don’t discard it because it seems unattainable at certain point of time.

6.  Almost nothing can stop you from succeeding if you have the flexibility and self-accountability. Most of the times people stop half way due to the above two factors.

7.  Knowing to deal with SETBACK is most important than how to move forward. SETBACK will come 1000% and you have to deal with them whether you like it or not.

IDENTIFY and don’t tolerate Problems:-

This is the most important 2^nd step. You have your goals and you are going towards the same. Now, you will have to identify / expect problems or hurdles on the way and you have to deal with them.

1.  Painful problems are the calls for improvement in your life. Each and every problem you encounter is an opportunity to improve yourself or your situations and move towards your goals. Most people get disheartened at the first sight of them as problems expose their own weaknesses. It hurts ego to accept that you are weak in so and so area. So, most people stop at this point only.

2.  Don’t avoid controlling problems because they are rooted in harsh realities that are unpleasant to look at. Our government is trying hard to walk the talk of ACCHE DIN. But look at the HARSH REALITIES that our total system is corrupt, and they are not getting their expected results. Till they deal with their EXECUTIVE System, all their noble ideas will remain noble.

3.  Be specific in identifying your problems. Your problems generally come due to your own weaknesses, lack of resources needed for the achievement of your goals or SKILL sets to deal with your resources. Unless you are specific, you will not be able to find proper solution.

4.  Cause of problem is not the real problem. In the factor 2 above we have seen that corruption is the problems for Government’s noble goals not getting materialise. This may be the potential cause. The real cause may be that the NORMAL people have lost the FAITH on the GOVERNMENT and they are finding out SHORT CUTS to take care of their SELF interests first compared to COUNTRY’s interest. This requires RADCIALLY OPNE MIND to look within.

5.  Once you identify the problem, then don’t tolerate the same at any cost. Tolerating your problem means you are not 100% committed to your goals.

DIOGNISE Problems to get their ROOT CAUSES:-

Knowing “WHAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM” is more important than thinking about “WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT”. Most guys have tons of suggestions and strategies for “WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT” rather than focusing on WHAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM. 

In GITA Lord KRISHNA said that KNOWING PROBLEM in itself is a SOLUTION in CHAPTER 2. Buddha also says the same thing when he talks about his 4 CARDINAL TRUTHS (few weeks ago we have dealt with BUDDH’s 4 CARDINAL TRUTHS).

You need to distinguish with the real problems with the apparent problems.

DESIGN A PLAN:-

Go back before you go forward. Have you seen a DOG before running goes back? In RUNNING RACE also there is a BOARD below the leg which a racer pushes before he or she runs forward.

Look at your problems as a set of outcomes in the way towards your goal. If you want to make GHEE out of MILK, then the problems or stages will come like this……milk to curd. Curd to Butter and BUTTER to GHEE. So, get ready to deal with CURD/BUTTER in order to reach to GHEE.

In the first factor we talked about the FLEXIBILITY. It means that there are many ways to reach your goals. You can’t have just one way to do anything. That’s why Mr.DALIO talks about RADICALLY OPEN MINDEDNESS time and again in his book.

Write down your plan as a SCRIPT WRITER will write the ROLE of the actors and their speeches. This will give you the CONTROL and PROGRESS MEASUREMENT PARAMETERS towards your goals.

It is said that FAILING to PLAN in the first place is often the root cause of FAILURE.

PUSH THROUGH TO COMPLETION:-

The worst dialogue I hear quite often from the NORMAL guy that he expected ABC ltd to go up but he did not buy or he did not buy enough qty of its shares. Planning is good but Executing is the best. Unless you are not ready to execute, you will never see the success. I have seen many perfectionists who wait for perfection before they do or launch their product. Now, if you see the process of EVOLUTION, it keeps on improving over a period, in other words, nature does not believe in perfection!!  So, don’t procrastinate in the name of perfection.

You need to support your execution with your good work habits. One day wonders will not do. You need consistency in your area of work towards your goals.

The major stopping force here will be you and you only as you have already identified your problems in the second steps. If you know your problems and if you are not ready to work, nothing great will be achieved in your life.

What NEXT?

Mr.Dalio’s 5 steps formula looks so simple that you may feel that you know about it. Frankly, in my last 25 years journey, I have found that step number 2/3/4 are the most difficult to put in practice. Most guys go from 1^st step to 5^th step and they end up living a normal life.

At DESTINY MANAGEMENT, we have a holistic approach towards life, investments and your other goals. We provide holistic support towards any of them.

Have a GREAT SUCCESS.

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Live With Passion…Invest With Passion.

Hitesh Parikh.