One of the many repeated phrases in Ray Dalio’s Principles is “another one of those.”
The idea is that every day you come across opportunities to make decisions that are just “another one of those.” In other words, there are situations that are similar to experiences you have encountered in the past and, therefore, you could have principles to apply to them to make the decisions easier and better.
One of my goals in reading Principles is to think about how I can create a document of my own principles. The phrase “another one of those” is simple but it helps a lot.
You can go through your day asking yourself:
Is this just “another one of those”?
If it is, then you can articulate a principle that helps you make a decision, document it, and apply it again and again to test it and improve it.
For example, we just hired a company to replace our furnace and air conditioner. The decision about who to hire and what kind of units to buy was difficult. It is also probably not the last time we will replace a furnace and AC unit. It’s definitely not the last time we will research and make a very large purchase.
Buying a furnace/AC is just “another one of those” and documenting the principles we used to make this decision will help in making future decision about replacing other appliances, buying a car, remodeling a bathroom, redoing the siding, etc.
