Principles by Ray Dalio
What follows are three distinct parts that can be read either independently or as a connected whole. Part 1 is about the purpose and importance of having principles in general, having nothing to do with mine. Part 2 explains my most fundamental life principles that apply to everything I do. Part 3, explains my management principles as they are being lived out at Bridgewater.
以下三部分内容可以分别阅读也可以当作一个整体阅读。
第一部分介绍大众拥有原则的重要性；
第二部分介绍我在生活中经常用到的基本原则；
第三部分我在管理桥水资本的时候使用的原则。
Since my management principles are simply my most fundamental life principles applied to management, reading Part 2 will help you to better understand Part 3, but it’s not required—you can go directly to Part 3 to see what my management principles are and how Bridgewater has been run.
我的管理原则是我生活原则在生活中的应用，阅读第二部分有助于理解第三部分，当然你可以直接阅读第三部分了解桥水资本的是如何运营的。
One day I’d like to write a Part 4 on my investment principles. If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck (i.e., understanding for the effort), I suggest that you read Parts 1 and 2, and the beginning of Part 3 (through the Summary and Table of Principles) which will give you nearly the whole picture. It’s only about 55 pages of a normal size book.
也许有一天我会写第四部分，关于我投资的原则。如果你想得到最大的回报，我建议你阅读第一、第二部分和第三部分的开头。这些内容会提供给你一个全景图。这仅仅是一个55页的小册子。
Above all else, I want you to think for yourself—to decide 1) what you want, 2) what is true and 3) what to do about it. I want you to do that in a clear-headed thoughtful way, so that you get what you want.
总之，我想你应该深入思考去决定：
1.什么是你想要的
2.什么是真相
3.如何才能获得你想要的结果
我认为你应该做一次清醒周全的思考，如此你就可以得到你想要的。
I wrote this book to help you do that. I am going to ask only two things of you—1) that you be open-minded and 2) that you honestly answer some questions about what you want, what is true and what you want to do about it. If you do these things, I believe that you will get a lot out of this book. If you can’t do these things, you should reflect on why that is, because you probably have discovered one of your greatest impediments to getting what you want out of life.
我写了这本书帮助你做上面所述的事情。我仅仅会问两个问题：
1.你的思想要足够开放
2你要足够诚实的回答一些关于什么是你所想要的，什么是真相，以及如何取得结果。
如果你能够按照这些去做，我相信你能够从本书中汲取很多养分，因为你已经发现了阻碍你成为想象中自己的最大障碍。
这里作者已经引出非常重要的几个原则：实事求是，主动选择做事不要被动等待，重视各种套路，保持饥饿和愚蠢。如果不能做到上面这几点，他们将会成为我们前进路上的严重阻碍。
Introduction ......
Part 1: The Importance of Principles ...... 原则的重要性
Part 2: My Most Fundamental Life Principles ...... 我基本的生活原则
Part 3: My Management Principles ...... 我的管理原则
© 2011 Ray Dalio
Introduction
Principles are concepts that can be applied over and over again in similar circumstances as distinct from narrow answers to specific questions. Every game has principles that successful players master to achieve winning results. So does life. Principles are ways of successfully dealing with the laws of nature or the laws of life. Those who understand more of them and understand them well know how to interact with the world more effectively than those who know fewer of them or know them less well.
原则不同与对特殊问题的险隘回答，它们是可以在类似的环境中被反复使用的观念。每个游戏都有它们的规则，聪明的玩家总会使用规则帮助他们成功。这个道理在生活中同样适用。
原则是通往成功的道路，它们与自然规律和生活的规则和谐统一。对原则知道的越多，知道的越深入，就越能够在现实世界中高效的生活。
Different principles apply to different aspects of life—e.g., there are “skiing principles” for skiing, “parenting principles” for parenting, “management principles” for managing, “investment principles” for investing, etc—and there are over-arching “life principles” that influence our approaches to all things. And, of course, different people subscribe to different principles that they believe work best.
不同的原则适用于生活的不同方面。比如：滑雪的原则适用于滑雪；养育子女的原则适用于养育子女；管理的原则适用于管理；投资的原则适用于投资...等等。有一个例外就是，生活的原则适用于所有方面。当然，不同的人能够总结出对于他们来说最合适的原则。
I am confident that whatever success Bridgewater and I have had has resulted from our operating by certain principles. Creating a great culture, finding the right people, managing them to do great things and solving problems creatively and systematically are challenges faced by all organizations.
无论桥水资本有多成功，我都非常有信心，我已经依据这些原则去运营桥水并取得了成果。创建优秀的企业文化，找到合适的人才，管理他们去做最有前景的事，以及由创造性的解决问题和组建一个系统，这些都是所有组织都会面临的挑战。
What differentiates them is how they approach these challenges. The principles laid out in the pages that follow convey our unique ways of doing these things, which are the reasons for our unique results. Bridgewater’s success has resulted from talented people operating by the principles set out here, and it will continue if these or other talented people continue to operate by them. Like getting fit, virtually anyone can do it if they are willing to do what it takes.
如何处理这些挑战使得原则有了高低之分。
以下所属的原则阐述了我们独一无二的做事方式，正是因为这个原因我们也取得了独特的成就。桥水资本的成功归功于极具天赋的员工按照我们的原则工作。如果有天分的你也能够遵守相同的原则，同样也可以续写同样的成功。就像健身一样，实际上只有按照一定的原则去做就一定能够取得我们想要的身材。
What is written here is just my understanding of what it takes: my most fundamental life principles, my approach to getting what I want, and my “management principles,” which are based on those foundations. Taken together, these principles are meant to paint a picture of a process for the systematic pursuit of truth and excellence and for the rewards that accompany this pursuit. I put them in writing for people to consider in order to help Bridgewater and the people I care about most.
这里所写只是我对于这些原则的理解：我生活中的基本原则，我得到我想要东西的方法，我管理的基本原则。综合来说，这些原则的目的是绘制一幅系统的追求真理的图谱，很好的与这个追求的过程相伴。我将这些原则编写成册，给那些对桥水资本有所帮助的人和我所在乎的人。
Until recently, I didn’t write out these principles because I felt that it was presumptuous for me to tell others what would work best for them. But over time, I saw the people who I cared about most struggling with problems and wanted to help them; I also found that their problems were almost always the result of violating one or more of these principles, and that their problems could be solved by applying these principles. So I began writing down the types of problems and the broken principles that caused them. When I began, I didn’t know how many principles I would end up with but, through this process, I discovered that about 200 principles pretty much cover all the problems.1 I’m sure that I will come up with more as I learn more.
知道最近我才开始着手写下这些原则，因为我觉得指点别人什么是最好的方法未免显得过于自大。但是经过一段时间的观察，我所在乎的人总是在一些事情中挣扎，因此我开始想将这些原则写下来。当然我是发现他们在做事的时候经常与一个或者多个原则相冲突。我开始记录这些问题，并且总结这些问题的产生是与哪些原则相冲突。当我开始着手写的时候，我不知道总共有多少个原则可写，但是通过这个总结的过程，我发现有200个原则即可覆盖所有的问题。我非常确信在随着我进一步的成长我会总结出更多的原则。
When I say that these are my principles, I don’t mean that in a possessive or egotistical way. I just mean that they are explanations of what I personally believe. I believe that the people I work with and care about must think for themselves. I set these principles out and explained the logic behind them so that we can together explore their merits and stress test them. While I am confident that these principles work well because I have thought hard about them, they have worked well for me for many years, and they have stood up to the scrutiny of the hundreds of smart, skeptical people, I also believe that nothing is certain. I believe that the best we can hope for is highly probable. By putting them out there and stress testing them, the probabilities of their being right will increase.
当我说它们是原则的时候，我并不希望它们投射出强加的意味。我仅仅是想表达它们是我个人想法的总结。我相信那些跟我一道共事和相信我的人会认真的对待它们。我罗列出这些原则并且解释它们内在的逻辑，这样我们可以共同探索它们的优缺点。同时，我本人对这些原则非常有自信，因为它们是经过成百上千聪明而严谨的精英严格检验的。我相信使用这些原则的未来是可以期待的。通过罗列这些原则和对他们进行压力测试，这些原则的正确性将会进一步提高。
I also believe that those principles that are most valuable to each of us come from our own encounters with reality and our reflections on these encounters – not from being taught and simply accepting someone else’s principles. So, I put these out there for you to reflect on when you are encountering your realities, and not for you to blindly follow.
但是我更确信只有这些原则从我们的现实遭遇中被总结出来，它们才会更具有价值，而不是从别人那里全盘接收。因此我将它们罗列在这里不是让大家盲从，而是在我们遇到现实问题时看看它们是否真的有用。
What I hope for most is that you and others will carefully consider them and try operating by them as part of your process for discovering what works best for you. Through this exploration, and with their increased usage, not only will they be understood, but they will evolve from “Ray’s principles” to “our principles,” and Ray will fade out of the picture in much the same way as memories of one’s ski or tennis instructor fade and people only pay attention to what works.2 So, when digesting each principle, please...
...ask yourself: “Is it true?”
我最希望的是大家面对这些原则的时候可以深入的思考和不断尝试使用它们去发现哪些能够起到最好的效果。通过不断的使用他们，这些原则就会从“Ray的原则”成为“你的原则”。我将淡出你们的视线，就像学习化学和网球时教练的影响会逐渐淡出，最终我们会将注意力集中在我们正在做的事，这时候技术要领才真正融合在我们的大脑里。因此，每当我们消化每一个原则时，请问自己一个问题：我们是否真的理解了这个原则。
Before I discuss the management principles themselves, it’s important for me to articulate my own most fundamental life principles because my management principles are an extension of them.
在我讨论我的管理原则的时候，这些原则和我的生活基本产生了很强的链接。因为我的管理原则就是我生活原则的延伸。
In Part 1, I explain what I mean by principles, why I believe they are important, and how they are essential for getting what you want out of life.
在第一部分，我解释了原则是什么，我为什么觉得他们非常重要。并且提炼了我们能够活出自我的精髓所在。
Part 2 explains my most fundamental life principles. I describe what I believe are the best ways of interacting with reality to learn what it’s like, and how to most effectively deal with it to get what you want. I also discuss what I believe are the most common traps that people fall into that prevent them from getting what they want, and how people’s lives can be radically better by avoiding them. I wrote this so you can better understand why my other principles are what they are, though you don’t need to read this part to understand the others.
第二部分：我阐释了我最基本的生活原则。我描述了什么是与现实生活交互的最好方法，如何才能更有效的接近你生活的目标。我还讨论了我们生活中常常遇见的陷阱，正是这些陷阱妨碍了我们取得我们想要的结果，以及大家如何更快速的避免踏入这些陷阱。我的阐述非常详细你不但可以了解到他们是什么，也可以了解到他们为什么被这样描述，虽然你也有可能没有必要了解我这么描述的原因。
Part 3 is about my management principles. As I have run Bridgewater for more than 35 years, it explains Bridgewater’s approach up till now. It begins at the big-picture, conceptual level, with an explanation of why I believe that any company’s results are primarily determined by its people and its culture. It then drills down into what I believe are the important principles behind creating a great culture, hiring the right people, managing them to achieve excellence, solving problems systematically and making good decisions.
第三部分是关于我的管理原则。我已经运营桥水资本超过35年，这些原则阐释了桥水资本迄今为止的方法论。这些原则的描述始于宏观的观念性的层面，我特别解释了一个公司的最终结果决定于他们的员工和文化。然后我会深入的解释哪些原则适用于创建公司优秀的文化，雇佣合适的员工，管理他们让他们向杰出迈进，系统的解决问题以及更好的做出决策。
There are of course lots of other types of principles. For example, I hope to one day write about my investment principles. However, management principles are now what we need most, so here are the ones that I think make sense and have worked for me.
我还有很多适用于其他方面的原则。举例来说，我希望有朝一日为大家总结出关于投资的原则。无论如何，管理原则目前是我们最需要的。因此，本书所写是那些经过我深思熟虑的和对我有效的原则。
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Part 1: The Importance of Principles原则的重要性
I believe that having principles that work is essential for getting what we want out of life. I also believe that to understand each other we have to understand each other’s principles.3 That is why I believe we need to talk about them.
我相信我们能够过我们想要生活的本质就是有正确的原则。我也相信了解彼此的前提条件是我们相互熟知对方的原则。这就是我相信我们有必要讨论这个话题。
We will begin by examining the following questions:
What are principles?
Why are principles important?
Where do principles come from?
Do you have principles that you live your life by? What are they? How well do you think they will work, and why?
我们将从如下发问开始：
什么是原则？
为什么原则如此重要？
原则从哪里来？
在你的生活中有没有制定原则？都是什么样的原则？
它们在你的生活中起到什么样的作用，为什么？
Answer all questions with complete honesty, without worrying what I or others might think. That honesty will allow you to be comfortable living with your own principles, and to judge yourself by how consistently you operate by them. If you don’t have many well-thought-out principles, don’t worry. We will get there together, if we remain open-minded.
如实的回答这些问题，不要担心别人怎么想。如实回答会让你更加融洽的和你的原则相处，并且能够自我判断是否是种如一的安这些原则行事。如果你们有成熟的原则，你也不必担心。如果我们能够保持开放心态，我们将一起学习。
- What are principles?
Your values are what you consider important, literally what you “value.” Principles are what allow you to live a life consistent with those values. Principles connect your values to your actions; they are beacons that guide your actions, and help you successfully deal with the laws of reality. It is to your principles that you turn when you face hard choices.
1）什么是原则？
你的价值观是你所认为的重要的东西。原则就是让你能够在生活中的表现和你的价值观一致的东西。原则链接这你的价值观和行动，他们是指导你行动的灯塔。能够帮助你成功的处理现实的规则。当我们面对选择的时候，我们常常会用到原则。
- Why are principles important?
All successful people operate by principles that help them be successful. Without principles, you would be forced to react to circumstances that come at you without considering what you value most and how to make choices to get what you want. This would prevent you from making the most of your life. While operating without principles is bad for individuals, it is even worse for groups of individuals (such as companies) because it leads to people randomly bumping into each other without understanding their own values and how to behave in order to be consistent with those values.
2）为什么原则如此重要
所有的成功者都依原则行事。如果没有原则我们将用应激的方式面对世界，而不是理性思考的结果。当我们在没有原则的指导下行事，这对于个体和群体都是灾难。因为我们这将导致人们彼此之间不能了解到价值观，行为自然也不能很好的统一。
- Where do principles come from?
Sometimes we forge our own principles and sometimes we accept others’ principles, or holistic packages of principles, such as religion and legal systems. While it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to use others’ principles—it’s difficult to come up with your own, and often much wisdom has gone into those already created—adopting pre-packaged principles without much thought exposes you to the risk of inconsistency with your true values. Holding incompatible principles can lead to conflict between values and actions—like the hypocrite who has claims to be of a religion yet behaves counter to its teachings. Your principles need to reflect values you really believe in.
3）原则从哪里来？
我们可以自己思考我们自己的原则，有些时候我们也可以学习别人的原则或者历史人物的原则。但是未经加工的拿来主义是行不通的，如果我们不假思考的照搬别人的原则，而这些原则与我们的价值观本身有很多冲突。这就像一个言行不一的伪君子。你的原则需要反应你自己的价值观。
未完待续
