--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I believe that the key to success lies in…" description: "\"“I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I mean being able to experience painful..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5aa/ray-dalio-299_decision-making_i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-i_32069.jpg" --- # I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to… ![“I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I mean being able to experience painful failures that provide big learnings without failing badly enough to get knocked out of the game. This way of learning and improving has been best…” quote by Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5aa/ray-dalio-299_decision-making_i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-i_32069.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5aa/ray-dalio-299_decision-making_i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-i_32069.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5aa/ray-dalio-299_decision-making_i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-i_32069.jpg) > ““I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I mean being able to experience painful failures that provide big learnings without failing badly enough to get knocked out of the game. This way of learning and improving has been best for me because of what I’m like and because of what I do. I’ve always had a bad rote memory and didn’t like following other people’s instructions, but I loved figuring out how things work for myself. I hated school because of my bad memory but when I was twelve I fell in love with trading the markets. To make money in the markets, one needs to be an independent thinker who bets against the consensus and is right. That’s because the consensus view is baked into the price. One is inevitably going to be painfully wrong a lot, so knowing how to do that well is critical to one’s success. To be a successful entrepreneur, the same is true: One also has to be an independent thinker who correctly bets against the consensus, which means being painfully wrong a fair amount. Since I was both an investor and an entrepreneur, I developed a healthy fear of being wrong and figured out an approach to decision making that would maximize my odds of being right.”” [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Success comes from embracing frequent, painful failures as learning opportunities while maintaining the resilience to stay in the game, especially for independent thinkers who challenge consensus in investing and entrepreneurship. **In simple terms:** Learn from failure, think independently. Key Takeaway Fail well, think against the grain. Themes Resilience Independent thinking Learning from failure Contrarian investing Entrepreneurship Mood Determined Reflective Strategic Type Advice Philosophical When to use this quote - Investing in volatile markets - Launching a startup - Navigating corporate politics - Developing a personal learning system Key Concepts Decision making Risk management Cognitive style Practical Applications - Designing decision frameworks - Coaching entrepreneurs Questions to Reflect On - How can you turn a painful setback into actionable insight? - What habits help you stay independent when consensus is strong? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Decision making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decision-making/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Healthy fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/healthy-fear/) [Independent thinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independent-thinker/) [Key to success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/key-to-success/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) ## Related quotes > [“I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-in-knowing-how-to-both-strive-3/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [“I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/i-believe-that-the-key-to-success-lies-in-knowing-how-to-both-strive-2/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [Be carefree yet careful: While you should work on overcoming unnecessary worrying, have a healthy fear of danger and sensibly guard yourself from harm.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zelig-pliskin/be-carefree-yet-careful-while-you-should-work-on-overcoming/) [Zelig Pliskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zelig-pliskin/) > [“Overcome Fear with Faith God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/overcome-fear-with-faith-god-has-not-given-us-a-spirit-of-fear-but-of/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) > [“An inability to be guided by a “healthy fear” of bad consequences is a disastrous flaw.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/an-inability-to-be-guided-by-a-healthy-fear-of-bad-consequences-is-a/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) > [It's a pretty crazy task to try to describe God "quickly." 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I swear, every single decision I make is just instinct and my instincts tend to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neill-blomkamp/i-never-think-of-things-rationally-or-intellectually-i-swear-every/) [Neill Blomkamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neill-blomkamp/) > [“Slow down your thinking so you can note the criteria you are using to make your decision. 2. Write the criteria down as a principle.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/slow-down-your-thinking-so-you-can-note-the-criteria-you-are-using-to/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [My best business decision was to be independent as a musician and artist. 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"A process by which I use my brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/becca-fitzpatrick/cheshvan-starts-tonight-rixon-said-what-are-you-doing-arsing-around/) [Becca Fitzpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/becca-fitzpatrick/) > [The right decision is the wrong decision if it's made too late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-iacocca/the-right-decision-is-the-wrong-decision-if-it-s-made-too-late/) [Lee Iacocca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-iacocca/) > [“The decisions we take reflects our belief and our charachter”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajnish-borah/the-decisions-we-take-reflects-our-belief-and-our-charachter/) Rajnish Borah > [I think most of us are raised with preconceived notions of the choices we're supposed to make. We waste so much time making decisions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bullock/i-think-most-of-us-are-raised-with-preconceived-notions-of-the/) [Sandra Bullock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bullock/) [Browse all 4,912 Decision making quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decision-making/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. By failing well, I mean being able to experience painful failures that provide big learnings without failing badly enough to get knocked out of the game. This way of learning and improving has been best for me because of what I’m like and because of what I do. I’ve always had a bad rote memory and didn’t like following other people’s instructions, but I loved figuring out how things work for myself. I hated school because of my bad memory but when I was twelve I fell in love with trading the markets. To make money in the markets, one needs to be an independent thinker who bets against the consensus and is right. That’s because the consensus view is baked into the price. One is inevitably going to be painfully wrong a lot, so knowing how to do that well is critical to one’s success. To be a successful entrepreneur, the same is true: One also has to be an independent thinker who correctly bets against the consensus, which means being painfully wrong a fair amount. 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