Whenever you’re building something complex, it’s helpful – nay, essential – to have a guiding principle. An underlying mission statement that keeps you pointed in the right direction when things get confusing. Without that, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing things for the sake of doing them, instead of because they’re essential to that main mission.
You need clarity of vision, and often you have to be relentless about it. Ruthless, even, if you want to get something done. But ruthlessness in pursuit of a single mission can be dangerous. If I ruthlessly pursue “enrich my children” as my central value, then eventually I’ll start robbing my neighbors.
I think the best way to do things is to create a sort of “Dual North Star” made of one positive value and one negative value. I.e. “Enrich my children as much as possible” (the positive value) “while never violating the rights of others” (the negative value).
If you make it more complex than that, then chances are you can go a layer deeper for your true mission. Less complex, and you can lose your moral compass. But that framing can help tremendously to get yourself on exactly the right course.
The Opportunity Machine 