I am reading Ray Dalio’s book Principles and came across a quote that struck me.
“Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones.”
Ray Dalio
Over the last few weeks, I have been focusing my time, attention and energy on the things that yield the greatest impact to myself, my family, and my organization. This quote hit on what I’ve been focusing on, but I do not agree with the definition. Good judgement is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones, but maturity feels much bigger than good judgement.
My logical brain wants to lay out the definition of maturity so we can all be on the same page. There are a myriad of definitions and pivots on maturity. Mental maturity, intellectual maturity, emotional maturity, the list could go on. Rather than include definitions I found this sentence on Wikipedia to capture well enough how I personally think about maturity.
“In psychology, maturity is the ability to respond to the environment being aware of the correct time and location to behave and knowing when to act, according to the circumstances and the culture of the society one lives in.”
Wikipedia emphasis added
Regardless of your definition, whether you subscribe to Ray’s definition, the one found in Wikipedia or another – maturity is about acting. You and I can’t say we are “mature” if we only observe and passively listen. We must act, do something, to manifest our maturity.
I challenge you to write down one or two sentences on what you think maturity is. Try hard not to look it up but put your own thoughts down first before looking for resources to help you define maturity.
Writing your thoughts is good practice to clarify your own thinking before you are influenced by others.
