My how I wished I had heard of Naval Ravikant earlier in my life. He’s one of the wisest out of a collection of now more than 300 people that I’ve read and listened to for wisdom. Even the people that I’ve met in life, the ones who got rich, nearly all of them were wise about money even before they had gotten rich. It seems that wisdom in each category yields success in that category. Naval Ravikant is a cofounder of Epinions and AngelList, and has invested in companies such as Twitter, Uber, Yammer. Many in the startup community are impressed by his distinct investment acumen but also his wisdom that seems distinctly different. His philosophies and practical thinking touches on various aspects like long-term thinking self-improvement, finance, startups, health, wealth, happiness and much more.
-if you cannot decide, the answer is no
-we pursue wealth, health then happiness. But the importance is in reverse
-health, love and your mission, in that order. Nothing else matters
-out of 100 crazy people, 99 are madmen and 1 is a genius
-people make bad decisions because they make them on what they wish is true, instead of what is actually true
-people who have good judgment tend to have it everywhere
-judgment is the decisive skill. It requires experience, but can be built faster by learning foundational skills
-the more seriously you take yourself, the more unhappy you are going to be
-if you need a degree to do it, it’s not going to make you wealthy
-if you want to be the best in the world, you can’t follow prescriptions
-Avoid forming partnerships with cynics and pessimists, as their negative beliefs tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies
-to measure the quality of your life, simply do nothing, and see how it feels
-the only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life
-true motivations are revealed, not declared
-If you’re aiming to arrive at an incorrect decision, seek input from everyone
-irrational passion towards something for 10 years is how to succeed
-people who have good judgment have good judgment in all aspects of life
-focus on the long-term
-health, love and your mission in that order. Nothing else matters
-judgment is the most important
-avoid virtue signallers and status seekers
-Individuals who reside well below their financial means experience a liberty that those preoccupied with elevating their lifestyle cannot comprehend
-go slow to go fast
-you get rewarded for unique knowledge, not effort
-we say peace of mind, but really what we want is peace from mind
-the measure of how much you love something is what you sacrifice for it
-don’t focus on more than one desire at a time
-things you can’t get with money and are unfaked knowledge:
-fit body
-calm mind
-loving home
-good judgment
Money can buy virtually everything else.
-desperation leads to more likely falling for scams
-the quality of your mind is the quality of your life
-if you lose someone by being yourself, then you never had them to begin with
-you’ll do better work when you’re bored rather than busy
-money doesn’t buy happiness, it buys freedom
-fast, lift, sprint, stretch, and meditate. Build, sell, write, create, invest, and own. Read, reflect, love, seek truth, and ignore society. Make these habits. Say no to everything else. Avoid debt, jail, addiction, disgrace, shortcuts, and media. Relax. Victory is assured.
-the overscheduled life is not worth living
-the more neatly you fit into society, the less free you actually are
-life truly is a single player game. Nobody stays by your side forever
-all real success is internal
-people spend too much time on decisions that don’t matter and too little on decisions that do. People should spend 1–2 years on what city to live in, 5 years on what job to take, 10 years on what person to marry
-Thorough examination should disrupt the life you’re presently leading. It should prompt you to sever relationships, redefine boundaries with family and colleagues, and even quit your job. If it doesn’t come with the upheaval of your current existence, it isn’t genuine examination. Only by dismantling the old can you forge a new life devoid of anxiety
-small deals rely on promises and contracts. Big deals rely on alignment and trust
-smart partners negotiate fair deals because they know that lopsided deals are fragile and that most value accumulated in long term trust relationships. You can tell a lot about a potential partner by their opening offer
-better to have people work with us than for us
-When granted authority over others, our ego rationalizes it by presuming our superiority in intelligence
-In the realm of physical aspects like diet and exercise, consistency reigns supreme. However, in intellectual and social spheres, victories are infrequent, abrupt, and marked by non-linear progress. Much of our efforts, around 99%, may appear to be “wasted.” It’s only when we discover the right life partner, career path, or friends that we recognize the time we spent not moving forward as we should have
-The self-serving rationale for practicing humility is that the more earnestly you regard yourself, the more likely you are to experience unhappiness
-people are wired to feel your deep-down feelings about them; and they will feel your bad judgments of them
-Embrace your true self fully; suppressing your authenticity can result in remaining in detrimental relationships and unsatisfying jobs for years rather than mere moments
-if you need a degree to do it, it’s not going to make you wealthy
-when what you want to be true diverges from what is true, you’ll make bad life decisions
-the relationships most worth cultivating are those between peers with mutual respect. The rest are unstable over long timescales
-“Trying” is one of the most significant early relationship errors. It establishes a misguided anticipation that you will eventually grow weary.
-Once we discover our perfect life partner, career, or friends, we come to realize the extent to which we wasted time by not making a change sooner
-Everyone wants to be loved; everyone deeply needs to be loved. It’s not an item available for purchase. Neither wealth nor authority can secure genuine, unconditional love.
-but it turns out you can give love. It’s free to give. So, you don’t necessarily get it, but if you can get in the mindset of, I’m just going to give it, eventually in a long enough time scale, you get what you deserve.
-exceptional people are built in solitude
-the closer you want to get to me, the better your values have to be
-when you’re a child you should be a socialist; that comes from the heart, assuming you have one. When you’re an adult you should be a capitalist, that comes from the mind.
-the number 1 quality to look for in a spouse is kindness. And not if they are kind to you, but how kind they are to strangers and even enemies. Because if your spouse or partner reclassifies you as an enemy their treatment of you changes drastically. Watch if someone wants to spend time and energy to hurt their enemies, even if there is nothing to gain for them to do so
-self-esteem is related to one self, related to if they have good inner character. If someone doesn’t have good inner character, they have low self-esteem. If someone says they are high status, high self-esteem or how amazing they are, they probably aren’t
-values are a set of things you will not compromise on, such as honesty
-have to be in environments and people where I can be myself and say exactly what I want to say, without filter. If I have to think about my thinking or start wording things differently or hide what I’m thinking, that’s a problem. Speaking from the heart, not the mind. This allows me to live in the present. Avoiding other short-term thinking people; even people who think in a short-term manner with other people outside myself. So only looking for long term relationships that can last a long time. Believing in having only pure relationships, where the relationship contains two people who both view each other as equals, not hierarchical relationships (e.g. employee-manager). Relationships that are an end itself. Not a means to an end (transactional relationships). Find those who have similar values so that you don’t end up quarrelling about the little things.
-Critique generally, praise specifically.
-make leveraged income where the inputs are not directly correlated with the outputs
-avoid people who are high conflict
-the best teachers are on the internet. The best books are on the internet. The best peers are on the internet.
-current education: the over educated are worse off than the undereducated, having traded common sense for the illusion of knowledge
-use leverage; get good outputs rather than inputs
-don’t scapegoat
-desires are mimetic, copying other peoples desires; don’t do this, follow your own desires
-be passionate about one thing at a time and only about things you can control. Therefore, do not be passionate about: politics, sports
-indifference and detachment from the result, will lead to a better life. Suffering comes from attachment
-find things to do that are productive and fun
-your time is your most important asset; guard your time wisely. Don’t waste time. Be rude at parties, events. If it’s a waste of time, get up and leave.
-no time for formality, business trips
-time should be spent learning or earning. Don’t spend time trying to make others happy or doing things you don’t want to do.
-be patient but intentional
-only say yes to important decisions when you are pretty sure you have a yes. If you have to do a pro and con spreadsheet forget it. Anything outside a confident yes should be a no.
-with two relatively equal choices, pick the one with short term pain and long-term gain. The best results in life come from long term compounded gain, investing or not.
-make the choice that makes you feel calmer in the long run to have peace and contentment which leads to happiness. Particularly for interpersonal conflict. Chasing pleasure does not lead to happiness.
-hard choices, easy life. Easy choices hard life.
-find the people where it doesn’t take work to be around
-Prioritize prosperity with anonymity over poverty with fame
-patience works only if it gets results. Otherwise need action and impatience. Impatience with action, patience with results
-first pick what to work on, then who to work with, then how hard to work
-it’s better to have a few deep compounding relationships than it is many non-compounding relationships
-small businesses are just as difficult as large businesses
-compounding effects are better later than sooner
-behaviours good for society are usually bad for the individual, and what’s good for the individual is usually bad for society. Rarely does it align
-some people volunteer and are unhappy, some people who are hedonistic are happy
-the source of misery is always thinking about yourself. The most miserable people are the most selfish. Depressed people are selfish and miserable. Love makes you think and love someone else more than yourself. You have to find something more than yourself or long-term you blow your brain up.
-wisdom is a return to innocence through knowledge
-when you see a child unhappy, you ask “what’s wrong”. When you see an adult happy, you ask “what’s up”?
-too many desires unfulfilled leads to unhappiness. Watch your desires.
-successful people are people of action. Unsuccessful people are stuck in analysis paralysis
-you have a responsibility to yourself and only yourself, and owe it to yourself to be happy
-be cautious of being too in the game and not knowing your life then going on autopilot via fooling yourself
-calmness comes from big losses and big wins
-the reason to play the game is to win the game so you don’t need to play the game anymore. Watch your desires and don’t have too many. Focus on one at a time.
-seek people who have high self-awareness
-make your decisions based on the long term not the short term
-hard decisions, easy life. Easy decisions, hard life
-the modern devil is cheap dopamine; overstimulation
-reflect to clear out your mental inbox. The ones that can’t take action and resolve them. Do this everyday as a way of flushing your brain out
-Walk around and reflect and see through your own BS
-the unexamined life is what leads to anxiety; spend time with yourself and have a good relationship with yourself. Examination or meditation should cause changes in your life, such as relationships. Otherwise, you are not analyzing yourself
-anxiety or fear should not be your primary motivator. Separate anxiety from your motivation and do things calmly
-make money with your judgment not your time
-people practise pain avoidance and ignore problems until it’s too late and then only then they are forced to confront the truth
-values don’t change over time
-parenting solves the meaning of life
-when you lie to others you don’t know your own reality as it will be disconnected from reality
-speak to weaknesses generally, not specifically to avoid humiliation. Praise specifically, critique generally
-avoid anger
-find those whose values align with yours, then the little things don’t matter
-avoid playing zero sum games. Such as politics, social status
-be around people that you can be you, where you can say what you want to say without filters. If you can’t do that, then you have to start thinking about what you’re thinking and it leads to not living in the present and having to tip-toe around.
-find those you can be equals with, that you can see yourself around in the long-term
-be with those who think and do things for the long-term, not the short-term
-everything good in life comes from compound interest
-individuals search for truth, groups search for consensus
-learning is just a form of procrastination
-ambition and happiness are often conflicting. If someone is ambitious, they are seeking something and unhappy. Best spot is a slow state working in what you like and learning
-recognize your desires and go for them; don’t pretend to yourself and deny them falsely
-say no to macro and day trading or timing the market. Hold long term
-search for things, don’t settle for mediocrity. Don’t settle and work in a bad relationship; find good relationships. Find flow, avoid struggle. Especially in spouse partner
-people spend too much time doing, and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing
-knowing how little you matter is very important for your mental health and your happiness
-pleasure does not equal happiness. Happiness comes from within, to be content and not let any situation get to your great emotional state
Disclaimer
This is not Financial Advice. This article is meant only for educational and perhaps entertainment purposes.