Operating Principles

PostedAugust 1, 2026

UpdatedAugust 2, 2026

ByHyperAdmin

Photo showing office meeting with whiteboard that says "operating principles" on it.

Welcome to Rikipedia

Rikipedia is a powerful documentation tool that showcases the life of myself, Richard Barrett. It is not meant to be comprehensive, rather more of an indepth look at an often interesting life.

Explore this database at will. See if you can learn something new!

Personal Code

I have a million different philosophies, some I’ve shed while embracing new ones.

But if I had to distill them down to one, it would be this: everything in life has a rhythm. It’s your job to find it.

Here are some of my touchstones:

Be CreativeFor me that runs the gamut from writing to design, painting, animation, streetwear and anything else that catches my interest.

Find Your Moral CenterI’m not trying to be a saint but I’m not embracing evil either. Strive to be good.

Guard Your LegacyWhether you have a family or not, curate your life in such a way that the good will outweighs the bad.

Seek Your TruthNot religious? Be spiritual. Or philosophical. Your church can be a canvas, a garden or a weight bench.

Be CuriousIt’s not what you know, it’s what you want to know. Knowledge is a lifelong quest.

Make That Bucket ListWrite your goals down. Knock that shit out. bask in the afterglow.

Another thing that has an outlandish presence in my life is music. My existence has a soundtrack! Music moves me. Re-centers me. Hypes me up. Calms me down.

Non-negotiable Values

These are the principles that I do not waver on. Ever.

Protect Black Women – Yes, it extends to all women by osmosis but my sisters are my sisters. I will uplift them always.
My Child is My All – Everything I do, I do it for him. I constantly worry if I’m being a good parental example to him. I’m getting better every day.
I Will Win – I can only lose if I sit on my hands in the corner. If I can be productive I will produce. Success is in my DNA.
Jealousy is Toxic – I get inspired but jealousy isn’t part of my make up. It just isn’t.
Try New Things – Our experiences shape our world. They are crucial to giving us our knowledge. Our personality. Our savvy and ability to move through this mortal coil.
Technology is My Friend – We don’t often use it for the right things or in the right way but I. am tech savvy and I’m always trying to be on the leading edge. As I get older I look for sustainable, ecological and ethical tech solutions for everything. The next windmill I’m tilting at? AI.
Racism is Dumb – Most of the “isms” are. I try to evaluate the individual. But I’m always ready to stomp mudholes in fascists and proud boys.

Decision-making Heuristics

Decision-making heuristics are mental shortcuts that help you make judgments and decisions quickly without analyzing every possible option. They reduce the mental effort required to make choices, especially when you’re dealing with uncertainty, limited time, or incomplete information.

Heuristics are often useful, but because they simplify reality, they can also introduce systematic errors known as cognitive biases.

Here’s a look at some of the ones that I use the most:

The 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle):Focus on the 20% of efforts that produce 80% of the results.

Reversible vs. irreversible decisions:Make reversible decisions quickly; spend more time on hard-to-reverse decisions.

Opportunity cost:Every “yes” means saying “no” to something else.

Expected value:Consider both the potential payoff and its probability, not just the best-case outcome.

Regret minimization:Ask, “Which choice am I least likely to regret in five years?”

Second-order thinking:Think beyond the immediate outcome: “Then what happens?”

Tags:

The Core

Action & Execution

Knowledge & Synthesis

The Self

Connections & Context

Miscellany

Operating Principles

Welcome to Rikipedia

Personal Code

Non-negotiable Values

Decision-making Heuristics