I’m in the middle of synthesizing The Little Book of Market Wizards. I like this book because it details how some of the top market participants (traders and investors) avoid psychological errors that lead to bad decisions. It’s essentially wisdom on how to execute an investing strategy without making errors.

One of the people quoted in the book is Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater. What he said stuck with me:

[T]here is an incredible beauty in mistakes because embedded in each mistake is a puzzle and a gem that I could get if I solved it (i.e., a principle that I could use to reduce my mistakes in the future).

I really like this framing. Mistakes are a puzzle to be solved, and solving them yields a gem. I think that’s a great way to think about future and past mistakes. Each one is an opportunity to figure something out and find a gem that will help you going forward.