Welcome to my 23th blog post!
Naval Ravikant is a highly successful entrepreneur and investor known for his backing in major startups like Twitter, Uber, and Notion. He is widely recognized as a leading voice in the fields of startups, investing, and personal growth. Naval's passion for mindfulness, meditation, and happiness has resonated with many people seeking wisdom in these areas.
Inspired by wisdom in Naval’s philosophy, Eric Jorgenson, an entrepreneur, writer, and investor, created the book “The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant” from Naval’s interviews, tweets, and podcasts. With his talent, Jorgenson skillfully arranged Naval's words in a coherent and easily digestible manner. In today post, I want to share what I’ve learned from these valuable lessons of this book, not only for business context, but also for my own personal growth.
Source: Eric Jorgenson
1. Building Wealth
Wealth is a kind of business or asset that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. Wealth is not created from the time you work but the true wealth is created from the time you don’t work.
Building wealth is a goal many people aspire to achieve, but Naval Ravikant offers a fresh and insightful perspective on this topic. He highlights the importance of specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage in the pursuit of wealth.
Specific knowledge
Specific knowledge refers to expertise or skills that are unique and specialized in a particular field or domain. It is knowledge that is difficult to acquire or replicate through traditional education or training programs. Naval believes that specific knowledge is highly valuable because it cannot be easily outsourced, automated, or replaced. Specific knowledge distinguishes you from other people and from robots in the age of AI that we are currently experiencing. Specific knowledge contains some key factors.
Unique expertise
It requires to go beyond surface-level understanding to become mastery in a specific area. It often involves technical or creative skills that are in high demand and not easily accessible to others.
Niche specialization
Naval encourages people to find their specific knowledge by identifying their natural curiosities and pursuing them relentlessly. By focusing on a niche specialization, you can develop a unique set of skills that sets you apart from others and creates value in the marketplace.
Learning versus teaching
Naval distinguishes specific knowledge from general knowledge that can be taught in schools. Specific knowledge is often acquired through self-education, real-world experience, and hands-on learning.
When you find what you love and chase it, you will work on it without having to force yourself. Cal Newport in the “Deep Work” also shares the same view that having ability to quickly learn hard things or being a star in one field is the key to thrive in a new economy.
Accountability
Naval Ravikant emphasizes the significance of accountability in various aspects of life, including personal and professional development. Components of accountability include:
Personal Responsibility
It is the foundation of building accountability. When you say or do something under your own name, you are taking personal responsibility. By acknowledging you control your own life, you are more deliberate in making decisions and take full consequences from them.
"Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself." - Naval Ravikant
Credibility
Accountability is closely tied to credibility. As you acquire specific knowledge and expertise, you naturally foster accountability. By consistently delivering on your promises, honoring commitments, and taking ownership of your mistakes, you build credibility and trust with others.
Investing in your relationships and nurturing them over time creates a compounding effect on your reputation. Just as compounding is beneficial in finance, it is also recommended in building your reputation. By cultivating strong relationships and maintaining your integrity, you enhance your credibility, which opens doors to new opportunities.
Taking risks
Naval encourages people to take calculated risks and be willing to face the consequences. By stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing challenges, you demonstrate accountability for your choices. This willingness to take risks can lead to personal growth, learning experiences, and ultimately, success.
Leverage
“Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.” - Archimedes
Naval defines leverage is the strategic use of resources to achieve a desired outcome with less effort or input. There are three kinds of leverage in the current society.
Labor leverage
This type of leverage involves delegating or outsourcing tasks to others. By leveraging the skills and time of individuals, you can accomplish more while focusing on higher-value activities. Labor leverage has been used throughout history, as seen in the construction of Egyptian pyramids during the time of the Pharaohs or the building of China's Great Wall during the reign of Qin Shi Huang. It demonstrates the power of leveraging labor to achieve impressive outcomes.
Capital leverage
Capital refers to financial resources, and capital leverage involves utilizing money or investments to generate returns. By wisely investing in assets or businesses, you can multiply your wealth and create passive income streams. Capital leverage is widely used at various levels, from nations to corporations to individuals. The entire economy operates based on the leverage of capital. However, it is important to note that capital leverage can be a double-edged sword, as its effectiveness depends on how well it is managed and utilized.
Product leverage
It is based on the creation and distribution of products or services that have no marginal cost of replication. Examples include press, software, media, or intellectual property. Once the initial investment is made in developing these products, they can be reproduced and distributed at minimal cost, enabling scalable and exponential growth. Product leverage is unique in that it does not require permission to utilize. Content creators are examples of individuals who have mastered the art of leveraging product-based platforms, representing a new class of wealth in today's society.
2. Building Judgement
Hard work and judgement
Hard work is important as without it, you will never develop judgement or leverage. A good judgement helps you gain credibility. You are paid for your judgement, either in your own business or at workplace. While hard work is essential, judgment is also determined by the direction and quality of your efforts. Without a right direction, even hard work may not yield the desired outcomes.
Value of Decision-Making
According to Naval, in an age of leverage, one correct decision can win everything. Decision making skill can help you make right choices which can have profound trajectory on your life. An example is the advent of Facebook in 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg recognized the potential of a social network platform. He decided to pursue this idea, starting first with college students. Then with the leverage of investment capital, the popularity of internet, user-generated content and network effect, Zuckerberg scaled up Facebook to a much broader user base.
Learning from mistakes
Mistakes are unavoidable in any journey to success. Building judgement involves learning from experiences and mistakes. Naval suggests that mistakes are the tuition you pay for your knowledge. Although they can be painful, they often leave a lasting impact and valuable lessons. By embracing failures as learning opportunities, you pave the way for future success.
Mental models
Naval encourages collecting mental models. A mental model is simply someone's representation of how something works and it provide you different perspectives and ways of thinking. Mental models can be derived from various fields like physics, biology, economics, and psychology, and can aid in problem-solving and decision-making. For example, inversion is one kind of mental models. By focusing on what not to do or avoiding negative outcomes, it helps uncover hidden risks or solutions. Charlie Munger is the example of a person with tons of mental models which help him make sound decisions in his whole investing career. The more mental models you collect, the more ways you can see the world and the better at decision-making you will be.
Reading and Learning
Naval is well known for his wisdom, and his wisdom comes from reading books. He extremly loves books from the young age. In the overwhelming of social media content, books are easily forgotten. His advice to build the reading habit is reading what you want until you love to read. Whether you realise it or not, your life will dramatically change.
When it comes to learning, Naval emphasizes the importance of cultivating a strong desire to learn. In a fast-paced world filled with distractions, finding the right motivation to learn and staying committed can be more challenging than finding learning resources themselves.
“The means of learning are abundant - it’s the desire to learn that is scarce.” - Naval Ravikant
3. Learning Happiness
“The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness. We pursue them in that order, but their importance is reverse.” - Naval Ravikant
Happiness is within your control
Naval believes that happiness is not dependent on external circumstances or material possessions. Instead, it stems from accepting the present moment and finding contentment within oneself. He suggests that happiness is about removing the sense of something missing in your life and learning to love what you have.
The world just reflects your own feelings back at you. Reality is neutral. Reality has no judgments. The first step to increasing your level of happiness is realising you can.
Desire and happiness
Happiness is not about positive thoughts. It’s not about negative thoughts. It’s about the absence of desire, especially the desire for external things. The fewer desires you have, the more contentment you can find.
Naval highlights that desire is a contract signed with yourself for choosing unhappiness until you get what you want. He encourages people to minimize desires and focus on reducing attachment to external things. By letting go of excessive desires, you can experience greater contentment and peace of mind.
Presence and mindfulness
Naval emphasizes the importance of being present and training your mind to think optimistically. Being fully engaged in the present moment allows you to appreciate what you have and avoid unnecessary worries about the past or future. Cultivating mindfulness through practices like meditation can help enhance happiness and well-being.
“Hiking is walking meditation. Journaling is writing meditation. Praying is gratitude meditation.” Meditation takes on different forms in all aspects of life.
External validation and happiness
Naval suggests that seeking external validation or relying on others' opinions for happiness is an unsustainable path. Instead, he advocates for finding your internal validation. Relying on your own judgment and values, rather than constantly seeking approval from others, can lead to a more authentic and fulfilling sense of happiness. Don’t play the status game, balance what you want and need.
Happiness is satisfying what you have, accepting reality, being aware that the world does not care who you are or what you do, you just need to embrace the present.
The pursuit of happiness
Naval believes that happiness is a choice to make and a skill to develop. It requires conscious effort and a willingness to let go of societal expectations or comparisons. The pursuit of happiness requires you to make hard choices now to have an easy life later. When faced with two comparable options, Naval advises selecting the one that may involve short-term discomfort but promises long-term benefits. For instance, engaging in regular exercise might cause temporary muscle soreness, but it offers the long-term benefit of a fit and healthy body.
These valuable lessons have made a significant impact on me, leading me to more fulfillment in meaningful pursuits. This motivation has inspired me to write this blog since January this year. Ultimately, I've discovered that finding my purposes has paved the way to happiness.
Hope these lessons also shed light on your own journey towards happiness.
Till next week!
Cheers
Do Thi Dieu Thuong