Elliot Choy asks Ray Dalio about his early goals

Was was that first step for you? Do you recall kind of some of your early goals? Was it simply to find some level of success, some level of security? Do you remember what those first steps were for you?

Well, it was, um, it was more a passion, you know? Like, I liked this thing and I didn't like the other things, and I would pursue what I liked. In my particular case, I happened to like the markets, so I got hooked on the markets. It happened to be a game, think of it like almost a video game. I got used to that, and then it takes me, like a video game does, it took me through all the adventures.

This is what life is like: you pursue a path that there's a passion or something in which you have a certain nature. Everyone has a certain nature, and that nature creates a pull, and you're in search of your path and your pull. So, I had my nature that gave me my pull. I found a direction, and it's not like there's just one direction. There are multiple directions that would work, but many that also, you know, wouldn't work.

It's a function in nature. I had the pull in that direction, and then think of it as a journey. You know, you overcome, you go through jungles, you cross rivers, and you have all sorts of obstacles and so on. Along the way, you have those encounters and those learnings. That was what it felt like for me.

As I did that, though, it was the excitement of that journey, that pull, and I liked to overcome the obstacles. I dealt with the ups and downs and so on. It was never that I pursued a goal to make a lot of money, though at various stages, it was very important that I could take care of my family. Money matters. Money didn't matter and all, but by and large, it was that pull driven by my nature and my encounters.

Then getting excellent, better at it each time and becoming more and more excellent. Then I find myself in the position I find myself in.