Learn by reading more and applying where possible. Bridgewater Fund principal Ray Dalio, author of "Principles" shared his thoughts in an interview in How to Invest by David Rubenstein.
1) "Pain plus reflection equals progress." That's how Dalio built Bridgewater. He's a 'hard guy'. Bad decisions are painful. If we learn from them we have a chance at future success. Another old saying about this was, "Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment."
2) "You have to be an independent thinker." Whether investing or coaching, consensus thinking tends to produce average results.
3) "I love being a mentor to those I've passed the lead responsibilities to." Everyone benefits from coaching and having elite coaching gives others a chance to produce superior results.
4) "I'm a global macro investor. That means that I look at the whole world and the interconnectedness of it, trying to figure out how it works." Basketball is similar as everyone works to understand the intent, strengths, and weaknesses of opponents and works to limit the strength and attack weaknesses.
5) "It was real thinking, dropping us into real cases (at Harvard Business School) and debating, "How would you approach that?" Watching games real-time and on video replay, "play along" and ask "what will they do next?" "How will they attack that zone?" or "How will they adjust to lessen the rebounding disadvantage there?" Every game shares multiple 'case studies'.
6) "I could stay on the safe side and have a safe but mediocre life, or I could try to cross through the risky jungle to have a great life if I could get to the other side." Each of us defines our risk tolerance and how to navigate the particular ecosystem we inhabit.
7) "Thinking. It had a big effect on how I approached life." There's value to unlock by understanding mental models (e.g. sample size, circle of competence, feedback effects) and cognitive bias (risk aversion, confirmation bias, recency bias).
Lagniappe. Our actions define our standards.
STANDARDS ARE DETERMINED BY ACTIONS
— Steve Dagostino (@DagsBasketball) May 14, 2025
We can verbalize our standards and say the right things… but at the end of the day, Our standards will be determined by our actions.. what we emphasize and what we allow. Define your standards then make sure you are displaying them!! pic.twitter.com/xYnE2o6ATy
Lagniappe 2. Iverson action into a basket cut.
Iverson UCLA Misdirection Backdoor
— Matt Hackenberg (@CoachHackGO) May 13, 2025
Using a stagger occupy the help defense pic.twitter.com/6icZeNq4vk
Lagniappe 3. Payton Pritchard, who led the NBA in regular season threes off the bench, warms up in close.
Payton Pritchard form shooting
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) May 13, 2025
Young players, take notes
(Via @Anthony_Pugh2 🎥)
pic.twitter.com/Dr0ID4Efl9
