In the author's view, most people act to maximize what they earn while minimizing the work required to earn it, and he says this becomes visible when someone is left unsupervised and allowed to bill for their own reported work. This is a general observation on human incentives rather than a market call.

Ray Dalio shares his personal view that life offers enough decisions and chances to recover from mistakes that handling them well can lead to a great life, while acknowledging some influences such as birth circumstances, accidents, and illness lie outside our control. He argues that even the worst circumstances can generally be improved with the right approach; this is reflection rather than a market comment.