Don’t have anything to do with closed-minded people. Being open-minded is much more important than being bright or smart. - Ray Dalio

Weigh second- and third-order consequences.

It’s senseless to have making money as your goal as money has no intrinsic value — its value comes from what it can buy, and it can’t buy everything. It’s smarter to start with what you really want, which are your real goals, and then work back to what you need to attain them. Money will be one of the things you need, but it’s not the only one and certainly not the most important one once you get past having the amount you need to get what you really want.

To visualize what I mean by “shaping” and “shapers,” think of Steve Jobs, who was probably the greatest and most iconic shaper of our time, as measured by the size and success of his shaping.