Wealth and Happiness: Thoughts From One Of The World’s Clearest Thinkers
Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur and investor who has become known for his tweetstorms and thought provoking philosophies. After reading “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant”, I felt it was worth sharing a reflection of the insights and takeaways of a book and person whose words have had one of the biggest impacts on the way I go about my life. Additionally, the book is free to download and would encourage everyone to download it.
This book is an advice guide and is clearly outlined with key sections where quotes taken from podcasts, interviews, and other sources are summarized and further elaborated on through Q&A with Naval. While the central themes are wealth and happiness, this is simply an introduction to Naval’s ideas amongst other life topics.
The best known tweet thread of his is “How to Get Rich” (Without Getting Lucky). My favorite parts of this thread are below and the book intentionally double clicks on many of these to elaborate on the succinct and impactful advice.
Wealth & Time
“Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth.”
“You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity — a piece of a business — to gain your financial freedom.”
Whenever you can in life, optimize for independence rather than pay. If you have independence and you’re accountable on your output, as opposed to your input — that’s the dream.
What is the most important thing young people can do? Spend more time making the big decisions. There are basically three really big decisions you make in your early life: where you live, who you’re with, and what you do.
Skills
“Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.”
“Specific knowledge is knowledge you cannot be trained for. It is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now. You can only achieve mastery in one or two things. It’s usually things you’re obsessed about.”
Naval adds that you should figure out what you were doing as a kid or teenager almost effortlessly and then think of how that action can lead to a career.
“Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers. Reading is faster than listening. Doing is faster than watching.”
More on reading: don’t read for self-improvement, read out of curiosity and interest. The best book is one you will devour. Spend the money on books. Do not view this as an expense, but rather an investment for yourself.
“The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.”
Leverage
“Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media). Code and media are permission less leverage. They’re the leverage behind the newly rich. If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts. Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgment. Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.”
“Escape competition through authenticity.” When you are competing with people, it’s because you’re copying them. It’s because you’re trying to do the same thing. But every human is different. Don’t copy.
Other Thoughts
On networking: Business networking is a complete waste of time. Instead, be a maker who makes something interesting people want. Show your craft, practice your craft, and the right people will eventually find you.
wisdom= knowing the long-term consequences of your actions
judgment= wisdom applied to external problems
The really smart thinkers are clear thinkers. They understand the basics at a very, very fundamental level. Adopt mental models that allow you to have deep understanding of a variety of subjects.
Happiness
“Happiness, love, and passion…aren’t things you find — they’re choices you make.”
Enlightenment is the space between your thoughts.
Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get you want.
Envy is the enemy of happiness — eliminate as many “shoulds” from your life as possible. Expectations drilled into you by society and other people disrupt peace of mind.
“My most surprising discovery in the last five years is that peace and happiness are skills.”
Saving Yourself
Ultimately you are responsible for your own path. The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself. Set up systems, not goals. If there’s something you want to do later, do it now. There is no “later.”
“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”
World’s simplest diet: The more processed the food, the less one should consume.
Two most valuable principles to pass down to your kids:
- Read. Read everything you can and not just the stuff society tells you to. Read for its own sake.
- Harness the skills of mathematics and persuasion.
Both principles help you to navigate the real world.
Values
- Honesty- want to be able to be yourself
- No short term thinking or dealing
- Only want to be around people you know you are going to be around rest of your life
- Peer relationships over hierarchical ones
- Doesn’t believe in anger
Overall, the collection of quotes for me are ones that I will revisit on a regular basis. It boils down to what you are spending your time doing and who you are doing that with. What society tells us to pursue to achieve “success” in some ways is completely wrong. Instead, wealth and happiness is achieved, as outlined above.
I hope you take time to pause on these thoughts and further pursue the ideas presented.
-JR
