Monday Morning Wisdom From Naval Ravikant...
I just finished reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. Here are some of my favourite principles from the tech entrepreneur, investor and philosopher...
Happy New Week!
Naval Ravikant is a tech entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and one of my favourite thinkers. I first came across Naval when he had his ‘How To Get Rich (without being lucky)’ tweetstorm. It was a great thread with a lot of practical and real advice. I just finished reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness, which I highly recommend. His principles on life, business, and success are very refreshing. I’m going to run through a few of my favourite principles.
Naval talks a lot about building value, to Naval, value is having something society will reward you for, that could be a specific skill or knowledge. If you want to be wealthy, you have to create something society wants but does not yet know how to get at scale. Figure out what product comes naturally to you, that is within your skillset and capabilities and figure out a way to scale it. Naval uses the example of Steve Jobs and the iPhone. Apple was able to create a pocket-size computer and sell it to the masses. Not everyone can be Steve Jobs and create a company like Apple but we all have natural gifts, things that we can do very easily but others may struggle to do. Think about that, what you can provide to society at scale that will reward you well?
“Do what feels like play to you but may look like work to others.”
“Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage.” is a quote from the tweetstorm that I took on board. Two years ago, after reading the tweetstorm, I had a think about what specific skills and knowledge I wanted to have. I landed on business, marketing, and communication. That is why I started this newsletter, I wanted to be a good writer, and I wanted to master communicating stories and ideas clearly. Specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passions. If you’re not 100 percent into it, somebody else who is 100 percent into it will outperform you. And they won’t just outperform you by a little bit—they’ll outperform you by a lot.
“The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.”
Naval has an alternative view of happiness. “Happiness, love, and passion...aren’t things you find—they’re choices you make.” Naval says happiness is a result of the choices you make. Choices such as who you hang out with, what you watch, read, and listen to. I agree with this, the environment you create for yourself is what dictates your happiness. I’m very aware some things are out of our control but a happy person isn’t someone who’s happy all the time. It’s someone who effortlessly interprets events in such a way that they don’t lose their innate peace.
From Naval’s experience, the most important trick to being happy is to realise happiness is a skill you develop and a choice you make. You choose to be happy, and then you work at it. It’s just like building muscles. It’s just like losing weight.
Save yourself… I’m very glad I learned this pretty early in life. Getting what we want out of life ultimately comes down to us. It’s nobody else's responsibility and no one is coming to save you.
“Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit.''
Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. The sooner you take control of your life, your success, and your happiness the sooner you will start to see a change in your life. Instead of patiently waiting for someone to make something happen in your life, you’re making something happen. You’re in the driver's seat of your life rather than being in the passenger seat.
Naval’s answer to creating wealth without sacrificing your happiness is to escape competition by being your authentic self. No one can compete with you on being you. If you are building and marketing something that’s an extension of who you are, no one can compete with you. We are all similar in many ways, but none of us have exactly the same thoughts, skills, experiences, training, interest, and point of view. Creating wealth off your individuality is difficult, Naval believes it's something that solves itself if we pay attention to where our minds and those around us take us. It is an iterative process, it is going to require a lot of trial and error but eventually, you will find the people, business, project, or art that needs you the most. There is something out there just for you.
Here are a few quotes from Naval I'm going to leave you with.
“Inspiration is perishable act on it immediately”
“Impatient with actions, patient with results.”
“School, politics, sports, and games train us to compete against others. True rewards — wealth, knowledge, love, fitness, and equanimity — come from ignoring others and improving ourselves.”
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
“The fundamental delusion: There is something out there that will make me happy and fulfilled forever.”
"Working hard is overrated. Choosing what to work on and who to work on it with is underrated."
Have a great week!
Something interesting to read - Naval’s tweetstorm: How to get rich without geting lucky
Something interesting to watch - Naval’s conversation with Joe Rogan